Frequently asked questions about grants
General questions about applying for grants
In the grant applications of the Finnish Foundation for Technology Promotion, you can receive a grant for the following fields:
- Architecture and Industrial Design
- Automation and Robotics
- Energy and Environmental Technology
- Gasum Fund's Thematic Area
- Information and Communication Technology
- Chemical Process Technology
- Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering
- Medical Technology
- Materials Science and Nanotechnology
- Wood Processing Materials and Technologies
- Civil and Environmental Engineering
- Electrical Engineering and Electronics
- Engineering Physics
- Industrial and Environmental Biotechnology
- Telecommunications Engineering
- Industrial Management and Business Research
We do not award grants to research groups.
Grants are applied for electronically through our online service. You can find specific application instructions for each grant under the Apply for a grant page.
The amount varies annually depending on the application type. For undergraduate exchange studies, we may grant a few hundred euros, while for postgraduate research work, we may grant up to 24,500 euros.
Full-year and part-year grants are intended for 6 or 12 months of research work. Additionally, we grant postgraduate students funding for research abroad that lasts for at least six months.
You can apply for a grant in this application round. If you are awarded a grant, you must claim it within two years of the award date.
You can apply for multiple grants. In that case, a separate application must be submitted for each grant.
You can use the grant for expenses outlined in your application.
The most important criteria in awarding grants are the scientific quality and ambition of the research.
Additionally, we pay attention to:
- how the applicant justifies the importance of the grant for the specific stage of the research,
- the innovativeness of the research,
- how the research promotes the competitiveness of the business sector and sustainable development.
Grant decisions are generally made by the end of April (excluding Post Doc Pool grants). Applicants will be notified of the decision via email in May.
Yes. You can claim the grant from the Finnish Foundation for Technology Promotion at the same time as another grant.
We cannot provide specific reasons for grant decisions. The foundation receives a great number of applications each year, and unfortunately, there is not enough funding for every applicant.
General questions about grant applications
Please check the application guidelines for each grant to see the required information.
Please check the application guidelines for each grant to see the required attachments.
You can submit the application in Finnish or English.
A maximum of four pages, including the reference list (font size at least 12, line spacing at least 1).
No, you will not. By logging into the grant system, you can view the status of your application.
We recommend using the CV template provided by the Finnish National Board on Research Integrity (TENK).
A written description is sufficient. Research plans sometimes include graphical presentations, but we also accept research plans without them.
The recommendation for postgraduate studies should be requested from the supervising professor.
Payment, taxation, and reporting of Grants
Grants are generally paid monthly on the 20th of the month (except July 20th).
The payment of the grant requires a payment request from the grantee through the grant system. In the payment request, the grantee specifies the installment sizes in which they wish to receive the grant. Payment requests made by the 10th of the month are usually paid on the 20th of the same month.
Grants are tax-free up to a certain limit (€26,269.46 in 2024). The foundation does not withhold taxes from the grants but reports all grants to the tax authorities.
If you receive grants from multiple foundations that together exceed the annual limit, you will need to pay taxes on the grants.
The recipient of the grant is responsible for handling their own taxes and social security.
For more information, please visit the Tax Administration's website.
Mela contributions must be paid for part-year or full-year grants, and we will also report these to Mela.
The recipient of the grant is responsible for managing their own social security.
You should submit the part of the report where you explain what the grant was for, when you used it, and confirm that you used it for the intended purpose.
The grant must be claimed within two years of the award decision.
Grant applications for undergraduate students
The applicant must be an individual chemical engineering student at Aalto University or Åbo Akademi (particularly in the case of student exchanges abroad), or a student working on a thesis in the Gasum Fund's thematic area.
The foundation does not offer grants for undergraduate students other than those awarded to chemical engineering students at Aalto University's School of Chemical Engineering and students at Åbo Akademi's Department of Chemical Engineering.
Grant applications for postgraduate students
The applicant must be an individual who has been accepted as a postgraduate student at a Finnish university.
You can apply for both an encouragement grant and a full-year grant. However, you must submit a separate application for the encouragement grant. This is because the foundation does not automatically review the encouragement grant application if the full-year grant is not awarded.
You can include publications in your application that are not related to your dissertation research, as long as you have been involved in producing them.
You can apply for a grant.
You can apply for a grant from the foundation even if you are employed.
The foundation allows the grant to be combined with a salary (up to a 50% employment contract) if the salary is for research work.
The grant can also be combined with a salary of up to 20% for work that does not lead to the dissertation, such as teaching or project management, for which separate compensation is paid.
The recipient of the grant is responsible for handling their own taxes and social security.
The Finnish Foundation for Technology Promotion allows the grant to be combined with a salary (up to 50%). The grant can be combined with employment of up to 20% for work that is not related to dissertation research.
The full-year grant is €24,500 and is intended for 12 months of full-time research.
Grant applications for postdoc research
The grant can be applied for by an individual who:
- has obtained (or is expected to obtain within 6 months) a doctoral degree from a university outside of Finland, and
- has received an invitation to join a research group led by a professor at a Finnish university.
No, a researcher already employed at a Finnish university cannot apply for this grant.
The postdoc grant is paid directly to the researcher.
You can ask the foreign researcher to complete the application through our online service. The applicant must include a recommendation from the Finnish professor and a commitment from the host department or unit for the research work.
The application is submitted via the online service. You can preview the application form here.
The funding plan can include travel expenses, daily allowances, accommodation, and also materials or supplies.
