Funding resources for innovation in energy entreprise development (FREED)
FREED is NPA funded project, which supports SMEs as they want to utilise the full potential of their energy innovations and to turn them into commercial products and viable business cases. FREED provides assistance for already established SMEs and start-ups, who have an innovation, which could help the NPA region, the rest of the Europe or the wider world to combat the climate change and provide solutions that change the way we use, produce or even transfer and store energy.
Long distances, sparse population and extreme weather conditions make the Northern Periphery and Arctic region a challenging place to live, and thus energy innovations are sorely needed to ease the everyday life here. If the energy innovation works here, then it is bound to work elsewhere as well. Due to the sparse population and lack of critical mass, the local SMEs face significant obstacles to bring their products to bear. FREED supplements the existing support mechanisms of business development agencies and aims to widen the markets of energy innovation companies by supporting the transfer of these innovations between NPA countries.
Contact
Project Manager Niko Hänninen
Lead Partner University of Oulu, Finland
Email niko.hanninen{at}oulu.fi
Tel: +358 40 704 5512