Criteria for applying

An individual, a working group or an organisation with a Finnish business ID can apply for a grant from Kone Foundation.

Where can funding be applied? 

Kone Foundation grants can be applied for:

  • academic research in the humanities, social sciences, environmental sciences and artistic research
  • professional artistic work in all fields of art
  • multidisciplinary work in the above-mentioned fields of art and research
  • promotion and dissemination of academic and/or artistic work to various audiences in the above-mentioned fields
  • other cultural work; but this is rarely funded

The topic of the project applied for can be freely chosen, as long as the discipline belongs to the fields funded by the Foundation. A grant from Kone Foundation must be used for the purpose for which it is awarded.

The Foundation does not fund research in psychology, theology, law studies or business studies without an interdisciplinary dimension. We do not fund medical research. See the Foundation’s focuses 

The following application processes apply criteria that differ from above:

Who can apply for funding?

An individual, a working group or an organisation with a Finnish business ID can apply for a grant from Kone Foundation. 

To receive funding, projects must have a connection to Finland.

  • Finnish citizens may apply for work carried out either in Finland or abroad.
  • Individual non-Finnish citizens are eligible if they are affiliated with a Finnish institution, based in Finland, or if the the work is carried out in Finland.
  • Research and artistic groups may include participants from any country, as long as someone in the group is a Finnish citizen or based in Finland.
  • Organizations must have a Finnish business ID.

If the applicant is a working group or an organisation, the group members must choose a person responsible for the project from among themselves to be responsible for submitting the application.

We welcome applicants of different ages, from different genders and from linguistic, cultural and other minorities.

How long and how much funding can be applied for?

A grant may be awarded for a maximum of four consecutive years for the same project. Similarly, the same applicant’s artistic work can be supported for a maximum of four consecutive years. If funding has already been granted for four years, there must be a break of at least one year after the funding period.

In the annual call, grants are awarded for work that starts in the following year, at the earliest in January. Grants are not awarded retroactively.

We encourage long-term work in both research and the arts. Artistic working groups and organisations can apply for funding of up to 250,000 euros for a maximum period of four years. There is no specific upper limit defined for research applications, but research projects by working groups typically range from 200,000 to 500,000 euros.

We do not fund working periods of less than six months for individual applicants. In working groups the minimum duration of a personal grant for research or artistic work is one month.