Spinverse founder and Chairman of the board Pekka Koponen shared his thoughts about Finland's recovery and resilience plan. What opportunities does the recovery package offer especially for Finnish industries, and how can board members promote the growth opportunities of their companies from this perspective? Read here Pekka's expert advice to companies and their executives.
Companies’ board members have big questions on their table looking for answers and solutions on how to seek growth even in the face of crisis. The Finnish government is seeking leverage for recovery through a sustainable growth program that supports ecologically, socially, and economically sustainable growth.
Accelerating digitalisation and the abandonment of fossil fuels
Funding for the recovery programs will come from the European Union's one-off planned recovery instrument, of which approximately 2.075 B€ is planned for Finland to be directed to green transition and 217 M€ to promote digitalisation and R&D&I. 636 M€ will be channelled to support employment and skills, and 400 M€ to social and health services.
It would now be particularly important for the industry to activate and launch projects that promote the Sustainable Growth Programme. Support for projects is available in the form of public funding. In this work, corporate boards hold the keys to a solution as they embark on a strategy to develop new and more sustainable technologies.
The government estimates that the sustainable growth program can reduce Finland's annual greenhouse gas emissions by six percent. The grants are also intended to support, among others, clean energy production such as solar power, offshore wind, biogas, and waste heat recovery, as well as industrial circular economy solutions and low-emission innovations, such as investments in hydrogen technology and circular economy demonstration plants.
When the details of the recovery package are realised,
it would be good that Finnish board professionals would focus their
attention on the areas of expertise of their own company.
In the digitalisation program, the applications are defined as e.g. rail transport (so called "Digirata" project), high-speed internet connections, and additional investment in cutting-edge technologies such as 6G networks, artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and microelectronics.
Board professionals need to look broadly at the prospects and trends in their own industry. Once the details of the recovery package are completed, it would be good that Finnish board professionals would focus their attention on the areas of expertise in their own company: what new technologies or solutions should the company now invest in?
A giant market for the export industry
The European Union's Next Generation EU is accelerating the recovery of people, economy and society from the corona crisis. The instrument includes 750 B€ in funding for the Member States. Out of the European Union's recovery instruments, the largest share goes to the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), which accounts for more than 672 B€ of the total budget.
The RRF provides grants of around 312.5 B€ and loans of 360 B€. The European Union's recovery instrument also includes funding for other EU programs. The Sustainable Growth Program coordinates funding for all programs.
Programs with a similar structure will be launched in all Member States, and with it, gigantic markets will also open up for the Finnish export industry. Southern and Eastern Europe are inevitably the biggest beneficiaries, but the industry know-how in both digitalisation and green technologies is clearly weaker in those countries in comparison with Finland.
It is now worth taking advantage of this Finnish competitive
edge as purchase decisions will be based on tenders.
It is now worth taking advantage of this Finnish competitive edge, as purchase decisions will be based on competitive tenders. Finnish companies seeking to participate should also seek for good partnerships, as the local language and contacts are used in the tenders.
You can start to familiarise yourself with public funding by visiting the the recently launched EU Funding Playbook website. Spinverse was involved in implementing it in cooperation with the Technology Industry of Finland, The Chemical Industry Federation of Finland, and the Finnish Energy.
Read the original Finnish version here (published on 22.04.2021 on Director’s Institute of Finland website).
