Mission

The Foundation for Finnish Inventions promotes Finnish invention activities and the utilization of inventions. The quality of inventions has changed over the decades, with an increasing number of inventions being produced in services, experience industry, and business models. The Foundation emphasizes the importance of inventions as the hard core of successful innovations. Its interest group includes private individual inventors, SMEs (Small and medium-sized enterprises), startups, students, and university and employee inventors.

Current Projects

– The “From Idea to Innovation” project, launched by the ELY Center (Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment) in 2020, laid the foundation for cutting edge innovation services.

– The development of the Idearefinery™ concept has progressed, and the foundation has sought funding for its implementation and piloting in 2022, and it’s well on its way.

– The foundation has implemented targeted projects to develop expertise, including an online course to increase the IPR (intellectual property rights) knowledge of inventors, the creation of an inventor-oriented product developer’s professional qualification, and the development of Invention Week.

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Social Media Presence

The foundation maintains Keksintökeidas™ (the Invention Oasis) group on Facebook, which has 1,600 members. It also informs about current issues through its Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube accounts.

History

The predecessor of the Foundation for Finnish Inventions, founded in 1971, was the Invention Office of the Finnish Cultural Foundation, which began its work in 1957. The foundation was established to consolidate the growing operations and has supported the development of inventions by thousands of Finnish private individuals and start-up companies. From the beginning of 2014, the nationwide Product Path service was transferred to the responsibility of the ELY Center and integrated into Tekes’ pre-start activities. As state aid was transferred to the Tekes connection, the foundation no longer finances the development of inventions.

Future

The Foundation for Finnish Inventions will continue to be a key player in the national invention and innovation infrastructure and will act as an advocate for inventors and innovators. The Idearefinery™ operating model, information resource, and service platform are being created to serve innovators. The Idearefinery™ service will be implemented through pilot projects in different provinces and expanded to cover the entire country. The foundation is seeking solutions for financing the implementation and operation of the Idearefinery™ -services.