Urban Tech Helsinki is an incubator supporting clean and sustainable urban solutions. The incubator aims to help innovative and high-growth companies to solve urban challenges. The activities focus especially on clean energy, mobility, sustainable construction, the circular economy, waste management and urban food production. Through Urban Tech Helsinki, the City of Helsinki wants to attract experts and businesses to the Helsinki Metropolitan Area and support and accelerate the creation and early growth of new startups, especially research-driven ones. Eight new startups have now been selected for the Urban Tech Helsinki incubator.
The new startups in the incubator were able to present themselves and hear each other’s business ideas at the launch event held at Maria 01 at the end of September. These events are an important part of the Urban Tech Helsinki concept, as they enable peer learning and support the sharing of business experiences.
Urban Tech Helsinki consists of coaching sessions and workshops tailored for companies
Urban Tech Helsinki starts with an 8-week intensive period of workshops and group coaching sessions. They cover the key elements of startups, such as business modelling, the impact of sustainability, team building, communication and, of course, finance. Another essential part is the individual coaching sessions with the advisers of the Aalto University team that runs the practical operations of the incubator.
The Urban Tech Helsinki incubation period lasts 1–3 years, depending on the needs of the company, to provide early-stage companies with sufficient time to develop their business and test their solutions together with the City of Helsinki’s Testbed and partner network.
– Urban Tech makes Helsinki a unique operator in the startup scene. In many countries, cooperation between startups and public operators, such cities, is non-existent. In addition, the services offered by the three universities in areas such as research and student cooperation are a great advantage for startups. For instance, companies’ products have been further developed and tested at Metropolia’s innovation units, and we have organised together with the University of Helsinki's Viikki Food Design Factory an event to bring together startups and students. We will continue to work closely together to get more ideas and companies from the campuses to solve the sustainability challenges of cities, says Kaisa Ahonen, Urban Tech Helsinki Project Manager at Aalto Startup Center.
Explore the third batch of companies in the Urban Tech Helsinki incubator
The following companies started in the incubator in September 2022:
- Arctic Farming Oy
- Formup
- IO-dit
- Missing-Link Oy
- Nelinor
- Plan T
- Skipit
- Superhood Oy
More information about the companies selected for the Urban Tech Helsinki incubator and their business ideas is available here.(Link leads to external service)
Helsinki wants to be Europe’s leading platform for innovative businesses
The aim of Helsinki is to be Europe’s leading platform for experimentation and innovation in business by 2025. In addition, the city wants to develop business environments, promote the employment of Helsinki residents and enable sustainable and knowledge-based economic growth. The Urban Tech Helsinki incubator contributes to all of these objectives.
The Urban Tech Helsinki incubator is a partner of Aalto University, the University of Helsinki and Metropolia University of Applied Sciences.