The BEAM programme of Tekes and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs brings sustainable growth in Finland and developing countries

MINISTRY FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS
http://formin.finland.fi/english

Press release 258/2014
18 November 2014

The BEAM programme of Tekes and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs brings sustainable growth in Finland and developing countries

Tekes and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs will launch the five-year BEAM – Business with Impact programme at the start of next year. The aim is to bring together actors from Finland and developing countries to generate new innovative business and development impacts in target countries. The programme was announced on 18 November at the Slush event in Helsinki.

BEAM is the first joint Team Finland programme of Tekes – the Finnish Funding Agency for Innovation – and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and, at the same time, a new kind of tool for development cooperation and business-oriented innovation.

The aim is to encourage enterprises, in cooperation with other actors, to develop innovations that improve well-being in poor countries while also giving rise to sustainable business in both Finland and developing countries.

“Solving development problems calls for sustainable solutions as well as cooperation. BEAM is a new possibility for finding innovations through development cooperation; innovations that bring benefits to both developing countries and Finns,” says Minister for International Development Sirpa Paatero.

The programme has a total volume of EUR 50 million, about 50 per cent of which is financed by Tekes and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. The other half of the financing comes from enterprises and other actors.

“The greatest economic growth currently takes place in developing countries and emerging markets. For this reason Finnish enterprises should actively seek new opportunities for business growth in these countries,” says Director General Pekka Soini of Tekes.

It is hoped that the programme will attract especially large-scale ecosystem projects, which may include enterprises, research institutes, non-governmental organizations and other actors. The applicant for financing must be a Finnish actor, but a partner or, for instance, a subcontractor can be from a developing country. The central consideration is that cooperation can be a means for promoting social development and generating sustainable business.

Companies can apply for financing throughout the duration of the programme, i.e. 1 January 2015–30 September 2019, but one can come to discuss ideas now. Targeted applications will be arranged for universities and research institutes.

Additional information: BEAM - Business with Impact: www.tekes.fi/beam, Programme Manager Pia Salokoski, Tekes, tel. +358 295 055 672, pia.salokoski(at)tekes.fi, Counsellor Pertti Ikonen, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, tel. +358 295 350 926, pertti.ikonen(at)formin.fi