DATASTEP provides Uusimaa-based companies with stepping stones for growth
The DATASTEP project guides SMEs to most suitable services and testing environments so that they can better harness the opportunities of the data economy. Another main objective of the new project is to strengthen data competences.
Through DATASTEP, Helsinki is addressing challenges companies face in the availability and usability of data. The project directs SMEs to domestic and international services as well as testing environments where they can test and develop data-driven solutions.
– It is important to strengthen companies’ data maturity and improve their access to data. Data is a key raw material for AI, effective AI solutions cannot be built without high-quality data. And when solutions can be tested before making larger investments, companies can make better-informed and more sustainable investment decisions, says Kaarina Suominen, Project Manager at Business Helsinki.
In the long term, the project aims to accelerate companies’ growth and international expansion, for example through data-driven AI solutions, by enabling them to leverage opportunities in the data economy.
Targeted at companies leveraging data and AI
DATASTEP guides companies to make use of existing Finnish and European testing and experimentation environments. This will be done by guidance through the European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIH) network connections to European Testing and Experimentation Facilities (TEFs) as well as testing platforms provided by regional RDI actors. These environments help companies develop and validate their data-driven and AI-based solutions before making larger investments.
– DATASTEP focuses particularly on SMEs in Uusimaa that want to develop their business using data and AI. The essential thing for the companies is to have a clearly identified development need, such as better utilisation of certain types of data, the use of new data sources, or piloting AI solutions, Suominen points out.
Regional RDI actors will guide companies to suitable services. Service guidance also takes place through the project’s webinars and other events. The service pathway includes an initial assessment, where tools for evaluating a company’s data maturity can also be used. Based on the assessment, companies are directed to the most suitable testing and support services in Finland and across Europe.
Raising data competences among companies and RDI actors
The second main objective of DATASTEP is to help SMEs develop their data competences and to provide companies with tools for assessing data maturity. The project offers training to companies on themes such as data availability and usability, data maturity assessment, developing data-driven business models, and making use of European testing and experimentation environments.
In addition, DATASTEP offers training to RDI actors on the services of the EDIH network, data maturity tools (such as the EU’s DMAT tool and TIEKE’s data maturity indicators), and how to direct companies to the right testing platforms and onward development pathways in Finland and Europe. Furthermore, DATASTEP will develop an operating model that enables RDI actors in Uusimaa to integrate EDIH services into their own service models.
DATASTEP – Growth from the data economy in Uusimaa is implemented by Business Helsinki together with the National Land Survey of Finland’s Finnish Geospatial Research Institute FGI (project coordinator), the Foundation for Finnish Inventions, TIEKE – Finnish Information Society Development Centre, and Yrkeshögskolan Arcada. The project is co-funded by the European Union, and it started at the beginning of the year and will run until the end of April 2028.
DATASTEP delivers, for example
- a guide to European data points
- a guide to data spaces
- an overview of data economy testing environments, sandboxes and support services
- a validated customer guidance model
- training and webinars on data-driven business for SMEs
- training on EDIH services and SMEs’ data maturity tools for RDI actors
- Data as a Growth Engine for Uusimaa festivals in 2026 and 2027
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What is EDIH?
European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIH) is a service network co-funded by the EU and the member states. Its mission is to help companies and the public sector benefit from digitalisation. The network’s services include, among other things, testing before investment, skills development, support in accessing finance, and networking with other actors.
EDIH thinking is a central part of DATASTEP: RDI actors are trained to identify companies’ needs and to guide companies to the right services and resources so that the use of data translates into concrete business growth.
