Seven projects have been selected for the first round. They form a project portfolio that will boost the region’s business clusters, develop big data sandboxes and innovative procurement, as well as improve performance of the businesses. The new projects will be introduced at a kick-off event on 12 June 2023.
The projects in the innovation programme are centred around the following themes:
- Smart and sustainable urban solutions
- Wellbeing and health technology
- Learning environments and digital solutions
- General ecosystem development
The launched projects are developing solutions for the utilisation of food waste, the development of learning environments, the establishment of international companies in Finland and sustainable development, for example. The solutions are being developed in collaboration with the Helsinki metropolitan area cities and businesses therein.
“Our aim is to develop solutions that respond to challenges identified in the cities and will boost the companies’ business. The launched projects are innovative and react to emerging trends, unexpected changes and new growing industries that are more difficult to predict,” says Kimmo Heinonen, a member of the HEVi programme steering group and head of the City of Helsinki Innovation Services Team.
New solutions for production and distribution of food
The projects selected for the HEVinnovations programme include:
Food Waste Ecosystem, a project that creates opportunities for companies to build and develop their business based on inedible waste and food waste. The primary target group of the project is food sector operators in the Helsinki metropolitan area, and catering services in particular. These include institutional kitchens, meals on wheels services, restaurants and other sources of food waste such as food businesses. Other project target groups are parties collecting and distributing food waste in the Helsinki metropolitan area and other parties utilising edible surplus food. Additional target groups include circular economy companies that are already generating business based on waste and new companies interested in the recovery of food waste. The project will create a new operating method for the Helsinki metropolitan area to reduce food waste and enable more efficient utilisation of the waste.
Food SystemiCity, a programme that develops systemically sustainable local food systems in cities and built environments. New sustainable solutions for the production, distribution and consumption of food and the circulation of nutrients will be required in the future. That is why the programme is developing a local food system that supports innovation and business development. The project will result in new sustainable businesses and business co-creation teams to commercialise systemic product and service solutions for the global market.
Turning the Helsinki metropolitan area into a world-class business cluster
The project Laskeutuvien yritysten palvelut pääkaupunkiseudulla (Services for new companies in the Helsinki metropolitan area) supports the establishment of foreign growth companies in the Helsinki metropolitan area. Bringing companies to the region is important because it will boost existing expertise and business clusters with new innovations. The project’s new operating method will enable international growth companies to anchor themselves in the local innovation and business ecosystem, helping them to grow and operate efficiently in the Helsinki metropolitan area.
“The Helsinki metropolitan area is an excellent place to grow fast because our growing community makes it easy to get to know all the necessary players, funding opportunities are readily available and technology expertise is at a high level. These are clear reasons for the best talent to move to Helsinki. Helsinki, in turn, requires more international growth companies to be able to renew its expertise in the manner required for global competition, which is why we warmly welcome all foreign growth companies,” says Teemu Seppälä, the head of a team that focuses on renewing services for foreign start-ups.
The City of Helsinki’s business policy objective is to enable the development of business operations that will solve globally relevant problems. Meanwhile, Helsinki wants to be an attractive environment to test new solutions in a real urban environment. Innovation programmes such as HEVinnovations are an important part of this work.
The HEVi programme and the new projects will be presented at a kick-off event on Monday, 12 June 2023 from 12:00 to 15:00 at Kulttuuritehdas Korjaamo in Helsinki.
Innovators, developers and partners active in the Helsinki metropolitan area have been invited to the event. The media are welcome to attend, and the project promoters will be happy to tell more about their activities and goals.