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Finland is stepping up its efforts to drive Europe’s green and digital transformation as part of the EU-funded . This two-year Horizon Europe initiative brings together partners from six countries, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria and Cyprus, with the shared goal of strengthening and connecting their cleantech innovation ecosystems.

The ambition behind FINEX is to help these regions evolve into a cleantech hub by making their innovation ecosystems more competitive, more open to collaboration and better connected internationally. The project also seeks to advocate for improved EU-level regulatory, fiscal and legal frameworks. Ultimately, FINEX supports innovators who are working on novel deep tech solutions and helps them access specialised testing environments and services so that they can move faster from research to real-world deployment, contributing to Europe’s transition towards a climate-neutral economy. 

Showcasing Finnish cleantech: the Lensor pilot case

FINEX partner Aalto University School of Business' Center for Knowledge and Innovation Research (CKIR) has identified several Finnish cases that illustrate the country’s cleantech innovation potential. One example is , a female-led Finnish startup founded in January 2024, which is piloting its technology together with , a subcontractor responsible for street and greenery maintenance.

Lensor’s solution uses satellite imagery of green areas, analysed with artificial intelligence, to assess vegetation conditions. The technology can detect factors such as grass health and height, helping to optimise the use of fertilizers based on previous years’ data. It also identifies invasive species. Their current concept is “Habitat Intelligence System” that combines fused satellite imagery, LiDAR, ecological data, and local calibration to deliver precise, scalable habitat insights.

It provides the intelligence needed for planning, mitigation, restoration, and reporting across complex landscapes. The pilot areas, characterised by wide open spaces without tree cover, enabled accurate monitoring of grass growth and the presence of invasive lupins.

By providing reliable, up-to-date insights, Lensor’s technology reduces unnecessary site visits by maintenance teams. Parks are serviced only when needed, which lowers fuel consumption and saves working hours. The optimisation of fieldwork schedules is also welcomed by maintenance personnel who operate in varying weather conditions.

The innovation ecosystem behind the pilots

Although it may seem that a startup could simply approach a municipality or its subcontractor to initiate a pilot, the reality is far more complex. Finland is known for its open and approachable culture, yet even here innovative companies rely on a broad network of actors that together form a well-functioning innovation ecosystem. This ecosystem extends far beyond the traditional business environment and plays a crucial role in enabling early-stage technologies to be tested and scaled, even if not always explicitly recognised by a single, early-stage company. The innovation ecosystem around Lensor in this case is the following.

provided the basis for regional funding , supporting a total of fourteen projects. One of them, PilotGreen, is led by  in cooperation with  and , bringing together local innovation expertise from cities of Helsinki, Lahti and Lappeenranta. The maintenance units responsible for greeneries in the cities of  and  have also played an essential role in the process.

At the same time, cities follow national maintenance guidelines for public green spaces, issued by the , ensuring that any new solution aligns with established practices. While subcontractors carry out the day-to-day maintenance work under the oversight of municipal maintenance units. These units define, procure and monitor services within budgets approved by municipal decision-makers, who in turn are accountable to local residents.

For Lensor, the above described production ecosystem that can be seen also as an innovation ecosystem, the successful deployment of its solutions relies on support at multiple levels: major EU funding, regional authorities, local research and innovation institutions, professional networking events, municipalities as both enablers and potential customers, and regulatory frameworks that define the standards and procedures for maintenance operations. Collectively, these actors form a comprehensive ecosystem that enables startups to move from innovative ideas to practical, real-world applications. 

To recognise this kind of “experimentation spaces”, FINEX has put together a catalogue of experimentation spaces that can support innovators working with clean industries (formerly, “cleantech”) and deep tech from early phase research to market-ready solutions. These facilities are open to a wide range of users, including startups, SMEs, large enterprises, researchers and public sector actors.  Complete list of experimentation spaces in Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria and Cyprus, collected by FINEX project, is available .

Turning challenges into opportunities 

The next step for the FINEX project is to use the knowledge gathered to develop stronger support systems for innovators, while collaborating closely with policymakers to reduce regulatory barriers, improve access to funding, and strengthen connections between research and industry. FINEX also raises our awareness of the very biased gender-balance in clean industries. Also in that sense the female-led Lensor is a refreshing example.

More information about the FINEX project and how to get involved is available at the . 

For this article, FINEX project is thankful for the fruitful collaboration with Forum Virium Helsinki, especially the project manager Satu Reijonen and the project planner Santeri Kero.