Finnish Funding Agency for Innovation (TEKES)

Tekes – the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation, a part of Finnish Ministry of Employment and the Economy, is the most important public funding agency for research funding in Finland. It was founded in 1983 through the president of Finland, Mauno Koivisto, who ratified the Act on the founding of Tekes.

In 2009, Tekes invested €579 million in 2,177 projects, of which €343 million was directed to enterprise projects and €236 million to universities, polytechnics and public research institutes. Tekes functions as a funding agency only.

"Tekes" is derived from Tekniikan edistämiskeskus (Center for Advancement of Technology).

In enterprise projects, funding is given to transform research-stage ideas into viable businesses, and may combine direct unconditional funding with Tekes-guaranteed loans conditional on the success of the resulting business.