The fast pace of life is not only changing our daily routines, but it is also driving large organisations and corporations to find new ways to meet today's challenges. One of the ways to do that is by partnering and collaborating with startup communities.
This weekend Urban Tech Hackathon brought together international innovation partners and startup ecosystem developers from Estonia, Sweden, Finland, Lithuania, Poland, and other countries has attracted tech startups to develop innovative solutions during the hackathon in Kaunas.
“We were happy to meet tech startups from Lithuania, Spain, Germany, Austria, Turkey, Italy, Estonia, the United Kingdom and many more to hack green tech, urban tech and health tech challenges in demand. 46 challenges presented by 22 corporations and public institutions such as Ignitis group and the Vilnius University Hospital Santaros Klinikos were represented during the event. These numbers are impressive and show a positive shift towards startup-corporate collaborations and partnerships. When the need to innovate comes from real-life cases, the whole innovation landscape levels up”, says Tomas Černevičius, the regional coordinator in Lithuania of the international Horizon 2020 program’s Urban Tech project.
The event attracted key Lithuanian startup ecosystem players, among them - the representatives of one of the tech unicorns - Tomas Smalakys, CTO at Nord Pass and Nord Locker. He has introduced the daily routine of making a product that hits the market needs. According to him, being a team player and honest communicator creates a much greater value than most founders usually estimate.
A great pitch is one of the strongest tools for startup companies. Sandra Golbreich, the General manager at Baltic Sandbox Ventures has led a workshop to explain a technique of a pitch. Mentors from Tallinn Science and Business Park Tehnopol, Gdansk Science and Technology Park and LT startup community supported startup teams to shape the execution of solutions to the challenges.
For two days startups - solution providers - and challenge owners were engaged in a creative platform to define innovation and prepare for the pitching contest which resulted in the 5 top winners each receiving 9.500 Eur vouchers. “We found it very useful for expanding our professional network and discussing with other startups”, explains Jarmo Ikonen, the founder of “LED Tailor Oy”.
Ukrainian-UK startup “Everyrun OU” won the grant to develop an urban tech novelty - a platform for live and virtual events in the sports and wellbeing sector. The Finnish team “LED Tailor Oy” received an MVP development grant for disinfection solutions and cross-infection prevention in healthcare.
Even 3 startups were recognized for hacking the green tech challenges. UAB Siemtecha solution was selected to optimize the wastewater pump process. O-Innovations Limited team will focus on a small-scale wind turbine optimized for a household environment and the Gridio 2.0 OÜ startup from Estonia is going to work on the dynamic EV charging service.