Startup Connect Contest for startups from Finland and Russia

Companies and development teams from Finland and Russia who create solutions in the areas of robotics, logistics, IoT, Industry 4.0, smart mobility and others can take part in the contest. 

The winner will receive:

• an invitation to the accelerator LevelUp,
• the possibility to launch pilots with Finnish companies,
• participation package with a booth at the Web Summit 2019 conference in Lisbon.

The Startup Connect Contest final will take place at the Startup Festival *Ship in Kotka (Finland) on August 1-2, 2019. During the festival 10 best projects will be able to present themselves to European investors, take part in mentor sessions and compete for a prize of 5,000 euros.

In addition, *Ship is an opportunity to meet and have a great time with entrepreneurs from different countries in an informal setting: riding a boat, swimming in the lake and just walking around the summer Kotka. For the finalists, a transfer from St. Petersburg is organized, accommodation is paid, a business and cultural program is organized.

Details and acceptance of applications by June 10: startupconnect.info/contest.

Startup Connect Contest is held under Startup Connect project funded by the European Union, the Russian Federation and the Republic of Finland in the framework of South-East Finland – Russia CBC 2014-2020programme. The project is executed by the following consortium: Cursor – Kotka-Hamina Regional Development Company (FIN) (Lead partner), ITMO University (RUS), XAMK – South-East Finland University of Applied Sciences (FIN), St. Petersburg Foundation for Small and Medium-sized Enterprise Development (RUS).

The goal of the Project is to support startups, student entrepreneurship, small and medium-sized businesses in the border region in order to create a community of business leaders ready to enter the global market.

Cursor Oy – Kotka-Hamina, South-East Finland Region Development Agency. Cursor is owned by five municipalities in the region (Kotka, Hamina, Pyhtää, Miehikkälä and Virolahti). The shareholders also include large industrial enterprises and financial organizations in the region. The priorities of the agency are to support small and medium enterprises, including startups, the development of tourism, and the attraction of investments. The total staff is 50 people. The company's turnover in 2018 was about 10 million euros. 

GoTech Innovation has been providing services to corporations on the selection of technological projects and working with them since 2009. Key competencies: startups and technology scouting, acceleration and tracking of innovative projects, creation and implementation of corporate programs and events for working with turnkey startups. For the last 10 years our team has been conducting the largest independent competition and technological projects GoTech forum in Russia and Eastern Europe GoTech Arena. There are more than 6500 startups in our pipeline and in our portfolio there are joint startup programs with partners in Russia, Belarus, Finland, the Baltic States, France, Austria and Latin America.