Rustam Minnikhanov meets with leadership of Finnish Funding Agency for Innovation Tekes

On November 16, during his working trip to Finland, Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov met with Pekka Soini, Director General of Finnish Funding Agency for Innovation Tekes.

Tekes is a publicly funded expert organisation for financing research, development and innovation in Finland. Pekka Soini informed that Tekes is the biggest organisation that provides funding for innovative solutions and projects in Finland. About 65 per cent of major Finnish projects were financed by Tekes.

Pekka Soini made a brief presentation about key activities of the organisation and its prospects. He noted that Tekes closely cooperates with Skolkovo.

Rustam Minnikhanov said that the experience of Finland in the sphere of funding innovations and searching for new projects for their further implementation and commercialization may be useful for the republic.

The parties discussed selection of innovative projects and allocation of grants for scientific research.

Minnikhanov suggested sending specialists from Tatarstan to Tekes to study the experience of their colleagues in terms of project expertise and assessment of its innovative component.