Foreign Investor 2025

The Entrepreneurship Award competition was launched in 1996 under the initiative of President Lennart Meri, originating from the title Foreign Investor 1995. This was no coincidence—foreign investment has indeed been a cornerstone and driving force of the Estonian economy.

I warmly encourage all foreign investors to take part in the competition. Being listed among distinguished companies such as ABB, the most frequent recipient of this title, or other impactful players like Ericsson Eesti, Estonian Cell, and Incap Electronics—and more recent winners such as FLIR Systems and HANZA Mechanics—is a true mark of honor.

Joonas Vänto
Foreign Investor of the Year Category Manager and Director of Estonian Investment Agency
[email protected]

Objective

To recognise successful foreign investors operating in Estonia.

Who can apply?

Companies that operate in Estonia with shares held by international investors and that have made a significant investment in Estonia in the last three years are invited to apply.

Evaluation criteria and process

The following economic indicators are evaluated (comprising 30% of the final result):

  1. Added value1 per employee compared to sector2 in 2024 (15%)
  2. Total volume of investments in euros from 2022 to 2024 (15%)

The enterprise must show a significant achievement in the following areas over the last three years (comprising 70% of the final result):

  1. Creation of a new product, technology and/or industry in Estonia thanks to foreign investment (15%)
  2. Number and description of new highly qualified and/or new added value jobs created as a result of the investments. (15%)
  3. Expanding and implementing the company’s value chain in Estonia (10%)
  4.  Initiating and improving cooperation with local and/or international research and development3 organisations for developing products and /or services in Estonian branches of the company (10%)
  5. Establishing partnerships with local educational institutions to guarantee the training of new specialists (10%)
  6. SDG4, ESG5 or other similar principles are being created or implemented and disclosed by the company (10%)

 

Definitions

  1. Added value per employee = (labour costs including taxes + depreciation of fixed assets + business profit) / number of employees.
  2. Sector is a field of activity at EMTAK (NACE) alphabetical letter level according to 2023 data, as 2024 data will be released in late 2025 or at the beginning of 2026.
  3. Research and development (including experimental development) includes systematic creative activities designed to increase the scope of knowledge and the ability to use such knowledge to uncover new fields of application. Activities can be classified as research and development if they fulfil five core criteria:
    · novel
    · creative,
    · producing uncertain outcome,
    · systematic,
    · transferable and/or reproducible.
    For research and development, all five criteria should be simultaneously fulfilled, whether it is a constant or intermittent activity.
  4. SDG or the Sustainable Development Goals were adopted in 2015 by the United Nations as a call to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that by 2030, all people have peace and well-being. See more: https://sdgs.un.org/goals
    For example: The company has selected and disclosed the SDGs and actively contributes to them in order to achieve sustainable development.
  5. ESG or Environmental Social and Corporate Governance – an environmental, social and corporate governance framework that is integrated into an organisation’s strategy to consider the needs of all organisational stakeholders (such as employees, customers and suppliers and financiers) and find ways to create more value for them. It can be considered a set of management measures and standards through which it is possible to manage the impact of a company and its products and/or services on the environment, people and the economy.
    For example: The company has an ESG strategy, the company has published ESG guiding principles and the company reports on ESG.