Insights

European Working Group of Innovation Consultants (EWGIC) brings together innovation experts to exchange experience and best practice and promote professional development in EU research, development and innovation projects. Marie Latour, Pekka Koponen and Xavier Aubry are members of EWGIC and wrote an important plea to draw attention to the current situation, where COVID-19 crisis has led private investment in pre-market, high-risk start-ups dry up overnight. With no cash flow, the start-ups need support to stay afloat. The EIC Accelerator could be used to help them.

We cannot allow the current COVID-19 crisis stop innovation - let's carry on regardless! However, identifying the right funding and partners for innovations can be challenging with the increasing number of multi-disciplinary EU calls. There are still ways to navigate through the funding application jungle. To help you get started, we are arranging a webinar where we tell you about upcoming EU funding opportunities for sustainable industries and how you can find the right funding instruments using Spinbase.

Join our Spinbase webinar on May 5th, 2020 at 15.30-16.30 (Helsinki, UTC+3, EEST) to learn new ways to find EU funding opportunities and partners! 

Technical Research Center (VTT) experts in the European Commission Programmes team are specialised in scouting for suitable EU-funded calls to find funding for the VTT research projects. Isabel Pinto Seppä has worked on the challenging task to identify the suitable calls for VTT. She shares her experiences with Spinbase tool which she has found very helpful in fulfilling her tasks. 

This year, the jury consisting of leading Finnish technology influencers chose Sandvik’s Director for Research and Technology Development Jani Vilenius and Genelec R&D Director Aki Mäkivirta as the winners in the CTOs of the Year 2020 Awards. The award went to those technology leaders who had contributed to their company’s growth or innovativeness over the past year with their impressive work.

Europe is committed to be the first climate-neutral continent in the world and to reach this goal, the European Commission has published an extensive climate program known as the European Green Deal. The aim of this program is to update the central legislation and channel thousand billion euro as guarantees, loans and public venture capital into green technologies, sustainable solutions and new businesses. At best, this roadmap takes European industries as the forerunners in the quest for a greener world. 

To support teachers in their important educational work during the coronavirus pandemic, Spinverse launched Koulu.me portal, which showcases close to thirty Finnish edtech companies. These companies currently offer their apps free of charge to schools and other educational institutions worldwide. The campaign has been warmly welcomed by teachers who are currently struggling with many challenges in these exceptional times.

The ongoing coronavirus outbreak is closing schools worldwide and confines teachers and students at their homes for weeks. This challenging situation prompted a group of Finnish edtech companies to reach out a helping hand and provide free access to some of their pedagogical solutions well suited for distance learning. 

Maailmaa ravisteleva koronaviruspandemia sulkee kouluja, jonka seurauksena opettajat ja oppilaat joutuvat jäämään kotiin jopa viikkokausiksi. Ryhmä suomalaisia koulutusteknologian startup-yrityksiä päätti tarjota etäopetukseen soveltuvia sisältöjään ilmaiseksi koronavirusepidemiasta kärsivien koulujen käyttöön. 

Spinbase is a tool developed by Spinverse to ease the complex task of finding the most suitable EU funding instrument for various R&D projects and at the same time, for identifying the relevant partners. Since early 2019, the research support services at Tampere University have successfully been using Spinbase for screening funding opportunities for their research projects.

Solving big and complex global challenges in urbanisation, climate change and healthcare calls for innovative and disruptive solutions. These can be achieved only through close cooperation across different industries and disciplines. To succeed in such cooperation, special skills in leadership are in key role. To find out what kind of skills are required for successful leadership of multi-partner projects and innovation ecosystems, we turned to our experienced Ecosystem Leader Markku Heino.