In February 2024, Spinverse celebrated a significant milestone — 20 years of excellent service, growth, and contribution to the field of innovation and impact management in public funding. Founded by Pekka Koponen in 2004, Spinverse started as a vision to bridge the gap between technological advancements, market application and public funding. Today, that vision is still going strong, with a dedicated and diverse team of more than 100 professionals who strive to make this world a better place together with clients.
The journey of Spinverse is a classic narrative where entrepreneurial spirit was met with strong commitment to excellence. In its early days, Spinverse focused on helping businesses in Finland to leverage emerging technologies and transform them into marketable products and services through public funding programmes.
One of the first programme coordination assignments by Spinverse took place during 2007-2013 with Tekes Functional Materials, where the 160M€ programme was driving application-oriented R&D on advanced materials and related processing methods through intensive multidisciplinary cooperation between top players in academia and industry creating competitive advantage for Finnish industry. The active role as a neutral coordinator in this Tekes programme with about 150 projects followed by many other public and industry driven programmes has made Spinverse known as a trusted expert for building and leading large collaboration activities as well as created extensive partner networks in many areas of industry and research. Our senior colleagues reminisce those times fondly.
Amongst our current employees, at least Markku Heino, Matti Kuusisto, Katri Saarinen and Vilja Vara were involved in the programme management teams of the Tekes programmes which paved the way for the development in sustainability, digitalisation and ecosystems we see today. As for development activities, we owe a great deal to Pirjo Pasanen for progressing our business related to EU funding proposals, and to Eeva Viinikka for concentrating her energy on expanding our microelectronics business.
We also extend our heartfelt gratitude to our ex-CEO Laura Koponen who celebrated her 15th anniversary at Spinverse in 2023. Laura's contributions as a leader have been fundamental to our success and growth. Her commitment, wisdom, and guidance have been a source of inspiration for everyone. Although she has transitioned from her CEO position, she remains an integral part of Spinverse, offering her continued support as Vice-Chair on the Board of Directors.
Spinverse has also expanded its services beyond the Finnish borders, tapping into the broader European market. It was not just about growing from a one-man idea to an international business with more than 100 employees across Europe. It is also about enriching the expertise within the team. Spinverse has made a conscious effort to attract local and international talent from diverse fields in sustainable industries, health technologies, digital industries as well as bringing aboard experts in business and research. Today, we have more than 20 nationalities working at Spinverse. All this has enabled the company to offer a multidisciplinary approach to its clients.
Spinverse’s commitment to fostering innovation is evident in our services, ranging from helping startups to find their footing in the competitive tech industry to assisting multinational corporations in managing large-scale innovation projects and ecosystems. Spinverse's expertise in securing public funding, particularly from European Union instruments such as Horizon 2020 and its successor Horizon Europe, has been a game changer for many of our clients. Over the years, we have also grown our expertise on successfully securing funding for our clients from national actors such as Business Finland.
One of the keys to Spinverse's success has been its ability to adapt to the changing tides of technology and market needs. Whether it's the shift towards sustainable technologies or the integration of digital solutions across various sectors or bringing AI to support our processes, Spinverse has consistently stayed ahead of the curve, guiding its clients through transformations and helping them to seize new opportunities. There are many success stories to share and one of them is Spinverse helping to secure funding for the CSC Datacenter in Kajaani, Finland. The budget of the LUMI supercomputer project was 207M€ and it was partially funded by EuroHPC JU. Read more about our success stories on our website.
Spinverse has established itself as a trusted partner for companies looking to navigate the complex landscape of public funding and commercialisation. Our commitment to making an impact through our sustainable projects with our clients is becoming more important than ever. Through our projects, we are proud to have contributed to tons of CO2 emission avoidance, hundreds of new jobs, innovations in health technology to improve the lives of individuals, and digitalisation of industries…and then some!
Spinverse CEO Fredrik Nyman sums up: “As we celebrate our 20th anniversary, we look back on a rich history of achievements and forward to a future filled with possibilities. With our strong and diverse team in Finland, Sweden, Italy and Germany, we proudly continue our role as a leader in innovation consulting and impact management, driving growth and success for businesses ready to shape the future and make a difference to the world we live in.”
Here's to many more years of innovation!
