Invest Northern Ireland is Northern Ireland’s economic development agency. Our overall goal is to help create wealth for the benefit of the whole community. 

As the regional business development agency, Invest NI’s role is to grow the local economy. We do this by supporting new and existing businesses to compete internationally, and by attracting new investment to Northern Ireland. 

We are part of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment and provide strong government support for business by effectively delivering the Government’s economic development strategies. 

Invest NI offers the Northern Ireland business community a single organisation providing high-quality services, programmes, support and expert advice. 

We principally support those businesses that can make the greatest contribution to growing our economy. These are businesses that have ability to grow and drive productivity in the economy and are keen to export their goods and services outside Northern Ireland.

VINNOVA - Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems - is Sweden’s innovation agency. Our mission is to promote sustainable growth by improving the conditions for innovations, as well as funding needs-driven research. 

VINNOVA’s vision is for Sweden to be a world-leading country in research and innovation, an attractive place in which to invest and conduct business. We promote collaborations between companies, universities, research institutes and the public sector. We do this by stimulating a greater use of research, by making long-term investment in strong research and innovation milieus and by developing catalytic meeting places. VINNOVA’s activities also focus on strengthening international cooperation. In order to increase our impact, we are also dedicated to interacting with other research financiers and innovation-promoting organisations. 

Every year VINNOVA invests about SEK 2 billion in various initiatives. Since co-financing from actors must total at least the same amount, our funds have more than doubled. Funding decisions are made with assistance from national and international experts and there is ongoing monitoring and evaluation of all initiatives. We carry out regular impact analysis to evaluate and draw lessons from the long-term impacts of VINNOVA’s efforts. 

VINNOVA is a Swedish government agency working under the Ministry of Enterprise, Energy and Communications and acts as the national contact agency for the EU Framework Programme for R&D. About 200 people work at VINNOVA´s offices in Stockholm and Brussels. 

VINNOVA was founded in January 2001. Our Director General is Charlotte Brogren.

Enterprise Estonia is one of the largest institutions within the national support system for entrepreneurship in Estonia, providing financing products, advice, partnership opportunities and training for entrepreneurs, research and development institutions and the public and third sectors. Enterprise Estonia actively operates in the following areas: the enhancement of the competitiveness of Estonian enterprises in foreign markets, the inclusion of foreign direct investments, inbound and domestic tourism, the elaboration of technological and innovative products and services, the development of Estonian enterprises and the entrepreneurial environment and the enhancement of general entrepreneurial awareness.

Enterprise Estonia is one of the institutions responsible for the implementation of EU structural funds in Estonia, as well as being the primary provider of support and development programmes targeted towards entrepreneurs. The agency was founded in 2000 by the Ministry of Economic Affairs with the aim of promoting the competitiveness of the Estonian entrepreneurial environment and Estonian businesses, thereby increasing prosperity.