Eurofound's EU PolicyWatch collates information on the responses of government and social partners to the COVID-19 crisis, the war in Ukraine, rising inflation, as well as gathering examples of company practices aimed at mitigating the social and economic impacts.
Factsheet for measure FI-2020-13/269 – Updated – measures in Finland
Country | Finland , applies nationwide |
Time period | Temporary, 27 March 2020 – 08 July 2020 |
Context | COVID-19 |
Type | Legislations or other statutory regulations |
Category |
Supporting businesses to stay afloat
– Access to finance |
Author | Amanda Kinnunen (Oxford Research) and Eurofound |
Measure added | 03 April 2020 (updated 04 January 2021) |
Business Finland has launched two new financial services owing to the coronavirus outbreak. They are intended for SMEs in Finland that employ 6–250 people and for midcaps that may employ more than 250 people but have an annual turnover of less than € 300 million.
In March 2020, the Government allocated €700 million of its 2020 supplementary budget for grants provided by Business Finland. Business Finland has established two new financial services owning to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Business Finland is a state-owned organisation that funds companies and research groups work for research, development and innovation activities.
Business Finland's grants are intended for Finnish-based SME's (6-250 employees) and midcaps (companies that have an annual turnover of less than €300 million but may employ more than 250). Companies from the following sectors can apply for the grant: tourist, creative and performing industry and all sector where subcontracting chains either have been affected or will be negatively affected by COVID-19.
Funding can be granted for two types of projects: feasibility studies or development projects. . A company that wants to do a feasibility study that investigates new businesses and ways to organise production can apply for a preliminary fund. The grant covers 80% of the project's total costs and the maximum amount is €10,000. Development funding has a maximum limit of €100,000 and it also covers 80% of the project costs. Development funding is intended for companies to create new product-or production related solutions.
The following updates to this measure have been made after it came into effect.
06 July 2020 |
As of 8 June 2020, the COVID-19 related business development aid granted by Business Finland has been discontinued. It has been replaced by a new instrument that grants financial support for business costs. |
As of 26 August 2020, the number of applications was approximately 29,000. The number of companies that had received financing from Business Finland was approximately 19,000.
In total €912 million has been granted for companies and €617 million has been already paid out.
The sector that received most financing was wholesale and retail trade (approximately €150 million). This was followed by construction ( €93 million) and the programming and gaming industry ( €78 million).
Workers | Businesses | Citizens |
---|---|---|
Does not apply to workers |
SMEs
Other businesses |
Does not apply to citizens |
Actors | Funding |
---|---|
National government
Public support service providers |
National funds
|
Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:
Trade unions | Employers' organisations | |
---|---|---|
Role | Unknown | Unknown |
Form | Not applicable | Not applicable |
Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:
No information available.
No information available.
Citation
Eurofound (2020), Business Finland's new direct business subsidies for SMEs and midcap companies, measure FI-2020-13/269 (measures in Finland), EU PolicyWatch, Dublin, https://static.eurofound.europa.eu/covid19db/cases/FI-2020-13_269.html
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