The Tartu Science Park, Tehnopol Science and Business Park, Tallinn University of Technology and the University of Tartu, at a development day, put on its way a unique research transfer pilot programme Põhjanael. The aim of Põhjanael is to support research intensive companies, in order to take them to a new level. The participating teams, for this purpose, will be offered a programme, prepared as a tailor-made solution and the support of an advisory team consisting of experts.
The nine month programme will assist four teams in reaching market and investor readiness. The uniqueness of the Põhjanael programme is the use of the development sprint method and the teams consisting of the best mentors in Estonia, so to speak, the dream business development team that advises each participating team. The teams, throughout the programme, will obtain a better understanding of the market, a clearer business model, as well as the capacity to reach the market, more quickly, by positioning one’s product more precisely. The final aim is to be ready for the inclusion of investment and escalating one’s business. This is the first time that two universities and two research parks are participating in a joint programme. The current pilot focuses on a nationally important aim, to support research based ideas, with a long development cycle, to grow into businesses.
The University of Tartu Entrepreneurship Adviser, Aivar Pere, highlighted that within the last two years the university has through the experimental development fund, invested more than 400 000 Euros into research intensive projects. "The Põhjanael will take the joint activities of universities and science parks, in developing research intensive entrepreneurship business, into a new period – an unbroken value chain will be created, where in cooperation, companies are brought to investor readiness or are assisted in crossing the so called “Death Valley””, added Pere.
The teams selected for the high technology entrepreneurship development programme, Põhjanael, are at different levels of development and deal with the development of products/services based on software, as well as hardware, starting from robotics to space science, big data analysis and the Internet of Things.
Teams participating in the programme:
- The solution being developed by Plantinvent, will allow for optimising the use of water for growing plants, as well as a quicker and more flexible reaction to client change, in plant breeding.
- The idea of DC-DC/AC is to create a universal power electronics converter that at the same time, is suitable for direct current, as well as alternating current.
- Unsinkable Robotics an all-in-one robot platform for underwater mapping and monitoring.
- KappaZeta assists agricultural companies, save time and money, by using remote monitoring data, to monitor more precisely and frequently, the use of large areas of fields.