Finnish companies awarded EU grants

The Finnish innovators were among a total of 246 SMEs from 24 countries to receive a 50 000-euro grant from the European Innovation Council pilot that helps bring promising innovations faster to market.

One of the Finnish grant recipients, Medicortex Finland, is currently focused on developing a diagnostic kit for the detection of traumatic brain injury (TBI). The TBI diagnostics kit has previously attracted investments totalling 140 000 euros through crowdfunding platform Invesdor.

“Medicortex will use the funding for updating its business plan, including inter alia, mapping of the distribution landscape, assessment of regulatory roadmap and setting up contacts with suppliers,” says company CEO Dr. Adrian Harel. “The updated plan will accelerate our business and it will facilitate application to the Phase II European Commission funding, which will be 500 000 to 2.5 million euros to finance innovation activities such as demonstration, testing, piloting and scaling up.”

Additional funds

Another Finnish grant recipient was robotics company KINE, which is developing its cloud-based logistics solution, BOXBOT. This optimises operations at ports and logistics centres by minimising unused capacity on ships, planes and trucks transporting goods worldwide.

Valtavalo‘s LED-lighting solution also attracted funding. Boasting extremely long service lives, the solution provides significant energy savings. The company also made the headlines last year, when it established an office in the Swedish city of Gothenberg.

Comptek Solutions, meanwhile, will use the 50 000 euros to further develop its technology for the compound semiconductor industry. The Finnish technology startup raised 450 000 euros in its pre-seed funding round last year.

Yet another Finnish startup to receive a boost was Karsa, which seeks to increase public safety at airports and in the shipment of goods and parcels with its molecular explosives detection innovations. The 2016-founded startup is a spinoff from the University of Helsinki.

And finally, Finnish healthtech company Imaqen received first-stage funding for its new pre-screening solution for early stage cancer detection.