Urban Tech Helsinki brings together the best research from Finnish universities in Helsinki’s vibrant startup ecosystem. The participants get to test their solutions in Testbed Helsinki in close collaboration with the City of Helsinki, as well as platforms and networks provided by other cities. The aim is to help urban tech startups with a sustainability mission.
The first-ever call of Urban Tech Helsinki was open during summer 2021 and attracted 46 applicants from 11 countries. The first batch with 13 startups began their journey in Autumn 2021. “We were happy to see that over half of the teams have international backgrounds and almost half have female founders. Diversity is the key to success and to solve the sustainability challenges of cities, everyone must be on board” says Kaisa Ahonen, Project Manager of Urban Tech Helsinki.
This new program is significant to the City of Helsinki, explained Santtu Von Bruun, Head of Innovation and Ecosystems unit at the City of Helsinki Executive Office, as he welcomed the batch and reflected on the past years building the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Today it is more than crucial to have startups with a sustainability edge, the world is changing fast. We need to have the right players be able to support and offer pilots to these startups.
Being a startup in the Urban Tech Helsinki program is a great chance for startups to work directly with the cities and the universities. During the program these startups get the benefits of two biggest startups hubs within Helsinki metropolitan Area: Maria 01 and Aalto Startup Center, while getting coaching and expertise from the experts and connected with relevant players of the ecosystem.
Marika Paakkala, head of Aalto Startup Center, warmly welcomed the teams to the ecosystem of Aalto University entrepreneurship. Aalto Startup Center has a long history of helping entrepreneurs. Now the Urban Tech Helsinki startups will get the expertise and the collaboration coming from the university and its partners.
Introducing the teams, In Alphabetical order
4theDrivers – Solution for autonomous driving
Avaa.io – Building property management solution
Blokgarden – Urban gardening as a service
Citiscope – Leveraging data of social life for communities
Dashfactory – Solution to make biking safer.
Ekotekt – Sustainable construction 3D printing
Evergreen – Changing the supply chain system of small greens.
Greenele – Charging system for e-vehicles
Mooova – Uber for logistics
Resistomap -Monitoring of wastewater
Weavair – Proactive air insights
Vaccuum Insulation System – Sustainable vertical farming concept
Yourspace – SaaS tool for heating system
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