Finnish travel trade: Participate in international fairs abroad and get funding

Participate in international fairs abroad
Exhibition Explorer funding is suitable for SMEs and midcap companies that participate in international B2B trade fairs abroad.

Exhibition Explorer funding
Decision-making on applications related to the 2025 trade fair events will be started at the beginning of January, and the new criteria for awarding funding that will enter into force on January 1, 2025 will be applied to the processing of applications, regardless of when the application is received.

The criteria for the Exhibition Explorer financing service have been revised at the beginning of 2025. The most significant change is that the maximum grant amount per fair project has been reduced from 15,000 euros to 10,000 euros. The main rule for granting funding will continue to be that at least four domestic SMEs or midcap companies apply for Exhibition Explorer funding for the same trade fair.

The wording of the regulation has been specified in accordance with the interpretation given by the Commission, and therefore the applicant must in the future describe which new market area or customer segment the company is targeting by participating in the fair and how participation in the fair promotes the export of the company’s new or existing products to new markets. Funding can continue to be granted for the same fair event several times. A new market refers to a market area or customer segment to which the company does not yet carry out established export activities. Individual realized export deliveries are not considered as established export activities.

Freight costs are no longer accepted as direct purchasing service costs, but will be included in the Other costs item in the future.