From Science to Business!
Tallinn University of Technology and the University of Tartu invite master's and doctoral students, researchers, members of research groups and other interested parties to the research-intensive business idea development program "From Science to Business!"
The programme is designed for researchers and research teams from Tallinn University of Technology and the University of Tartu who have a product or service, based on intellectual capital and/or infrastructure and keen interest towards entrepreneurship. Joining/participating in the program does not entail the obligation to start your own company.
Registration is open until the 03rd of March, 2024! Application can be found here.
Program objectives:
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Identify the business potential of participants' research.
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Introduce researchers to various opportunities for creating and developing science-based companies.
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Provide support in finding alternative commercialization options (e.g., creating a spin-off company or licensing research results).
Why join this programme?
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In workshops provide necessary information for starting and developing a business.
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Business mentors and a network of experts support researchers and teams through various stages.
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Universities take on the costly and complex analysis of intellectual property.
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Opportunity to participate in community events and business festivals.
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Participants are informed about future accelerators and funding opportunities.
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Acquisition of practical skills (business model creation, elevator pitch training).
"From Science to Business!" Spring 2024 programme
In the pre-incubation programme, participants will gain the most important skills and knowledge for founding their science-based company and commercializing their research over a 10-week period.
Workshops take place from March 13 til the end of May, usually every Wednesday from 16:00 to 18:00, simultaneously in UT Delta Center in Tartu and in TalTech Mektory building in Tallinn.
Physical presence in workshops is highly recommended. Depending on participants, the program will be conducted in Estonian or English. For eligible participants the program is free.
Workshops are interactive, and after having covered specific topics, participants can also arrange a separate 30-minute consultations with experts.
Contact of the program manager:
TalTech Startup Centre
Kristy Tättar (Kristy.tattar@taltech.ee, 620 3680)
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13. March 2024 |
Kick off seminar: From science to business |
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20. March 2024 |
Prototyping and product development |
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27. March 2024 |
Market Development |
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03. April 2024 |
Organisational Development |
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10. April 2024 |
Intellectual Property Management |
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17. April 2024 |
Founders Agreement and Legal Aspects |
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24. April 2024 |
KTH innovation evaluation methodology and Road Map. Investor perspective. |
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30. April 2024 |
Pitch Training ABC |
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08. May 2024 |
Networking event |
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15. May 2024 |
Pitch Training, Feedback |
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24.May 2024 |
Demo Day - Pitch presentations |
Organisers have the right to make changes in the calendar.
Do you have to establish a company in the end of the program?
No, there is no obligation to establish a company.
Are also the students welcome to the program?
Yes, if they have a science-intensive idea and/or represent a research group.
Can all team members participate in the program?
Upon entering the program, all team members can participate in the seminars.
Is the participation in the program limited by certain field of research?
The program is interdisciplinary, and there are no restrictions.
What happens if I am unable to complete the program?
The program starts again in autumn, providing another opportunity to join again.
Can meetings be attended remotely?
Meetings take place simultaneously both in TalTech and UT. Participants gather in a designated area in Tartu and Tallinn. If the expert is located in Tartu, the participants in Tallinn can attend online. If the expert is located in Tallinn, the participant in Tartu can attend online. Physical presence is recommended for workshops.
Do I need to already have a business idea to join the program?
You need to have a research based idea you wish to commercialize. During the program, you will determine which is the most suitable way to proceed.
STARTERtallinn programme
If you are interested in advancing your entrepreneurship, learning teamwork, developing business ideas, and learning the basics of creating a start-up company, then the STARTERtallinn programme is perfect for you! The team can consist of 2–5 people.
Target group
All students of higher, professional higher education, and vocational educational institutions as well as upper secondary schools are welcome to join the programme.
Price
Students can participate in all activities for free.
Participation in lectures
To complete the programme, the team or its representative must participate in at least 60% of the trainings and workshops.
Participation in the mid-term and final evaluations
To complete the programme, the team must participate in both the mid-term and final evaluations.
Supervision
A team supervisor from the university is assigned to each team. The team must meet with the supervisor at least once every two weeks (the meeting must be recorded).
Mentoring
The teams are aided in finding a mentor during the programme (general business project development); the needs of the business idea are taken into account when choosing the mentor.
More information is available HERE!
Please note! The whole programme is in English!
The programme ‘Systematic development of entrepreneurial spirit and entrepreneurship education at all levels of education’ is supported by the European Social Fund.
IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT THE PROGRAMME, PLEASE WRITE:
Kristy Tättar
Project Manager
620 3680; 5301 8681
kristy.tattar@taltech.ee
Previous results
STARTERtallinn Autumn 2020 Demo Day
In autumn 2020 there were 57 teams in the STARTERtallinn program and 6 teams in STARTERkohtla-järve program. Similar to spring, teams had to prepare the oneliner and video-pitch. Jury of the preliminary rounds selected 11 teams to the finals + 1 team from Kohtla-Järve (SafeHI).
On the 7th of December, 2020 members of the jury gathered in Palo Alto Club Tallinn to inspect finalists via Zoom and select winners.
Honorary jury:
Krista Kink (Tallinna Ettevõtlusamet), Andrus Oks (Tera Ventures), Anu Oks (EstBAN), Eric Jackson (OSIRIS/Next Gen Digital Government Research Group), Erki Ani (CleanTech ForEst), Eve Peeterson (Startup Estonia), Gerli Veeleid (Harju County Entrepreneurship and Development Consultancy), Jana Budkovskaja (Prototron), Jelena Žovnikova (Fundwise), Jorma Laiapea (Limitless Fund), Nele Plutus (Tallinn Creative Incubator), Kaisa Hansen (TalTech Mektory), Kati Pino (Hedman Partners), Marko Pikani (Deloitte Eesti), Maarja Pehk (Latitude59), Pilleriine Alter (Avokaado), Triin Ilves (Tehnopol Startup Incubator), Tõnis Bramanis (Veebimajutus.ee), Victoria Saar (SEB Eesti)
Winners:
GRAND PRIX - team Paper Reborn
Insipration award - team UnKnot
Insipration award - team ÖkoMotion
Winners Paper Reborn, UnKnot, ÖkoMotion.
Special prizes from our supporters and cooperation partners went to following teams:
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Tehnopol Special Prize - team PAPER REBORN ;
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Prototron Special Prize - team ÖKOMOTION;
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Tallinn Creative Special Prize - team PAPER REBORN;
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Avokaado Special Prize - team RESPORT;
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Cleantech ForEst Special Prize - team PAPER REBORN ;
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Deloitte Estonia Special Prize - team PAPER REBORN ;
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Estonian Business Angels Network EstBAN Special Prize - team RESPORT;
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Fundwise Special Prize - team BANNED BOOKS;
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Law Firm Hedman Partners Special Prize - team EDULOG;
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Limitless Fund Special Prize - team UNKNOT;
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SEB Eesti Special Prize - team ÖKOMOTION;
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Tera Ventures Special Prize - team EDULOG;
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OSIRIS / Next Gen Digital Government Research Group Special Prize - team (G)OLD;
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Tallinn University Special Prize - team EDULOG;
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TalTech MEKTORY Special Prize - team ÖKOMOTION.
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL WINNERS!
We are so very happy and proud of all 57 teams in STARTERtallinn Autumn 2020 and especially proud of the finalists! Well done! Keep on going, only the sky is the limit!
Big-big thanks to supporters and cooperation partners of STARTERtallinn program - we cannot do this without you and your continuos support!
We are honoured to have you in our boat and our sailing together!
STARTERtallinn Spring 2020 Demo Day
In spring 2020, 34 teams participated in the preliminary rounds: 29 teams from STARTERtallinn and 5 teams from STARTERhaapsalu program.
Due to the COVID19 situation there was no possibility to stand in front of the jury and present the idea, teams had to prepare the oneliner and video-pitch instead. According to those jury members of the preliminary rounds selected 10 teams to present their idea in the finals.
Finals - Demo Day - took place on the 29th of May. Jury members gathered in TalTech Mektory to listen to finalists via the Zoom platform, ask questions and select winners.
Honorary jury:
Krista Kink (Tallinna Ettevõtlusamet), Dolores Daniel (EstBAN), Erki Ani (CleanTech ForEst), Harri Tallinn (Ajujaht), Jana Budkovskaja (Prototron), Kadri Võsu (Loomeinkubaator), Kaisa Hansen (TalTech Mektory), Kati Pino (Hedman Partners), Liisi Org (Startup Estonia), Marko Pikani (Deloitte Eesti), Pilleriine Alter (Avokaado), Triin Ilves (Tehnopol Startup Incubator), Tõnis Bramanis (Veebimajutus.ee)
Winners:
GRAND PRIX - team Deeppeat
Insipration award - team MedicSOS
Insipration award - team StudySwipe
Winning teams Deeppeat, MedicSOS, StudySwipe.
Special prizes from our supporters and cooperation partners went to following teams:
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from Ajujaht: team PURU;
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from Avokaado: team LOCOLUS;
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from CleanTech ForEst: team GCase Group;
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from Deloitte Eesti: team GCase Group;
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from ESTBAN: team MedicSOS;
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from Hedman Partners: StudySwipe;
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from Latitude59teams: Deeppeat, MedicSOS, StudySwipe;
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from Prototronteam: Deeppeat;
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from SEB Pank: team Deeppeat;
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from Startup Estonia: teams Eluring, LOCOLUS, StudySwipe;
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from Tallinna Creative Incubator: team Deeppeat;
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from TalTech Mektory: team StudySwipe;
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from Tehnopol Startup Incubator: team Deeppeat;
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from Veebimajutus: teams MedicSOS, Eluring, LOCOLUS
Big-big thanks to our supporters and cooperation partners!
STARTER Spring 2020 is history!
All teams have done a great job and we encourage them to work further on their ideas. 3 months is not enought time to see where it takes and if one works hard – only the sky is the limit!
We wish the best of luck to all teams in the future! Keep on going and hold your head up straight – the World is open for the enterpreneurial people!
STARTERtallinn Autumn 2019 Demo Day
Preliminary rounds took place on the 25th and 26th of November, jury panel choose 11 best teams from 44 to present their ideas at the finals. Finals were held on the 1st of December, 2019 @Saku Suurhall during the robotics festival Robotex International and the following teams participated:
Honorary Jury
Martin Goroško (Tehnopol Startup Incubator), Sten-Kristjan Saluveer (StoryTek), Heiti Mering (Tieto Estonia), Kaisa Hansen (TalTech Mektory), Eva Leemet (Loov Eesti / Creative Estonia), Anette Ustal (SEB Bank Innovation Centre), Eneli Perolainen (Deloitte Estonia), Pilleriine Alter (Avokaado), Maarika Truu (Startup Estonia), Erki Ani (CleanTech ForEst), Katrina Jõks (Tallinna Loomeinkubaator/Tallinn Creative Incubator), Krista Kink (Tallinn Enterprise Department), Piret-Klea Velleste (Fundwise), Vattan PS (Founderly)
Winners
GRAND PRIX - team AdZillah
Insipration award - team BinFree
Insipration award - team newHorizons
The jury; representative of the winner AdZillah. All photos by Elina Poll-Riives.
Special prizes from our supporters and cooperation partners
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from Tehnopol Startup Incubator (Martin Gorosko) - team BinFree
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from Estonian Business Angels Network EstBAN - team AdZillah
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from TalTech MEKTORY (Kaisa Hansen) - team AdZillah
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from Prototron - team GRA-Nanny
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from SEB Bank Innovation Centre (Anette Ustal) - team NewHorizons
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from Fundwise (Piret-Klea Velleste) - team SuperAble
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from Tallinna Loomeinkubaator/ Tallinn Creative Incubator (Katrina Jõks) - team HELGE
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from Loov Eesti (Eva Leemet) - team MARM2018
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from Startup Estonia (Maarika Truu) - team HectorCollector
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from Ajujaht - team Anti-Stress Centre
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from Deloitte Estonia (Eneli Perolainen) - team MARM2018
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from Avokaado (Pilleriine Alter) - team ELSU
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from Tieto (Heiti Mering) - team AdZillah
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from Veebimajutus.ee - team AdZillah, Dressmate, SuperAble
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from Cleantech ForEst (Erki Ani) - team Dressmate
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from Founderly (Vattan PS) - team AdZillah
STARTERtallinn Autumn 2019 Demo Day
Preliminary rounds took place on the 29th of April and on the 6th of May, jury panel choose 10 best teams from 37 to present their ideas at the finals. Finals were held on the 17th of May, 2019 @Kultuurikatel during the conference Latitude59 and the following teams participated:
Honorary Jury
Annika Loigu (ERGO Kindlustus), Erki Ani (CleanTech ForEst), Harri Tallinn (Ajujaht), Heiti Mering (Tieto Tallinn), Jana Pavlenkova (Prototron), Jelena Žovnikova (Fundwise), Kertu Kriisk (Elisa Eesti), Mariana Hagström (Avokaado), Mariko Kolk (Tallinna Loomeinkubaator), Marko Pikani (Deloitte Eesti), Martin Goroško (Tehnopol Startup Inkubaator), Ragnar Toomla (SEB Pank), Toomas Türk (Tallinna Ettevõtlusamet), Tõnis Bramanis (Veebimajutus)
Winners
GRAND PRIX - team Recovery Companion
Insipration award - team Ohhsanugis
Insipration award - team ÄngFree
The jury; winners Recovery Companion. Photos by Marit Kuusk Photography.
Special prizes from our supporters and cooperation partners
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Tehnopol Startup Incubator - Verum Solutions
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Prototron - Recovery Companion
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Tallinn Creative Incubator - Ohhsanugis
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SEB Eesti - Ohhsanugis
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Deloitte Eesti - Ohhsanugis
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Avokaado - Ohhsanugis
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Estonian Business Angels Network EstBAN - Verum Solutions
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TalTech Mektory - Recovery Companion
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Ajujaht - ÄngFree
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CleanTech ForEst - ÄngFree
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Fundwise - Ohhsanugis
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Elisa Eesti - QQ (prev Meme Dating)
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Tieto Tallinn - Smart vending Machines
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Veebimajutus.ee - Ohhsanugis and Smart Vending Machines
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ERGO Insurance - Verum Solutions
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SpringHub - TripTime
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sTARTUp Day - Treff
Congratulations to all WINNERS and FINALISTS - you were doing very well! Keep on going, everything is possible! Big gratitude to our partnrs and supporters - cooperation with you is very valuable!
TalTech Mektory STARTERtech Autumn 2018 and TalTech Mektory Start-up Competiton 2018
Preliminary rounds took place on the 3rd of December, jury panel choosed 12 best teams to present their ideas at the finals. Finals were held on the 6th of December, 2018 @TalTech Mektory conference room and 11 teams participated.
Honorary jury:
Bärbel Jalakas (ERGO Insurance), Heiti Mering (Tieto Tallinn), Mariana Hagström (Avokaado), Juko-Mart Kõlar, Anu Oks (Estonian Business Angels Network Estban), Marko Müürisepp (Fundwise), Kadri Karma (Tallinna Loomeinkubaator/ Tallinn Creative Incubator)
Winners:
GRAND PRIX - team CompAct
Second place - team Timey
Third place - team Smart Immobilizer
The Best STARTERtech team (pre-incubation program) - team CompAct
The Second Best STARTERtech team (pre-incubation program) - team Smart Immobilizer
Photos: Marit Kuusk Photography
Special prizes:
- from Tehnopol Startup Incubator - team Smart Immobilizer
- from Prototron - team Smart Immobilizer
- from Tallinna Loomeinkubaator/ Tallinn Creative - team Smart Immobilizer
- from Fundwise - team Timey
- from Ajujaht - team Shelp Junior
- from Estonian Business Angels Network Estban - team CompAct
- from Avokaado - team CompAct
- from ERGO Insurance - team Smart Immobilizer
- from Tieto Tallinn - team feedMe
Congratulations to all WINNERS and to all 11 teams participating in the finals! Keep on going and never give up! Big thanks to our cooperation partners and supporters - we would never be able to make this program without you!
Business idea development program TalTech Mektory STARTERtech started on 14-16 September, 2018 with the launch event LOOMEHÄKK: CREATIVE TECH
Winners:
I prize - MUUT
II prize - Cookers/Eaters
III prize - InteGradio
Special prizes:
- from Integratsiooni Sihtasutus for integration track - The Game
- from Loov Eesti - The Game
- from Tallinna Loomeinkubaator/ Tallinn Creative - Never Ever Gulliver
- from Prototron - InteGradio
- from Ajujaht - Cookers/Eaters
- from Estonian Business Angels Network Estban - Muut
- from DIGIX - InteGradio
- from Eesti Kunstiakadeemia / Estonian Academy of Arts - Epoxymind
- from ERGO - Never Ever Gulliver
- from Tieto - Muut
- from Startup Estonia - The Game
- from Avokaado - Cookers/Eaters
AUDIENCE FAVOURITE - Filmario
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL WINNERS AND ALL PARTICIPANTS - WELL DONE EVERYBODY!
SPECIAL THANKS TO ALL OUR COOPERATION PARTNERS AND SUPPORTERS!
TTÜ STARTERtech Advanced Demo Day Spring 2018
TTÜ STARTERtech Advanced Spring 2018 Demo Day was held on the 24th of May 2018 at 15.15-18:30 within the big startup and tech conference Latitude59.
There were 9 best ideas/teams selected by the jury in the preliminary rounds who presented their idea in front of the international jury and the international audience of Latitude conference.
It was a successful event, all 9 team pitched very well and gave more than 100% of themselves. Well done!
The winners
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GRAND PRIX (Participation at the University Startup World Cup 2018, October 8-12, 2018 in Copenhagen, Denmark): TIMEY;
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Second Prize (Business Development Award of 1000 EUR from Tallinn Enterprise Department): 3CULAR;
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Third Prize (free office space for 6 months in TTÜ Mektory): LAAVA TECH.
Special prizes
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sTARTUp Dat Special Prize (tickets to sTARTUp Day in Tartu, January 23-25, 2019): team O2B;
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SportRadar Special Prize: team RunMe;
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Avokaado Special Prize (business package subscription for 1 year): Timey;
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Estonian Business Angels Network EstBAN Special Prize (private consultations): LaavaTech;
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Ajujaht Special Prize (entry to Ajujaht TOP 100 of season 2018/2019): Timey;
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Tehnopol Startup Incubator Special Prize (free incubation program in their incubator for 6 months): 3cular.
CONGRATULATIONS TO WINNERS AND TO ALL 9 TEAMS . YOU DID VERY WELL AND WE ARE SO PROUD OF YOU!
Our sincere thanks to members of the jury (Anu Oks, Evelin Mitt, Andrey Lisitsyn, Martin Gorosko, Matt Harvey, Mikko Armila, Petri Saarinen). Special thanks to all our cooperation partners and supporters: ERGO, Ministry of Education and Research, Tallinn Enterprise Department, Avokaado, TEDER, Ajujaht, Tehnopol, Prototron, Estonian Business Angels Network Estban, Sportradar - we are not able to do this without you!
STARTERtech preincubation program will start again in September 14-16, 2018 by joining hands with Loomehäkk. We'll keep you posted!
TTÜ Mektory STARTERtech Autumn 2017 Demo Day and TTÜ Mektory Start-up Competition 2017
TTÜ Mektory STARTERtech program finals and TTÜ Mektory Startup Competition 2017 - took place on the 06th of December and 15 best teams (out of 56) selected by the jury in the preliminary rounds on the 4th of December were pitching their ideas there. (Pitching - each team had 3 minutes to pitch their idea to the jury panel and 3 minutes for questions and answers with the jury.)
Honorary jury
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Angel Investor, Advisor, Social Entrepreneur, Philanthropist Elisabeth P Fullerton
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Teraloop OY: Petri Saarinen
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ERGO Insurance SE: Evelin Mitt
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Teder Law Firm: Mariana Hagström
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Tallinn Science Park Tehnopol: Jaak Raie
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Harry & Reba Huge Foundation: Yrjö Ojasaar
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Enterprise Estonia – Andrus Viirg
Awards
GRAND PRIX – Business development award of 1000 eur by Tallinn Enterprise Department - EHARV
SECOND PRIZE - free office space in TTÜ Mektory for 6 month (incl mentoring and coaching) - STEPCHARGE
THIRD PRIZE - study trip to Silicon Valley - ARTISUN
The BEST STARTERtech team - participation at the STARTER program finals at sTARTUp Day - ARTISUN
The SECOND BEST STARTERtech team -participation at the STARTER program finals at sTARTUp Day- EASY CNC
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Prototron Special Prize (TOP40) - MANUFILTERY
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Tehnopol Startup Incubator Special Prize (free incubation program for 6 months) - ARTISUN
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Avokaado Special Prize (business package subscription for 1 year) - STEPCHARGE
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Grant Thornton Special Prize (4 hours of tax and financial advisory consultations) - BIZADVI
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Harry&Reba Foundation Special Prize - participation in network Globally, Act Locally (NGAL4) program in June in Estonia and in the USA - ARTISUN and STEPCHARGE
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Latitude59 Special Prize (tickets for 3 team members to participate at startup&tech conference Latitude59 in 2018 - STEPCHARGE
Congratulations to all winners! Big thanks to all supporters and cooperation partners: Estonian Ministry of Education and Research, Tallinn Enterprise Department, ERGO Insurance, Teder Law Firm, Avokaado, Grant Thronton, Tehnopol Incubator, Prototron, Harry&Reba Huge Foundation, Latitude59!
See you again in February, 2018!
TTÜ Mektory STARTERtech Advanced DEMO DAY
The finals - TTÜ Mektory STARTERtech Advanced Demo Day 2017 - took place on the 25th of May and 8 best teams selected by the jury in the preliminary rounds were pitching their ideas there.
Time: 25th of May 2017 16.00-18.00
Venue: Kultuurikatel, Tallinn Creative Hub, Põhja pst 27A, Tallinn
Finalists: 8 best start-ups from the preliminary rounds on 22nd of May
Pitching - each team had 3 minutes to pitch their idea to the jury panel and 3 minutes for questions and answers with the jury.
The dream jury
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Elisabeth P Fullerton - Angel Investor, Advisor, Social Entrepreneur, Philanthropist
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Margus Uudam - karma VC
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Olli Rissanen - Wave Ventures
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Petri Saarinen - Chief Development Officer - Teraloop Oy
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Rain Rannu - Fortumo
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Sean Percival - American Investor and Entrepreneur
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Sven Illing - Buildit
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Veikko Maripuu - Head Capital
Awards
GRAND PRIX – participation in The University Startup World Cup 2017 (September 18-22, 2017 in Copenhagen, Denmark) - ETHICO FOODS
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"24h of Free Investor Mentoring” from Head Capital - ELCONS and FUSIONPEDAL
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Legal Consultation from Teder LawFirm - ELCONS
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Wave Ventures Special Prize (private dinner with Finnish investors) - MOLEQL
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Ajujaht Special Prize (Ajujaht TOP100 in 2017/2018) - LAPS KOOLI
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Prototron Special Prize (TOP40) - MORPHO VR
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Development Award of 1000 EUR from Tallinn Enterprise Department and Veebimajutus.ee - LAPS KOOLI
Congratulations to all winners!
Startup Competition
The TalTech Mektory Startup Competition is a business competition where all students from Estonia and abroad interested in creating a startup can submit their idea. Mektory has been organising the competition to promote entrepreneurship since 2011.
The aim of the Mektory Startup Competition is to give participants a first-hand experience of starting a startup business and to help them move to the next, bigger challenges. To support the startup, we have launched the TalTech Mektory pre-incubation programme, where experienced startup creators and industry experts and investors talk about their experiences. All participating teams have the opportunity to find a mentor.
We help the participants of the competition to move on to other programmes, such as Prototron, Ajujaht, and others. In addition, we help them join Tehnopol, Tallinn incubators, Startup Wise Guys, BuildIt, and foreign accelerators.
In seven years, a total of 9 competitions have taken place and more than 250 business ideas have been launched. There have been participants from 26 different nationalities and a total of more than 1,000 participants have taken part in the programme. Those who have completed the Mektory Startup Competition have successfully performed in other programmes, entered incubators and accelerators both in Estonia and abroad, and successfully attracted investments.
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Target group: well-established start-up teams who have completed the pre-incubation
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Focus: ideas from different technology areas
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Competition jury: investors, business angels, entrepreneurs, and mentors
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Prizes: an office in Mektory, study trips, etc.
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Next move: Prototon, Ajujaht, or a Tehnopol incubator
Prototron
Cooperation projects
NOCCA (NOVEL OPPORTUNITIES FOR NEW COMPANY CREATION AND ACCELERATED GROWTH)
NOCCA is a two-year project where TalTech Mektory cooperates with Finnish and Latvian partners and Tehnopol. The project aims to find solutions, create new cross-border companies and generate innovative business ideas in the following areas:
- blue economy (circular economy);
- green economy;
- silver economy.
This project brings together students, companies and experts in the field.
Mektory organizes various events within the project. The first event is the circular economy (blue economy) hackathon, which takes place on October 18-20 at Mektory's new Innovation HUB under the guidance of the best mentors and experts. Students will begin to resolve the challenges which are presented by companies and experts.
All students of Estonian higher education institutions, universities and applied higher education institutions can participate in the hackathon. At the end of the hackathon, an international jury will select 10 ideas that will continue throughout the year in the program. All ten teams can participate in the growth and scaling workshops in Finland and Riga, and an accelerator boot camp in Estonia.
PROJECT AIMS:
- 850 students are exposed to entrepreneurship and challenges in the silver, green and blue economies;
- 6 new cross-border companies with global potential will be created;
- 15 existing early stage startups are supported within the program;
- 6 joint demodays for ecosystem partners are organised during the program;
- 6 joint hackathon challenges are co-created with ecosystem partners;
- Concrete roadmap with responsibilities and annual schedules for ecosystem engagement is created.
Duration: 1.4.2019-30.6.2021
Funding: Interreg Central Baltic
Partners: Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences, Foundation Tallinna Teaduspark Tehnopol, Stockholm School of Economics in Riga, Mektory: the Innovation & Business Center of Tallinn University of Technology.
NOCCA project is running from 1.04.2019 to 30.06.2021. It is financed by the European Regional Development Fund (Central Baltic Interreg Programme 2014-2020).
Want to be part of creating smarter and sustainable cities?
For the second year, TalTech Mektory hosts a smart city hackathon: Future CityHack in Estonia!
Join Future CityHack – a cross-border smart city hybrid hackathon taking place from May 21 to 23 in Tallinn - both onsite and online. The hackathon's aim is to bring innovation to our present cities and work together for more a sustainable and thoughtful future.
A smart city is a place where many ICT solutions are integrated to ensure resource efficiency and lower emissions, but also to meet the needs of the population and improve their quality of life. It affects many areas of the city, including governance and services, transport, energy, the circular economy, health, construction, urban planning.
Contribute to ideas and discussions to work together for a brighter future.
This is a 48-hour hackathon to build new innovative solutions for real-life challenges in the following fields:
- SMART LIVING
- SMART ENVIRONMENT
- SMART MOBILITY
WHY TO JOIN?
Future CityHack is an opportunity to show your talent, build your skills, network with key industry leaders, extend the horizon in the field of smart city, win valuable prizes and just have fun!
WHO ARE WE LOOKING FOR?
We're welcoming students, working practitioners, experts and enthusiasts from different countries and fields – engineers, developers, designers, business visionaries and marketers. If this is YOU, come to the Future CityHack!
Join us and come together to create prototypes of novel solutions for sustainable and efficient cities!
Additionally, we offer business model and pitch training and mentor’s guidance which help you achieve the expected outcome.
You can join with or without an idea, as an individual or a team!
REGISTER HERE https://eventornado.com/event/future-cityhack
MORE INFORMATION about the event can be found https://www.facebook.com/events/220193053229293
Make sure to also join the event on Facebook! We will be posting information about the event, mentors, prizes and all other important updates constantly here, so make sure to attend to stay up to date!
The hackathon will be held in ENGLISH!
NB! When necessary our hackathon will take place HYBRID / ONLINE.
Have questions? Contact us at kerje.kivinurm@taltech.ee
The project is supported by the European Regional Development Fund (Central Baltic Interreg Program 2014-2020)
Heard about growth hacking? This is a multidisciplinary approach which focuses on business growth through rapid experimentation, automation, customer behaviour and creative marketing. Anyone involved in a product or service, including product managers and engineers, can be growth hackers.
Ready to learn new skills and take your startup (idea) to the next level?
This is your chance to:
- Learn the strategies, frameworks, techniques, and tools used by the world’s fastest growing businesses.
- Get a thorough understanding of creative tactics growth marketers use to create and run rapid experiments.
- Optimize every stage of your customer journey to catalyze exponential growth.
- Learn soft and hard tracking, set up automation tools, apply conversion rate optimization frameworks & set up growth loops.
- Learn data-driven decision making.
- Get hands-on with 40 industry tools and work on 32+ guided exercises.
Courses take place 100% online using a mixture of live, interactive classes in a virtual classroom.
This course costs €1997, BUT we can offer ⚡️15 FREE tickets to the selected ones. SIGN UP now and harness the power of growth hacking!
*If you have questions feel free to contact Kaisa Hansen (kaisa.hansen@taltech.ee)
Future City hackathon 2020
On 23.–25th October 100+ students took part in the innovation hackathon organized by TalTech Mektory Startup Centre. With the help of Google Design Sprint 18 smart future City solutions were created in 48 hours!
Duration: 3 days (23.–25 October 2020)
Participants: 100+ students
Teams: 18 teams
Challenges: 7 challenges (4 from ÜlemisteCity and 3 from TalTech/Tehnopol)
Mentors: experts in the field and design mentors (it, ux/ui, marketing, product development and product design, business mentors)
7 CHALLENGES presented by the biggest Smart City campuses in Estonia – Tallinn University of Technology, Tehnopol, and Ülemiste City.
1. CIRCULAR ECONOMY
- Future City is green and and waste free (Ülemiste City)
- Smart environmental solutions for future campus. How to create urban-rural linkages by applying smart environmental solutions in the campus? (TalTech/Tehnopol)
2. COMMUNITY
- Future City is involving (Ülemiste City)
- Community symbiosis of the future campus. How to attract more life and talent to TalTech-Tehnopol campus – people, business, activities and nature in a multipurpose environment? (TalTech/Tehnopol)
3. MOBILITY
- Future City is free of cars (Ülemiste City)
- Future City bus stops are smart and user-friendly (Ülemiste City)
- Future campus is multifunctional and mobile. How to merge TalTech and Tehnopol campuses and create common multifunctional spaces? (TalTech/Tehnopol)
Winning teams:
WINNER - 3000 EUR: Techway - using a gamified problem-solving method to connect TalTech and Tehnopol campuses, students’ and startups.
2ND PLACE - 2000 EUR: Infinder - an easy-to-use digital platform that connects students with internship offers in startups.
3RD PLACE (2):
- 1500 EUR: SkillU - a platform that helps students with different skills to match with businesses and universities.
- 1500 EUR: Multispace - creates smart outdoor classrooms and meeting spaces from sea containers.
Ülemiste City also gave a special prize (from Ülo Pärnits scholarship fond) of 1500 EUR for two teams who are developing smart and user-friendly bus stops. We all can’t wait to use these smart bus stops with sound, colors, and charging points during our cold Estonian winters.
Special prizes from partners: Ajujaht, Prototron, Telia Eesti, MyFitness, UMA Workspace, Be More Superfoods, Orkla Eesti, Tehnopol, Latitude59, sTARTUp Day, Robotex, Comodule, Ösel Birch.
The winners will take part in growth and scaling workshops in Finland and Riga and an incubation program in Estonia in January 2021.
**TalTech Mektory organizes similar innovation prints and development marathons to meet the challenges of companies, organizations, and society. Various development programs are also organized to develop business ideas and empower future talent.
CONTACT US:
Kaisa Hansen
Startup Centre Manager
+372 6203497
kaisa.hansen@taltech.ee
Hackathon took place in cooperation with Ülemiste City – the largest Smart City in the Baltics and privately owned business campus in Northen Europe.
The project is supported by the European Regional Development Fund (Central Baltic Interreg Programme 2014-2020)
Startups at Mektory
At this point there are a total of nine startup companies in Mektory. We have startups with a variety of different focuses starting from green technologies and high-tech to social development
Foxcademy is developing an interactive studying platform for high school students. The platform has dynamic studying content, such as games, 3D models, videos, images, animations etc. which allows students to understand subjects in a better way. At the same time teachers can use our analytics tools to monitor and analyse students’ performance. Foxcademy’s vision is to offer a personal curriculum to each and every student while changing the way education systems work through data analytics.
More information from Foxcademy webpage - www.foxcademy.com
FusionPedal is a music technology startup. Our first project is a guitar pedal system, which helps guitarists to focus on making music and removes the need of making “step dance” on stage. We do this with no compromises in sound. The product is a modular set that consists of guitar effect pedals and one main controller.
Our vision is to grow into a music technology company that creates innovative and easily usable solutions for musicians. Through our technology we help musicians to develop great music and bring back good old technologies in a modern outfit.
Lainergy is developing a mobile ocean wave energy converter, a way to give mankind an access to the ocean's untapped energy. The idea of the project is to create a wave energy converter with a power output comparable to an off-shore wind turbine, but tapping a different energy source. The development of renewable energy, through the power of wind and sun, is one of Estonia's current priorities, but the potential of the sea and its waves remains unused. Based on earlier researches, we have come up with a new method for extracting energy from waves, the power output of which is three times greater than currently existing alternatives. Our mission is to place Estonia at the forefront of the next wave of renewable energy.
Lawtitude Tech OÜ is a legal aid company that was founded by an aspiring team of international students from Tallinn Law School, and that is now working in close cooperation with TTÜ Mektory and Tallinn University of Technology. Lawtitude Tech was designed to address one of the fundamental problems start-ups face, that is: the lack of legal knowledge on all stages of development, from idea-phase to a business. Lawtitude Tech is a unique blend of law and entrepreneurship with a truly international perspective.
The approach of a company is innovative and home-grown in many ways: clients are advised on legal issues by student-interns, who rely on elaborate process maps, templates and extensive research in their work and who are overseen by their peers. This process, in turn, is supervised by the highly qualified and experienced mentors from Tallinn Law School, both practitioners and academics.
Lawtitude Tech offers legal assistance in the areas of:
• Company law
• Intellectual property
• Contract law
• Technology transfer
• Migration rights
Smart Load Solutions is creating a cloud service, which by taking advantage of electricity markets price fluctuations can decrease electricity bills by around 20%. When an industrial or a household electrical device is connected to our cloud, our service will save the information about that device to our database. Then, based on these characteristics and future electricity prices, our optimizer calculates the most optimal time for every client’s device - when to consume electricity and when to not. Only precondition is, that the devices connected to our cloud all have some form of energy storage – like a battery in electric car, water in a boiler, air in a room with electric heater, storage room with a production machine, reservoir in a hydro power plant etc. In this case, electricity is consumed with maximum power when the prices are low and when the prices are high, the storage is used to its utmost capacity. What makes Smart Load Solutions advanced, however, is that this is all done automatically in the background, without any discomfort to the client. Meaning, client never runs out of hot water just because electricity prices are too high.
StepCharge is a revolutionary way to charge smart-devices and lithium batteries.
But why is it exactly revolutionary?
We offer people a possibility to charge their devices in a way that increases their usage time per charge by around 30%. In other words, an additional active usage time of 2-5 hours per day is added to your device! In addition to that, the overall lifespan of the battery increases by up to 30%. All that is achieved only thanks to different charging that is offered by StepCharge.
Even though StepCharge seems to be a piece of hardware, our growth potential is huge, because in reality it is an algorithm/software. We are expanding the scope of our algorithm outside the market of smart devices - to charging electric cars, super-capacitors, and different wireless charging solutions. Our co-operation with well-known brands, such as Valge Klaar, Apple and Skeleton Technologies is helping us to develop the concept even further and to validate the market as well.
For partners
SUPPORT THE TALTECH MEKTORY START-UP PROGRAMMES!
We want to offer more educational and advancing awards and interesting challenges to the student teams participating in the TalTech Mektory startup programmes and are happy to cooperate with both companies and individuals.
COOPERATION WITH COMPANIES
We invite all active entrepreneurs to support and sponsor the activities of the TalTech Mektory startup programmes (pre-incubation, start-up competition, and school youth entrepreneurship programmes). In addition to grants and awards, we want to involve companies or institutions as partners who would suggest topics of interest and real problems that the start-up teams could solve. From among the suitable solutions, the company can choose the recipient of the corresponding special award.
GRANTS AND ADVISORY SERVICES
There are many ways to raise capital. The main ones are: grants from Enterprise Estonia, the Kredex start-up loan, and SmartCap, and Ambient Sound Investments (ASI) on the risk capital side. Four times a year, Prototron accepts applications from those who wish to build a physical prototype of their product. It is also possible to contact the Estonian Business Angels Network (EstBAN).