Category Archive: News
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StemSight wins the New Nordics Pitch Competition Finland 2022
Comments Off on StemSight wins the New Nordics Pitch Competition Finland 202215.06.2022 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – TAMPERE, FINLAND
StemSight wins the New Nordics Pitch Competition Finland 2022
Platform6, the organiser of the Silicon Vikings New Nordics Pitch Competition 2022 in Finland, is excited to announce that StemSight has been selected a winner in the Regional Finals on 15 June 2022 at Arctic15 x Tampere Startup Conference, part of DigITre and Tampere Smart City Week Conference & Expo.
StemSight is a cell therapy startup developing novel treatments for blindness operating in Tampere, Finland. It is all female founded and a member of Platform6 startup house. StemSight’s aim is to develop off-the-shelf human spare parts to replace corneal donor tissue using human pluripotent stem cells. The team compliments the scientific excellence in stem cells and tissue engineering of the founder team with experience from clinical ophthalmology and pharma industry in their board of directors.
“There is a huge lack of cornea donor tissue with 12.7 million people worldwide waiting for a corneal transplant. We can use human stem cells to manufacture new corneal cells in a scalable way to provide solutions for different types of corneal blindness”, explains Laura Koivusalo, co-founder and CEO of StemSight.
StemSight will represent Finland in the New Nordics Grand Final during the SLUSH week this November going up against startups from Sweden, Iceland, Denmark, Norway, and the Baltics to become the New Nordic Grand Champion 2022. All regional winners will be invited to join the Silicon Vikings for a bootcamp trip to Silicon Valley in 2023. Also meetings will be set up with investors from all the countries that took part in the competition.
The New Nordics Pitch Competition is a pan-Nordic and Baltic pitch competition that gathers the best startups/scaleups of the New Nordics. The winners have been selected based on the idea, ability to scale, business plan, traction, competitive advantage, market needs, presentation, team, and the ability to solve real world problems.
About the jury
Ville Heikkinen
Partner at Butterfly Ventures
Hands-on transaction and fund management specialist with 15 years of experience in entrepreneurship, VC financing, M&A and technology management, L.LM and M.Sc. in Economics, Partner of Butterfly Ventures since 2014. His knowledge of all sorts of business related agreements is extraordinary and an enormous help to any startup. He’s social, has a great contact network and has an almost magical ability to connect the right people. In addition he’s a creative thinker, deep in the startup scene and truly fun to work with.
Timo Felin
Investment Director at Vendep Capital
Timo has a strong background in managing VC and corporate VC networks and deal flow from Finland. In addition, Timo has been a founding partner at Helsinki Ventures, an early stage venture development company and an accelerator focused on helping teams from former CIS-countries in developing their customers and entering the markets in the West. Timo is especially strong in getting companies ready for raising their A rounds.
About Silicon Vikings
Silicon Vikings is a 45,000+ network that connects Nordic and Baltic Innovation with Silicon Valley and vice versa. We are a non-profit organisation that has been headquartered in Silicon Valley since 1997 with nodes throughout the Nordic and Baltic region and we act as a bridge between regions. We organise approximately 20-25 events in the Bay Area each year in addition to cross-border events with our nodes and partners in the New Nordics to better connect the two regions. We organise networking events and pitching competitions in the Nordics/Baltics & in Silicon Valley. For more information visit www.siliconvikings.com/home
Media contact: Alexandra Santos, alexandra@platform6.fi, 040 824 36 35.
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Startup-Startti – Platform6 & Tredu
Comments Off on Startup-Startti – Platform6 & TreduStartup-Startti – Platform6 & Tredu
Startup-Startti on moduulipohjainen koulutus kansainväliseen kasvuun suunnitteleville yrittäjille.
Virallinen tutkintorakenne perustuu Yrittäjyyden ammattitutkintoon ja tässä Startup-Startissa tavoitteena on yksi tutkinnon osa 30 osp Tredun kautta. Opintoja voi jatkaa koko tutkintoon suorittamalla Startup-Effective (60 osp) ja Startup-PowerMarketing (60 osp) opintokokonaisuudet.
Ajankäytön tarve noin neljä tuntia viikossa. Moduuleja voi kerrata ja niiden järjestystä voi vaihdella. Startup-Startti siis muodostuu 15 x 4 tunnin moduuleista.
Download the full programme here.
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Top 6 startups selected for New Nordics Pitch Competition Finland Finals 2022
Comments Off on Top 6 startups selected for New Nordics Pitch Competition Finland Finals 202230.05.2022 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – TAMPERE, FINLAND
Top 6 startups selected for New Nordics Pitch Competition Finland Finals 2022
Platform6, the organiser of the Silicon Vikings New Nordics Pitch Competition 2022 in Finland, is delighted to announce that the top 6 regional finalists have now been selected by the regional juries. The Finnish finalists that will compete against each other in the Regional Finals on 15 June 2022 at Arctic15 x Tampere Startup Conference, part of DigITre and Tampere Smart City Week Conference & Expo, are Quanscient, FinnAdvance, Kodarit, Peili Vision, StemSight, and Vital Signs. The winning startup will represent Finland in the New Nordics Grand Final during the SLUSH week in November going up against startups from Sweden, Iceland, Denmark, Norway, and the Baltics to become the New Nordic Grand Champion 2022.
The New Nordics Pitch Competition is a pan-Nordic and Baltic pitch competition that gathers the best startups/scaleups of the New Nordics. The regional finalists for Finland have been selected based on the idea, ability to scale, business plan, traction, competitive advantage, market needs, presentation, team, and the ability to solve real world problems.
About the finalists
Quanscient. For complex product design, simulations are an essential part of the product development process. They’re being used extensively in chip design, electric motor design, aerospace, automotive, and many other industries. But current simulation tools are lacking in both computing power and capabilities. This means that e.g. every airplane must still be wind tunnel tested. This makes product development slow, and expensive and limits new and innovative solutions. Digital twins simulations will revolutionize R&D.
FinnAdvance. Finnadvance is developing miniature chips for the pharmaceutical industry and for research. The chips mimic functions of a human organ and allow for more precise and expedient drug discovery.
Kodarit. There is a lack of coding talent available in the market to cover the need of a society in which digitalization is increasing. The coding courses offered at public schools aren’t up to an optimal level and are insufficient to keep children motivated to code in the long run. Kodarit offers a fun way to create IT talents. Our tested curriculum is based on high quality, fun and diverse digital learning concepts developed by us.
Peili Vision. ADHD is a neurological disorder that affects as many as 500 Million people worldwide. Yet, healthcare systems for diagnosing, providing rehabilitation and monitoring these conditions – are completely ineffective to meet the global need. Today, medical professionals have to rely on pen and paper evaluation that provide no objective data for accurate treatment decisions. Diagnosis is based on subjective evaluations, where suitable medication and therapy exercises are found through trial-and-error.
StemSight. We are curing corneal blindness by developing off-the-shelf cell therapies from human stem cells. Our solution can cure a specific form of blindness that has been untreatable until now. In the future, we are also tackling the global shortage of corneal donor tissue by bringing our therapies to the 12 million people currently waiting for transplants worldwide.
Vital Signs. Doctors have a limited time per patient to perform several examinations and document all in text format. Our solution combines the most common measurements in one connected and smart device. The device not only detects and analyses heart and lung sounds, but also measures oxygen saturation, pulse, ECG, respiratory rate, temperature, blood pressure and HRV, all in one process. Results are analysed by AI and saved in digital format automatically.
About Silicon Vikings
Silicon Vikings is a 45,000+ network that connects Nordic and Baltic Innovation with Silicon Valley and vice versa. We are a non-profit organisation that has been headquartered in Silicon Valley since 1997 with nodes throughout the Nordic and Baltic region and we act as a bridge between regions. We organise approximately 20-25 events in the Bay Area each year in addition to cross-border events with our nodes and partners in the New Nordics to better connect the two regions. We organise networking events and pitching competitions in the Nordics/Baltics & in Silicon Valley. For more information visit www.siliconvikings.com/home
Media contact: Alexandra Santos, alexandra@platform6.fi, 040 824 36 35.
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Finnish round of New Nordics Pitch Competition will be organised by Platform6 in Tampere on June 15th 2022.
Comments Off on Finnish round of New Nordics Pitch Competition will be organised by Platform6 in Tampere on June 15th 2022.Silicon Vikings network has announced that the Finnish round of its New Nordics Pitch Competition will be organised by Platform6 on June 15th in Tampere.
It will take place at Arctic15 x Tampere Startup Conference, part of DigITre and Tampere Smart City Week Conference & Expo on June 15th. The application period is open until May 15th, 2022.
The competition gives startups and scaleups a platform to present their innovations to potential investors and the winners will take part in the Grand Final at Slush in November 2022, in which they will compete to be the New Nordics Grand Champion. The industry focus are Smart Mobility, Sustainability, Digital Technologies, Digital Safety and Security, Smart Data and Health Technologies. The jury will comprise leading representatives from Silicon Valley and Finland’s technology investment community: venture capitalists and angel investors.
“The Platform6 team are thrilled to be part of the Silicon Vikings’ effort to strengthen and showcase the best of the new Nordic founders and innovations. We are extremely proud of and definitely looking forward to hosting the competition in Finland as well as bringing the Nordic and Baltic startup ecosystems more closely together”, explains Platform6 CEO Alexandra Santos.
TIMELINE:
15 May 2022: Application deadline
29 May 2022: Announcing top 6
15 June 2022: Top 6 pitching on Arctic15 x Tampere Startup Conference, part of DigITre and Tampere Smart City Week Conference & Expo
About Arctic15 x Tampere Startup Conference, part of DigITre and Tampere Smart City Week Conference & Expo On 14–15 June 2022, the Tampere Smart City Week Expo and Conference in Tampere, Finland brings developers, companies and city representatives together to discuss on smart city development for the fourth time. The seven themes of the Tampere Smart City Week cover the smart city development ranging from smart mobility, sustainability, digital technologies, digital safety and security as well as smart data and health technologies.For more information visit: https://arctic15.com/arctic15-tampere-2022/#/
About Silicon VikingsSilicon Vikings is a 45,000+ network that connects Nordic and Baltic Innovation with Silicon Valley and vice versa. We are a non-profit organization that has been headquartered in Silicon Valley since 1997 with nodes throughout the Nordic and Baltic region and we act as a bridge between regions.We organize approximately 20-25 events in the Bay Area each year in addition to cross-border events with our nodes and partners in the New Nordics to better connect the two regions. We organize networking events and pitching competitions in the Nordics/Baltics & in Silicon Valley. For more information visit www.siliconvikings.com/home
For more information contact: Alexandra Santos, alexandra@platform6.fi ,040 824 36 35.
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Platform6 has been officially announced a member of the European Startup Network (ESN).
Comments Off on Platform6 has been officially announced a member of the European Startup Network (ESN).BIG NEWS! Platform6 has been officially announced a member of the European Startup Network (ESN).
ESN unifies 38 national startup associations to create a common voice for European startups so that more can start, scale, and succeed in Europe.
As part of this network, Platform6 will work on joint projects including international soft landing missions for startups, pan-European policy manifestos, and best practices in running national networks, among other activities. We also get access to 38 national startup ecosystems, stakeholders and experts and +30.000 validated startups over Europe.
“Connectedness matters. To achieve a strong local startup ecosystem global connections are essential to drive opportunities, bring networks and best practices to ensure startups have the best environment in Europe to scale and grow”, explains Platform6 CEO Alexandra Santos.
For more information contact: Alexandra Santos, alexandra@platform6.fi ,040 824 36 35.
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Platform6 operator Tampere Startup Hub Oy appoints new CEO Alexandra Santos
Comments Off on Platform6 operator Tampere Startup Hub Oy appoints new CEO Alexandra Santos05.04.2022 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – TAMPERE, FINLAND
Platform6 operator Tampere Startup Hub Oy appoints new CEO Alexandra Santos
Tampere Startup Hub Oy has appointed Alexandra Santos as the new Chief Executive Officer of the company. Tampere Startup Hub Oy, which consists of representatives of local startup networks Köy Ry (Tampere Startup Hub), Stream Festival and Tampere Game Hub, has functioned as the operator of the Platform6 Startup House since 2020.
“Alexandra has been the COO of Platform6 and part of the operations from the very beginning, and is a true powerhouse of startup relations, devoted and dedicated to boosting the ecosystem further”, says Tomi Toikka, member of the board of Platform6 and Director of Tampere Game Hub ry.
“I am excited for the opportunity to take on this new big challenge and continue strengthening the local scene to have a better foundation for local startups to grow and thrive internationally from Tampere. In my new role, I will focus even more on connecting Platform6 to key partners and global organisations, providing top expertise and resources, and making the ecosystem stronger together”, explains Alexandra Santos.
The current board of Tampere Startup Hub Oy consists of Joni Lappalainen (Co-Founder and Chairman, Tampere Startup Hub Oy and Co-Founder Tampere Game Hub ry), Anna-Elina Pekonen (Co-Founder, Tampere Startup Hub Oy and Stream Startup Festival), Markus Klöf (Co-Founder, Tampere Startup Hub Oy and Stream Startup Festival), Janne Kaakinen (Coordinator/Producer, Tampere Game Hub ry) and Tomi Toikka (Co-Founder, Director of Tampere Game Hub ry). Alexandra Santos begins her duties as CEO immediately with the full cooperation of the board.
All photographs are by Carolin Büttner.
For more information contact: Alexandra Santos, alexandra@platform6.fi ,040 824 36 35.
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Why There Should be More Startup-Corporate Collaborations in Tampere
Comments Off on Why There Should be More Startup-Corporate Collaborations in TampereWhy There Should be More Startup-Corporate Collaborations in Tampere
As a startup founder or a team member, you most likely have an endless supply of passion and willingness to learn as much as you can about your industry. However, it is pretty impossible to know everything there is to know about every area of business, and have all the resources available to you immediately within your team. You may find that you or your team lack experience in specific areas, or need access to a workspace, or could use funding/investment as well as professional guidance from seasoned professionals. Incubation, acceleration, advisory, and other partner programmes offer startups some truly valuable support.
One such programme is the EEX Journey that matches startups with corporate leaders as advisors in a year-long entrepreneurial journey. Over the course of the year startups benefit from an advisory board’s growth strategy guidance, business insights and network.
Having an advisory board is key to the growth of many startups across the world. Advisors are a valuable resource – they help your startup tackle distinct challenges and propel your business forward. An expert selection of professionals can fill the experience or expertise gaps in your own team. Finding dedicated people with specific skills and building an advisory board to match your startup’s unique needs can be challenging – programmes such as the EEX Journey can help.
EEX Journey Kick-off group 2021
“The power of social capital is still underutilized. The insights the teams are exchanging are deep and strategic, beyond ordinary small talk. Many startups have learned how to better collaborate with and sell to large corporations. Corporations are tackling to keep their offerings up to date and build new initiatives. We’ve proven it’s possible to learn and adopt new drive and speed from entrepreneurs”, Elisa Kitunen, Country Manager, EEX Oy.
No No No, a member of Platform6 in Tampere, is a third-party platform created for consumers and businesses to work together to resolve issues and build better future customer experiences for both parties. The startup believes that if businesses work with transparency and integrity, the positive results will surely follow. No No No joined the EEX Journey programme in January 2021 and believes that programmes such as this one are critical for connecting startups with the corporate environment.
“There has been a gap in the cooperation between startups and corporations in Tampere. As a startup that targets corporations in Finland, we need to understand their pain points and the way they make purchasing decisions”, says Jaakko Timonen, Founder and CEO at No No No.
No No No and their advisory board team
Another Platform6 startup, Valaa Technologies, has also benefited from programmes such as the EEX Journey. This prop-tech startup uses software robotics to help building owners connect their legacy automation systems to the cloud. “We pivoted our busienss during the EEX program. Our advisors had invaluable connections and experience that helped set our course with the new product. Also, their journey hasn’t ended yet: they now form our permanent advisory board and have also joined as investors”, says Ville Ilkkala, CEO at Valaa Technologies.
Great ideas and passion will only take your startup so far. Having a good network of professionals supporting and backing your mission can make all the difference in your growth. The ongoing pandemic has proven once again that startups need a supportive and collaborative community and can greatly benefit from programmes within the ecosystem.
The next EEX Journey starts in January 2022 – apply now through this form: https://www.eexglobal.com/eexstartup
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2nd floor incubation area of Platform6 welcomed the first startup teams
Comments Off on 2nd floor incubation area of Platform6 welcomed the first startup teamsThe 2nd floor of the Platform6 startup house has an open-plan office space for resident startups, and also an “incubation area” reserved to provide support and services for startup teams who are not quite ready to be on their own yet. The first three startup teams moved into the house just a couple of weeks ago, so we asked them about their experience so far.
The startup teams and their concepts
Crowdchupa has a platform for crowdsourcing infrastructure data collection. Users take part in these tasks via Crowdchupa app by simply recording videos from different locations marked on the map with virtual objects that are worth money. After this, the data is analyzed by artificial intelligence and presented to the customer organizations. Crowdchupa did its MVP in August 2020 and has sold projects already to Lempäälä, Helsinki, Tampere, Vaasa, Kuopio, Vihti and Paimio. Many new clients and app features are also coming up, so exciting times are ahead!
Lainappi has an app that enables people to rent household items to each other. They developed their prototype in the summer of 2020. At the moment they are developing their final product, and if all goes well, it will be launched at the end of March 2021.
Ruska Skincare focuses on skincare products made only from natural Finnish ingredients. The products are made “for you and by you” because customers can also make their own skincare products at home with a DIY kit. They started operating in the summer of 2020 and launched their first product already in October of the same year.
2nd floor teams: Co-Founders Kimi Siefen and Aukusti Eskola from Lainappi (left), CEO and Founder Rahel Beil from Ruska Skincare (middle), and Head of Communications Juhani Poutanen with CEO and Founder Toni Paju from Crowdchupa (right). Red Brick Accelerator as a gateway to the house
The 2nd floor incubation area is provided for the startup teams free of charge by The City of Tampere for the first six months. All the first three talent teams came to the 2nd floor incubation area through the city’s collaborator: Red Brick Accelerator program. Red Brick offers intensive coaching and mentoring for ideas and early-stage startups.
“We needed help to clarify our business idea, and had not yet been working on our business plan, so we needed some help with that. I Googled and found Red Brick Accelerator, and decided to apply. We have been with Red Brick since the Pre-Accelerator last autumn and are now part of the main program. A while ago the program lead Mirza Sagdati told us there might be a possibility to get a space for us at Platform6, and we were of course very excited about the opportunity!” says Toni Paju, Founder and CEO of Crowdchupa.
Lainappi ended up in Red Brick through mutual friends. “We didn’t actually plan this at all. We didn’t even know these kinds of programs existed”, says Aukusti Eskola, Co-Founder of Lainappi. “Co-Founder Kimi Siefen’s girlfriend is an intern at Tribe Tampere, which is the community operator at Platform6, and she persuaded us to go to this afterwork event last autumn. There we met the Red Brick Team for the first time and they told us about Red Brick. That caught our interest and the deadline was already in a few days, so we decided to apply and got in!”
Ruska Skincare Founder and CEO Rahel Beil moved to Tampere about a year ago. She was already involved with the international community here, and knew about Tribe Tampere and had been to some of their events and learned about Red Brick as well. “I was unfortunately late for the application period for Red Brick in spring 2020, so I started Ruska Skincare by myself. I talked with Mirza last autumn at a Mix and Match networking event, and after that applied to RBA.”
Red Brick team: Program Lead Mirza Sagdati, with Selina Kustula and Grigory Kharitidis. The value of networks and access to services
The City wants to offer support and resources to high-potential startups, and create employment and innovation in the area. That is why the first six months are offered for the startup teams for free. After that there is a possibility to continue for another six months if needed, and of course the teams have also a possibility to become startup members of Platform6 as well.
All the teams are very interested in staying in the house for longer, and also emphasize the importance of the networks Platform6 provides to them. “When you work in a startup you usually don’t have many people in your team. In Platform6 we get to meet so many like-minded people, bounce ideas, get new ideas, and solve problems together”, Kimi Siefen from Lainappi says.
The current batch of the Red Brick Accelerator main program will end 8th of March. “Our job is to support our startups grow. We don’t want that to be put on hold once the program ends. That is why we are working on a post-program package for the startup teams in the house and make their journey continue in months to come. This is the first time we do this kind of post-program support. We are collaborating closely with other house service providers, all supporting 2nd floor startups from different sides,”, says Red Brick program lead Mirza Sagdati.
The City is very eager in creating services and programs for the teams as well. “We want to learn more about the teams’ needs and then we will try to find the proper providers for possible services. Hopefully we can launch some services already this spring, but everything is still in the making”, says Jaakko Pohjolainen, planner at Platform6 startups & coordinating services. “Red Brick Accelerator is a very important partner for us in the process of finding these teams, because they are very good in recognizing the potential of aspiring startups. We will soon also have other channels and partner organisations to get new teams on the 2nd floor.”
If you are interested in being one of the startuo teams of Platform6, you can contact Jaakko Pohjolainen by email: jaakko.pohjolainen@tampere.fi
You can also apply to the RBA Pre-Accelerator program by 12.3.
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Platform6 partners up with Pirkanmaan Osuuskauppa
Comments Off on Platform6 partners up with Pirkanmaan OsuuskauppaPlatform6 recently signed a partnership with Pirkanmaan Osuuskauppa. The collaboration will bring opportunities for both the startups of Platform6, as well as to POK.
The beginning of a collaboration
Mia Häkkinen works as Business Development Manager at Pirkanmaan Osuuskauppa, and her goal is to improve their current services. “Big part of my mission is to develop new businesses and create collaboration with partners. I also try recognizing the potential new business areas that are linked with our strategy and starting and coordinating projects around those areas.” Mia explains.
For POK, there were multiple reasons to start this kind of collaboration with Platform6. “We have realized that maybe we don’t have all the wisdom, so we need to reach out to our customers and also to new and innovative startups. We have a strong will to know the customers of our area better, including the startup field. We also want to bring new innovations to our business, but we didn’t have a ready-made model for this kind of collaboration. That is why the partnership also offers an opportunity for us to develop our own internal processes to be more agile, and have more of an entrepreneurial spirit.” Mia says.
COO of Platform6 Alexandra Santos and POK Business Development Manager Mia Häkkinen
are excited about the opportunities of the partnership.Many opportunities for startups
For startups the partnership has considerable benefits: “We have an enormous network of business locations for the startups to have an opportunity to pilot their products and services. For example Prisma Kaleva alone has 5 million customers a year, so we can do very quick and efficient pilots. Of course the pilots made with us are also significant references for the startups, and there is also a possibility to scale the pilots nationally. We also have advisors and expert knowledge available for the startups who collaborate with us.”
Mia is mostly inspired by the community and the amazing drive at Platform6. “We don’t have resources to start scouting for potential startup partners, so having a large number of startups in the same place helps our operations significantly. Cooperation is also in the heart of our values, and that is why we also want to be a regional support for growing businesses in the area.”
Mia Häkkinen visited the Platform6 test kitchen facilities, and had an opportunity to taste
Herkkä Snacks – one of the products made by Platform6 startups.Coming up
The next steps will include building a POK contact team for the collaboration, so that all of their business areas will be represented, and everyone has an understanding of the benefits of this kind of partnership. “Innovation challenges and hackathons will make the collaboration concrete, and we already have projects we are looking partners for. We find the test kitchen especially interesting. We could for example invite food technology innovation companies and local food producers to make prototypes here with us.”
Mia sees opportunities in the near future: “The dream would be to have new innovations visible for our customers already during this pilot period. Whether they are new products, new partnerships or improvements to customer experience. We want to find solutions that lead to increased well being of our customer-owners and we really enjoy working with startups who want to make the world a better place one step at the time.”
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1st floor is ready!
Comments Off on 1st floor is ready!The Platfrom6 first floor open space was finalized in January, when we had our “Take action week” with our volunteers. During the week we were painting walls, building a stage, assembling and painting furniture and decorating the space. The space has a very unique design with old materials up-cycled to create something new and useful.
Behind the design
The design and implementation of the space was planned by Jenni Kääriäinen, festival and event designer. “Already during my studies I was very interested in human behavior and community strategies. I want to find out what kind of things are needed in the space so it will be useful and handy for the people who come in. That way the space or an event can also promote the social cohesion of people.” Jenni says
Festival and event designer Jenni Kääriäinen Jenni has quite a long history with startups. She has been working with Slush for quite a long time, and was also helping out with the space, layout and the identity of Stream startup Festival. “I have a strong enthusiasm towards students, startup companies and startup ideology. That is why I think the spaces for ecosystems to meet, really hits the sweet spot of my interests!”
The space has old looms turned into desktops The design idea for the first floor came from the image of Tampere and the space’s relevance to Platform6 members. Jenni mentions that Tampere is well known for a really great history of different industries and innovations. “We created this idea where Platfrom6 is actually a part of history and the future. The space design represents a timeline where you are looking backwards in time and also into the future. We wanted to take something old and tune it to something new.”
Jenni explains the materials were chosen to respect the history; for example taking an old loom and turning it into a modern desktop. “The objects still have the sense of their original purpose, and you can still see what it was used for in the past even though we modernized it. Of course recycling is also very cost effective and sustainable. We also went to second hand shops and picked up things we like; for example the mangle on the stage!”
Volunteers taking action!
Jenni thinks the take action week went really well. “Days were long and intensive, but our volunteers were really amazing. During the week the volunteers also got to know each other better and share their stories. The week was cool, nice and chill, everyone having this positive attitude of whatever needs to be done, we will do it!”
One of the volunteers Levon Krasnikov was there to help out every day during the week and shares Jenni’s feelings: “Over the take action week, I met a lot of new guys. Each day was different from the previous one. Working together unites and allows to get to know each other. Each person is unique and good at what he does, it seems to me we complemented each other well.”
Levon Krasnikov participated in the renovation of the first floor every day of the week Levon has participated in some of the open events at Platform6 last year. He describes the community being very open to new people and was very pleased after the first event he participated. After hearing about the renovations in the first floor he wanted to join in: “First of all, I just love working with tools and it was a very good opportunity to do something with my own hands. I also think that this is a good break from the daily routine. Renovation involves solving a wide range of tasks, you can prove yourself in what you already know and try yourself in new roles.”
Looking into the future
Jenni hopes the space will evolve during time: “The space and the decoration should in my opinion also grow with the community. I wish people will be brave and really own the space. My dream would be for people to come in, use the furniture, change the space and bring their own decorations!” Jenni sees potential in the space also for companies: “I wish in the future some companies around Tampere will get involved and bring their knowhow and products to the community space. I also wish the space will have the element of a showroom in the future.”
Levon has also some ideas of a future collaboration with Platform6: “I will definitely continue participating in the activities in the startup community. Platform6 provides ample opportunities for networking and the development of professional and personal competencies. Interaction with people inspires and gives a lot of positive emotions. I like to see the result of teamwork and be able to influence the process!”
At the moment the building is unfortunately closed for visitors, due to the COVID restrictions. We hope to see the space lively very soon to put the first floor into real action!
