In KAUTE Foundation’s general spring 2026 grant call, a total of €690,000 was awarded to 32 researchers in economics and technical sciences. Themes related to sustainable development and the circular economy are widely represented. The applications also included many research ideas that make use of artificial intelligence and large data sets.
A record-breaking 675 applications were submitted in the KAUTE Foundation’s January call. The total amount applied for was €14,483,307. The foundation’s academic experts proposed funding for 32 researchers.
“Over the past several years, the number of applications to KAUTE Foundation’s grant calls has been steadily increasing. This year, the call shows a particularly notable rise in the number of postdoctoral researchers. The academic experts have done excellent work, and in my view we have identified a truly strong group of grant recipients. At the same time, it must be said that the quality would not decline at all even if we had the opportunity to distribute twice the amount of funding compared to the current level,” says Tuomas Olkku, Executive Director of the KAUTE Foundation.
According to Olkku, the applications once again demonstrate that very high-quality research in economics and technical sciences is being conducted in Finland.
The total amount awarded was €690,000. The largest share of grants—10 in total, amounting to €225,000—was awarded to researchers at Aalto University. In line with the foundation’s policy, the grants were primarily awarded for research work, but the development of teaching was also supported.
The aim of the KAUTE Foundation is to support research that helps Finnish society to renew itself in an economically, socially, and ecologically sustainable way.