INNO100 – Sustainable Growth through Innovation

The goal of the INNO100 project is to increase business productivity by strengthening innovation activities, improving the quality of working life, and enhancing expertise in responsible and green development. At the same time, the project strengthens the knowledge and skills of business advisors, enabling them to guide companies more consistently and effectively while supporting them in the commercialization of innovations.

New innovations emerge from expertise, employee well-being, and responsible operating practices. The INNO100 project brings these perspectives together and helps companies transform through practical experiments.

The project’s activities focus on three key themes:

1. Developing work environments that support corporate innovation capabilities
2. Building expertise in responsibility and the green transition
3. Improving occupational well-being within work communities

The INNO100 project strengthens companies’ ability to develop and commercialize responsible innovations. The project supports the establishment of effective innovation processes, the integration of the green transition, and the enhancement of occupational well-being. It also boosts the capacity of business advisors to support companies in identifying innovation opportunities and bringing them to market. Business advisors participate in the project’s activities and apply the tools developed within the project to their own work.

The development work is carried out in collaboration with SMEs and business advisors. Agile innovation experiments are conducted within the SMEs to develop practices that enhance the companies’ innovation and sustainability capabilities and support employee well-being.

Based on the experiences gained from these experiments, a nationwide methodological framework is being created for use in business advisory services, with the aim of ensuring that the developed operating models and tools become a permanent part of the operations of both the companies and the business advisors.

The experiments within the companies will begin in early 2027.

The INNO100 project will strengthen corporate innovation cultures, improve the quality of working life, and enhance the conditions for commercializing responsible innovations. At the same time, the expertise of business advisors will be strengthened nationwide. INNO100 integrates innovation, employee well-being, and the green transition into a unified whole. Development takes place simultaneously within companies and business advisory services, thereby increasing the impact of the results and supporting their permanent adoption.

The project is implemented in collaboration by Centria University of Applied Sciences, LAB University of Applied Sciences, Osuuskunta A. Vipunen, Oulun seudun Uusyrityskeskus ry, and Suomen Uusyrityskeskukset ry.

The project is co-funded by the European Union (Economic Development Centre of Northern Finland) and is implemented from 1 August 2026 to 31 December 2028.