Finland Times

 

Finland is set to play host to more than 50 startupers and tech hub leaders from developing markets this week.

 

The goal of the event is to establish contacts between players in developing countries and Finland, and give competent people from developing countries a chance to network, look for partnerships and find international financing, said a press release from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs on Tuesday.

 

“Thanks to the current strong economic growth and a forward-looking atmosphere in many developing countries, a lot of new innovations and business activity are now emerging there. This is a means for us to encourage social and responsible companies which contribute to development in their own countries,” explains Lenita Toivakka, Minister for Foreign Trade and Development of Finland.

 

At the same time, Finnish companies were enabled to discover partnerships in developing markets, according to the minister.

 

Among the participating companies and tech hubs, 40 are from the Slush Global Impact Accelerator Programme managed jointly by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the startup event Slush, and the World Bank.

 

The participants were selected among 770 applicants following national competitions held in 15 countries. Over 1,600 people took part in various events held in the margins of the selection rounds, the release mentioned.

 

While in Finland, the participants will attend workshops discussing the scaling up of business, get practice in selling their company’s story to investors and learn about innovation activities in Finland.

 

They will also take part in the start up to scale up international innovation conference ‘Global Innovations for Children and Youth Summit,’ organised by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and UNICEF on 9 and 10 November, and in Slush on 11 and12 November.

 

Some companies and tech hubs will arrive from Vietnam via the Innovation Partnership Programme (IPP) and from Tanzania via the TANZICT programme financed by Finnish development cooperation appropriations.

 

In addition, there will be nine journalists arriving from developing countries, visiting the events and gaining knowledge about the Finnish innovation environment.

 

The companies, tech hubs, and journalists are arriving from Finland’s current and former development co-operation partners, including Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Vietnam, said the release.