About HI-GEE

Aims and objectives

The HI-GEE project aims to strengthen Finland’s capacity for economic growth by (a) leveraging the skills and knowledge of high-skilled immigrants for internationalization and growth of Finnish businesses and (b) recognizing and supporting immigrant entrepreneurs seeking to grow and scale their businesses in Finland.

We aim to answer the following questions:

What are the opportunities and current practices of Finnish companies, in particular small and medium enterprises, in recruiting and employing immigrants for boosting their growth and internationalisation?
What challenges and opportunities do immigrant entrepreneurs face in scaling their businesses?

Building on the HIWE project

The HI-GEE project builds on research conducted within the HIWE (High-skilled internationals: bottom-up insights into policy innovation for work and entrepreneurship in Finland) financed by Business Finland. The outcomes of the project include composite stories that reveal working and entrepreneurship experiences of highly-skilled internationals and policy recommendations on how to promote employment and entrepreneurship of highly skilled internationals in Finland .

In the HI-GEE, we re-analyse parts of the research data from HIWE project on experiences of high-skilled internationals in Finland and related data on policies and ecosystems and complement it with new sets of data to understand more on how to foster growth and internationalisation.

Our approach

HI-GEE examines Finland’s capacity to drive economic development by (a) leveraging the skills and expertise of high-skilled immigrants to support the internationalization and growth of Finnish businesses and (b) recognizing and supporting immigrant entrepreneurs in scaling their businesses in Finland.

In addition to data from the HIWE project, HI-GEE gathers insights through interviews and two collaborative workshops.

Interview data

To understand the recruitment and leadership practices of immigrants in Finnish companies—particularly SMEs—we collect data on companies’ experiences, attitudes, and future plans regarding immigrant hiring for business growth and internationalization.

To explore the challenges and opportunities faced by immigrant entrepreneurs aiming to scale their businesses, we collect insights from both entrepreneurs and key actors in the entrepreneurship ecosystem.

Collaborative workshop data

Building on the interview analysis, we will host two collaborative workshops to foster a shared understanding of Finland’s capacity to enhance economic development and to co-create solutions.

The first workshop will focus on immigrant recruitment as a possible path for business growth.
The second workshop will address the needs of growth-oriented immigrant entrepreneurs in Finland.

Based on the analysis of these two data sets, the HI-GEE project will generate actionable insights, policy suggestions, and collaborative solutions to enhance the integration of high-skilled immigrants into the Finnish labor market and support the growth of immigrant-led businesses, strengthening Finland’s economic development.