Benchmarking National - PRO INNO Europe

� Dissemination of information on inventions and license opportunities: Information
on inventions and innovations is actively disseminated to the media, in
seminars and by participating in relevant trade fairs. The Foundation also has
its own “marketplace” in the internet (www.inventionmarket.fi). There, new
inventions and business ideas are presented to interested parties for
commercialization. All inventions are financed by the Foundation for Finnish
Inventions. The ideas are the property of the inventors and inventing
companies, still, and are only marketed with the support or funding from the
Foundation.
� Legal and other assistance in licensing negotiations and preparatory
agreements;
� Organisation of (awareness raising) campaigns (for example “Keksi ja Tee”,
which selects one region in Finland in a given period of time where it tries to
sell/license inventions specifically to companies in the region);
� The “Venture Cup” is a business plan competition that helps students,
researchers and others to take their business idea from concept to actual startup.
The Venture Cup motivates participants to develop their ideas by hands-on
coaching and feedback as well as through inspirational events and workshops.
Foundations representatives act as experts in local evaluation juries;
� The operation of a prototype workshop, a combined laboratory facility for
supported inventors.
In the following, some of the different elements of the service shall be described in
more detail:
The prototype workshop
This very unique service element can be best described as a laboratory facility for
inventors. At the foundation’s premises at Innopoli, inventors can draw on expert
services to produce observation models and develop, build and test prototypes.
This works in such a way that the experts build the prototype on behalf of the SMEs
– the SMEs themselves do not have direct access to lab facilities. The designs and
blueprints of the prototype are jointly developed by Foundation personnel and the
inventors in a confidential manner. However, it is also possible to test and
commission the prototypes with support from the Foundation elsewhere – for
example, at institutes of technology.
In 2005, 14 inventions were developed in the prototype workshop. The costs are,
as a rule, added to the support funding (see below) received. Though the
Foundation staff and the inventor collaborate closely on the invention, it is guaranteed
that the inventor will hold all rights to his/hers invention all the time.
Financial support
Funding in the form of risk finance is provided by the foundation for the
development of inventions for private inventors and SMEs. Collaterals are not
required for this type of financing activity, and the money does not have to be paid
back under certain circumstances (e.g., if the invention fails commercially). In
addition, the payback sums are usually only to cover the costs of the Foundation
– no additional interest is charged. Per invention, the subsidy generally varies
between € 2,000 and € 200,000. The higher subsidies are decided on and paid out
in several instalments (however, the whole subsidy has to be paid out within three
years after a positive funding decision). The total funding volume for subsidies
amounted to € 2.1 mio in 2005.
In order to be eligible for financial support, an invention has to meet several
requirements: It should be usable, new and involve an inventive step–in other
words, its patentability is being checked for. Furthermore, it should have enough
market potential in order to demonstrate a reasonable probability that the
Foundation will get its laid out funds back.
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ANNEX I – CASE STUDIES