The decrease in RDI funding seems to have evened out in Tampere Region after a few years of decline. The business sector used slightly more funds for R&D than in the year before. Overall, R&D expenses stood at EUR 0.927 billion in Tampere Region in 2013 (-0.6%).
A small decrease can be regarded as a defensive victory because, on a national level, R&D cost decreased more clearly (-2.2%). At the same time, Tampere Region made up a larger portion of the national lot overall (2012: 13.7%; 2013: 13.9%).
Economic cycles have an impact on how actively R&D financing is applied for from various sources of funding. For example, the number and value of applications sent to Tekes (the Finnish Funding Agency for Innovation) doubled in 2014.
New financing leads in Tampere Region:
IPR.VC Fund I, a private equity fund for the creative industry, was launched in the autumn of 2015. The fund mainly invests in Finnish digital content companies that produce TV programmes, films, games, animations, Internet and mobile applications, music or other licensed media content. IPR.VC is a private equity fund with EUR 13 million in capital commitments at the start of operations. Its objective is to generate international success stories based on intellectual property rights in media content in Finland. http://ipr.vc/
The Tampere Region Crowdfunding Pilot is the first regional crowdfunding project in Finland. It supports local investors, growth companies and partners. The pilot focuses on share-based group funding. It is operated by Invesdor, Accelerando and Tampere Region Economic Development Agency (Tredea).
Read more about the finalists of the Tampere Region crowdfunding competition: Eximap, Poppaa Entertainment Oy, Runteq and Skillzzup
The amount of Tekes funding granted to companies grew in Tampere Region, even though this was not nearly as much as the total value of the applications. Companies received a total of EUR 36 million in Tekes funding. Furthermore, the region's research organisations, i.e. higher education institutions and state research institutions, clearly received more Tekes funding than the year before. The increase can be explained by the notable increase in the portion received by universities. In this light, the cutbacks threatening Tekes funding pose a significant hazard for Tampere Region.
Tekes funding aimed at the municipal sector has increased. Measured in euros, the Tekes funding received by municipalities is a fairly small amount, which varies largely annually due to the small number of projects. In 2014, EUR 338,000 of funding was granted to the City of Tampere.
Private funding received by universities has decreased slightly from the previous year, returning to the level that existed two years ago. International EU and similar funding granted to the region's universities has remained unchanged compared with the previous year.
Information about risk funding for growth companies has been obtained from PEREP Analytics*, a private venture capital database. According to the database, based on notifications issued by investors, the value of venture capital in Tampere Region was
in 2014: EUR 2,364,000 (12 companies),
in 2013: EUR 12,999,000 (13 companies), and
in 2012: EUR 7,200,000 (14 companies).
*The FVCA (Finnish Venture Capital Association) operates under EVCA. Its statistics are based on information entered by capital investors in the PEREP Analytics database. http://www.fvca.fi/en/knowledge_centre
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