Research, Development, Innovation (RDI) and Entrepreneurship for Researchers and Staff at the University of Jyväskylä

Student, do you want to develop your skills?
Check out the offering below - you'll get new perspectives on your major studies and you'll be able to promote your entrepreneurial and working life skills. Also remember your own faculty's project and working life studies!

Entrepreneurship Portal

Researcher RDI and Entrepreneurship at the University of Jyväskylä

How could your research and expertise be utilised beyond the university? What kinds of opportunities could you have for collaboration with companies or the wider business community?

The courses and support services offered through the entrepreneurship path and entrepreneurship studies help you develop your idea into a business concept, an R2B project, or further refine an idea even if you do not yet have a clear one.

If your business idea needs strengthening and further development, JYU, Yritystehdas and the wider entrepreneurship ecosystem offer suitable courses and support services to help you move forward.

At JYU, we also have our own investment company, Unifund, which invests in promising university spin-offs and growth companies.

Entrepreneurship paths for researchers and staff — Researcher RDI and Entrepreneurship

ThingLink provides you a way to study paths and steps for entrepreneurial planning (ThingLink)

If you want to work on your own path with the ThingLink tool using the image above, you can find it using the link below. The tool is easy and inspiring. It's worth a look! EduJyväskylä's Entrepreneurial Pathways — ThingLink

Identifying RDI and Entrepreneurship Ideas

Intellectual property rights include copyrights and industrial property rights. By nature, they are exclusive (prohibitive) rights that prevent others from commercially exploiting the protected subject matter within a defined territory and period of validity. In other words, by applying for intellectual property protection, the applicant reserves the commercial exploitation rights for future use.

To assess the novelty of an idea, a preliminary novelty search can be conducted. However, protection cannot be granted for an idea alone; it requires a concrete and realisable implementation. In a freedom-to-operate (FTO) analysis, the aim is to examine whether the commercial exploitation of your idea would infringe on the intellectual property rights of others. After this, different protection options are discussed.

An invention disclosure is a statutory requirement based on the Finnish Act on the Right in Inventions Made at Higher Education Institutions. If an invention is made at a higher education institution or in the course of employment, it must be reported to the employer without delay. In practice, research funders determine the ownership of intellectual property. Funding terms and conditions define who owns the research results. In publicly funded research projects, ownership of the results typically lies with the university (commissioned research). In practice, only funding provided by foundations may deviate from this principle.

If public funding has not been used in the research, the research results are owned by the researcher themselves (open research). Research results may include expertise, models, social innovations, inventions, software, and similar outputs.

If the university owns the research results, they can be protected and commercialised by the university. In such cases, the process is carried out in collaboration with Innovation Services or RDI Services.

If desired, research results can be transferred into the ownership of the university. However, this requires that the results demonstrate commercial potential.

Your research results may have the potential to develop into a new product or service of societal significance, as well as to serve as the foundation for a successful business. If you are employed by the University and believe that you have made an invention in the course of your work, please contact Innovation Services and submit an invention disclosure before presenting your invention at a seminar, publishing it, or discussing it with external parties.

How to disclose an invention and software

Developing RDI and entrepreneurship ideas

Do you have a great idea that you would like to test in practice? Does the lack of funding stop you from carrying out a test, building a prototype or ordering a review?
The objective of the €500–€1,000 Product Development Funding is to inspire the students, researchers and staff of Jyväskylä University of Applied Sciences and University of Jyväskylä to invent new products and services and test them.

Product Development Funding

Participants can safely try out entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial ways of working, while creatively applying their working‑life skills in practice. JA Company programme is part of the Junior Achievement (Nuori Yrittäjyys) network, and participants have the opportunity to compete for a place in the European final held in Europe!

Support for developing ideas is available, for example, through Yritystehdas training programmes such as From Idea to Business and Business Coaching. These programmes also help you learn how to communicate about your research and the business developed from it in the “right language.” This makes discussions with potential funders and/or other partners easier.

Keski-Suomen Yritysidea provides support for developing business ideas and "Becoming an Entrepreneur in Finland is highly recommended, and you can also participate in the JA Company program to further develop your idea.

At the development stage, various forms of support are also available in the form of information sessions and funding.

If your business idea needs strengthening and refining, these are the courses for you.

KS Business Idea will help anyone developing their business idea and looking to promote it.

In KS Entrepreneurship you will learn the basics of business, and then you can start developing your business in earnest in the Entrepreneurship Training.

JYU's research and innovation services will help you, for example, with commercialising your research results and choosing the most suitable operating model for you.

I am looking for support for my business and/or business idea

Test and develop your own business idea in the From Idea to Business coaching. During the coaching course, our role is to help you identify whether your idea has business potential and to help you develop your business idea towards starting a business.

Idea to Business -course (5 cr)

Develop your company for success in the Business Coaching (8 study credits / 15 competence points). You will be able to create the goals for developing your company and a learning plan for yourself together with your coach. Together, you will also create content that best serves your business.

A prerequisite of participation is that the participant has a registered company with a business ID that they will develop during the coaching. If you don't have a registered company yet, check out Idea to business -course!

Business Coaching

Do you have a business idea and are considering starting a business? Central Finland's Business Idea is an advisory service that provides information, advice and coaching for those considering starting a business. 

We support you in assessing your business idea, developing your entrepreneurial skills and identifying your personal strengths.
Keski-Suomen Yritysidea

The University of Jyväskylä's Research and Innovation Services (RIS) advise researchers on intellectual property issues and help researchers promote science-based solutions and research-driven business. We aim to bring together researchers, entrepreneurs and the business community, and to bring research-based innovations to the benefit of society.

Research and Innovation Services (RIS) is a service unit of the University of Jyväskylä that advises the university's researchers on research funding, ethical issues, intellectual property rights and the commercialization of research results.

Research and Innovation Services

I want to develop my business

The University of Jyväskylä has financing company, Unifund Jyväskylä Ltd, to support the start-up of research-based businesses. The operations of new businesses may be based on the utilisation of intellectual rights created at the University or on services originating from research results.

Unifund Jyväskylä Ltd

The Finance Panel is an opportunity for companies looking for finance and growth to test their financial viability. It is also a place to get valuable feedback and suggestions for developing your business idea and a great place to make contacts with financiers and investors. Pages are in Finnish.

Rahoituspaneeli

The Enterprise Factory and KS Enterprise Idea also open doors to local entrepreneurial networks. After completing the Entrepreneur Training, you can apply for the Entrepreneurship Factory's funding panel and incubator. JYU's own investment company, Unifund, invests in particularly promising university-based companies and makes venture capital networks available to your business. There are also many other support services for companies in the Central Finland region. Ask us for more information and we will be happy to help!