The goal of the visit was to find new business opportunities for Helsinki-based growth companies in New York. According to Business Helsinki, the city’s provider of business, innovation, tourism and employment services, more than a dozen Finnish growth companies joined them on the visit. These companies were selected from programmes in which Business Helsinki acts as a partner.
Three of the companies were selected from Urban Tech Helsinki, a business incubator that supports clean and sustainable urban solutions. Eleven of the companies had previously participated in the international Tech Nordic Advocates’ Helsinki Female Tech Founder Frontrunner mentoring programme, which aims to help women interested in entrepreneurship in the technology sector to start a business or female entrepreneurs who already have a growing business to expand their operations in Finland and internationally. Helsinki wants to ensure that it will be able to maintain its position as a forerunner in technological innovations also in the future while also attracting foreign investments, utilising its entire talent capacity and maintaining equality.
“Helsinki is a pioneer in supporting innovation-oriented entrepreneurship . We bring together top Finnish research, students’ ideas and excellent startup ecosystem. We want to help our companies find new markets", Marja-Leena Rinkineva, Director of Economic Development at the City of Helsinki.
During the week-long visit, the companies participated in various events and meetings with local operators, for example at the Economic Development Corporation, the Unlock Your Startup Nordic Inclusive Investor Summit 2023 event funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers and at the Consulate General. The goal of these meetings was to increase the Finnish growth companies’ possibilities of accessing the New York market.
Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra performs at Carnegie Hall
The city also utilised the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra’s US tour to promote its business cooperation. The Philharmonics toured the United States in May and performed in Washington and New York. These concerts, one of them at the world-famous Carnegie Hall, also culminated Susanna Mälkki’s season as the orchestra’s Chief Conductor. The orchestra’s last performance in the famous New York concert hall was in 1968.