Israel–Finland Pilot Program Call for Proposals

Participating Agencies

Summary

Finland and Israel are both leading innovative economies that have put technology and innovation at the core of their economy. This pilot program is a milestone bringing the Finnish and Israeli ecosystems together. The program is led by the Israel Innovation Authority and Helsinki Business Hub and will provide funding and free-of-charge matching services for Israeli and Finnish capital region-based (here after: “Greater Helsinki-based”) companies that would like to find a partner in the respective country to pilot their solutions. 

The program will focus especially on (but not limited to) digital health, smart mobility and information & communication technologies.

Applicants are expected to develop ready-to-market solutions for products, technology based services or methods, which have strong market potential. The call is open to Israeli and Greater Helsinki-based companies for the purpose of: co-developing, testing or piloting impactful technologies, products, services and/or devices; improving an existing process and/or applying new process in particular technological areas. 

The projects should always include one Israeli and one Finnish partner

Relevant Technologies

Digital Health, Smart Mobility, ICT

Program Description

Finnish and Israeli companies are invited to submit applications for projects focusing on developing innovative products and applications or pilot technologies.

Funding and free-of-charge matching services for Finnish and Israeli startups that would like to find a partner in the respective country to pilot their solutions is available.

Criteria

The expected project results will have to contribute to the development of commercial products, applications and/or technology-based services. The project proposals have to comply with the following guidelines: 

• The partners should include at least one Israeli and one Greater Helsinki-based partner. One of them has to be a commercial company.
• Participation of research institutes/universitites is welcome as additional participants or subcontractors according to each country’s funding regulations.
• The project should have an obvious advantage and added value resulting from the cooperation between the participants from the two countries (e.g. increased knowledge base, commercial leads, access to R&D infrastructure, piloting of new technologies, new fields of application, etc.)

Funding

Funding and free-of charge matching services for Finnish and Israeli startups that would like to find a partner in the respective market is available.

Israeli Companies

Israeli Israeli companies who found a partner, may apply for funding to the Israel Innovation Authority and need to submit the following documents:

1. Application Form (Word)
2. Budget Request (Excel up to 50 employees) or Budget Request (Excel over 50 employees)
3. Statement of authorization
4. Certificate of Incorporation
5. Resource concentration form (if more than one application is submitted per year)

Expenses supported by the Innovation Authority within the framework of these projects include:

1. Upgrade and/or production modification
2. Travel abroad – based on rules for cooperative projects
3. Regulatory conformation
4. Establishment of beta-site
5. Portion of work by Israeli sub-contractors
6. Portion of work by foreign sub-contractors
7. Portion of production permitted abroad – based on royalty regulations
8. Utility Patent

Finnish Companies

Helsinki-based startups can apply for travel grants from the City of Helsinki to support their international expansion. Criteria available on: https://newcohelsinki.fi/en/travel-grant-for-helsinki-based-startups/
Contact person: Lauri Määttänen, City of Helsinki, Tel. +358 40 522 8269, Email: lauri.maattanen@hel.fi

Any Finnish company can apply for Business Finland’s funding. Criteria available on: https://www.businessfinland.fi/suomalaisille-asiakkaille/palvelut/rahoitus/pk-ja-midcap-yritys/tutkimus-ja-kehitysrahoitus

Application Process

• Companies that already have a partner may submit their application through their national funding agencies.

Partner Search

Companies that do not have a local partner can use the Partner Search services:

• An Israeli applicant will submit all relevant information (including the Application Form and a one-page description of the company) by e-mail to Uzi Bar-Sadeh, Bilateral Programs Manager: uzi@iserd.org.il. Following initial validation, applications will be forwarded to Helsinki Business Hub, (Contact person: Miska Hakala, miska.hakala@hbh.fi, + 358 40 737 4697), to assist with finding a local partner. (See here how HBH will use your data)
• A Finnish applicant will submit all relevant informaiton (including the Application Form and a one-page description of the company) by email to the Embassy of Finland, Tel Aviv to: alon.gold@formin.fi, Following initial validation, applications will be forwarded to Mr. Uzi Bar-Sadeh, Bilateral Programs Manager at ISERD, Israel Innovation Authority to assist with finding a local Israeli partner.

Declaration concerning personal data collection

Regarding the data collection, storage, protection, retention and destruction of any personal data, the Israel – Europe R&I Directorate hereby confirm that Technical and Organizational measures, monitoring and controls are in place in order to comply with applicable data protection laws.
Dan Seker, DPO: dan@iserd.org.il

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