Helsinki Region Chamber of Commerce’s goal: bringing more companies into RDI in Finland and Europe

As the EU shapes its next long-term budget, one priority should stand out more clearly than today: Europe needs far more companies involved in research, development, and innovation.

This is not a marginal issue. It is central to Europe’s competitiveness. If Europe wants to compete successfully with the United States and China in open markets, it must mobilise more private RDI investment, bring more businesses into ambitious innovation networks, and ensure that competitive EU funding helps companies develop better products, services, and technologies for global markets.

For the Helsinki metropolitan region, this is a highly practical question. Cities and metropolitan regions are not only places where EU policy is implemented. They are where growth, talent, innovation, and business ecosystems come together. That is why Europe’s future competitiveness instruments should be more accessible to urban regions and their businesses.

But access is not only about eligibility. It is also about awareness.

But access is not only about eligibility. It is also about awareness. Too many companies still do not know what EU RDI funding opportunities exist, how they work, or how to get involved in strong European consortia. If Europe wants more business-driven innovation, it must invest not only in programmes, but also in making them visible, understandable, and reachable for companies.

Helsinki Region Chamber of Commerce strongly supports the ambition to build a much larger Horizon-type competitive RDI budget in the next EU financial period. A more ambitious funding level would give European business much-needed leverage. But size alone is not enough. What matters equally is whether more firms, especially growth-oriented companies, are actually able to participate. Funding calls must also be simple, transparent, and as user-friendly as possible. If Europe wants more companies in RDI, it must make participation easier.

If Europe wants more companies in RDI, it must make participation easier.

Our key priority for the coming year is to help and encourage more companies to participate in high-quality European RDI projects together with universities, universities of applied sciences, and research institutes. In Finland, the Chamber of Commerce is already working actively on this together with the Helsinki-Uusimaa Regional Council, Business Finland, Sitra, and Startup Refugees.

From a business perspective, boosting RDI is about much more than project funding. It is about commercialization, scale, and competitiveness. When more companies are involved in RDI, Europe is better positioned to turn knowledge into new business, new exports, and stronger productivity growth.

Markku Lahtinen
Director for Advocacy Affairs
Helsinki Region Chamber of Commerce