According to the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, the bioeconomy is at the center of sustainable growth in Finland, and its promotion requires that Finland is able to create competitive innovations in the sector. This need is met by bioeconomy business accelerator, BioBoosters by Jamk. The core activity of the accelerator is to provide a meeting place that accelerates innovation activities for leading bioeconomy companies, SMEs and startups as well as developers and researchers.
During its four years of operation, BioBoosters – previously called BioPaavo – has organized around 120 different events, and almost 4,000 visitors have participated in them. One of the most impressive services has been the hackathon, or innovation competition, in which solutions and partners are sought for the sustainability challenges of leading bioeconomy companies. The BioBoosters accelerator has so far organized 20 hackathons or innovation competitions together with its partners. In total 94 companies or research-oriented teams from all over Finland and Europe have participated in hackathons.
Jamk University of Applied Sciences' bioeconomy business accelerator has published a BioBoosted webplatform to concretize the effectiveness and impact of the accelerator’s activities. BioBoosted platform provides information on, for example, the economic, social, and environmental effects of hackathons. In the website's situation room, you can view the results of the innovation challenges filtered, for example, by circular economy themes and in relation to sustainable development goals.
In addition to solved challenges, the BioBoosted webplatform offers up-to-date indicator information on the results of collaborative projects started in hackathons, for example new products and services introduced to the market. As a result of the innovation challenges, 37 company-led bio and circular economy development projects have been launched so far, five of which are international. As a result of the projects, seven new products or services have already reached the market.
The goal is that by the end of 2026, the webplatform will present 50 BioBoosters innovation challenges with their results. The platform concretizes the progress of bioeconomy business responsibility and digital transition in Finland – and also internationally. Starting in autumn 2023, BioBoosters hackathons have also been organized in the Baltic Sea region by network partners. Around 20 of the targeted 50 challenges will be organized with international partners. This cooperation accelerates innovation cooperation between the top regions of the Baltic Sea bioeconomy and opens doors for Finnish companies in the Baltic Sea market. An example of this is Pinja Group’s victory in the BioBoosters Hackathon in Latvia, which resulted in the start of commercial cooperation with Europe's leading producer of potato starch.
More about these and other collaboration stories on the BioBoosted website: https://app.impactos.ai/en/pub/situationroom/bphackatonchain
The operation of the BioBoosters by Jamk business accelerator is expanding in early 2024. A new accelerator program aimed at startups and early-stage companies in bioeconomy and agrotechnology will be launched, for which applications will open in March 2024. The BioBoosters accelerator program connects startups and growth companies with end users, investors and leading companies, as well as provides access to the physical and virtual co-development environment at Bioeconomy Campus. BioBoosters by Jamk offers
- an opportunity for leading bioeconomy companies to respond to the (sustainability) challenges of the bio and circular economy
- for startups and early-stage companies to find partnerships and develop their own product and service ideas to meet the needs of potential customers
- for experts to offer and develop their own expertise as part of the BioBoosters mentor network
- for all participants to join a large international network of companies and experts in the field of bio and circular economy
BioBoosters by Jamk serves growth-oriented bioeconomy and agrotechnology startups and SMEs, corporations looking for innovative partners, and investors active in the AgriFoodTech and bioeconomy themes. The bioeconomy business accelerator is an influential actor as a promoter of the bioeconomy strategy of Finland with its multidisciplinary and international expert network, physical and virtual smart agriculture testing environment, and various innovation services.
BioBoosters on Jamk's website: https://www.jamk.fi/en/research-and-development/bioeconomy/bioboosters
