Stora Enso awarded as Finland’s most startup-friendly company

10-Oct-2018 - Finland

The renewable materials company Stora Enso has been awarded as the most start-up-friendly company in Finland in 2018. The prize was awarded by Tribe Tampere at the AlihankintaHEAT event in Tampere. Stora Enso runs two startup programmes which have produced good results in business development.

“We are very pleased that our systematic and active work with start-ups is being acknowledged. Through our start-up programmes, we are seeking real solutions to promote our business and simultaneously developing the entrepreneurial mindset and work of our own employees,” says Samuli Savo, Chief Digital Officer at Stora Enso.

Co-operation with Aalto University and Vertical

Stora Enso’s Accelerator programme involves collaborating with Aalto University Developing Entrepreneurship (Aalto ENT), business accelerator Vertical and the start-ups that apply for the programme to develop renewable products and innovations. The programme combines partnership with the start-ups and Stora Enso employees’ business management training. Among the companies that participated in the 2017 programme, Stora Enso has signed co-operation agreements on product development with Finnish start-ups Sulapac and TRÄ Group. The second round of Stora Enso’s second Accelerator programme will begin in January 2019. The programme will focus on resolving problems related to the circular economy.

Stora Enso is also involved in the Combient Foundry Venture Client programme, which looks for new approaches to utilising emerging technologies in business, such as artificial intelligence, virtual and augmented reality, big data, the Internet of Things, robotics and sensor technology. Among the companies that participated in the Combient programme, Stora Enso has signed a project agreement with the start-up 20tree.ai, which worked on the digital inventory of forests. Currently, Stora Enso is seeking digital solutions to promote healthy, safe and affordable living. The next start-up challenge will be launched in early 2019.

The award

The award for the most start-up-friendly company in Finland is distributed by Tribe Tampere, an open entrepreneurship and start-up community located in Tampere. The award acknowledges exceptional actions that large industrial companies in particular undertake to promote startup collaboration and to improve their innovation capacity and their competitiveness. The most start-up-friendly company in Finland was awarded for the first time this year.

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