Slush is ecstatic to announce our renewed partnership with Helsinki Innovation Services (HIS), owned by the University of Helsinki, for Slush 2022. 

The University of Helsinki and HIS have partnered up with Slush for years and this year is no different. Since the last Slush, the University of Helsinki has decided to make significant multi-million investments in entrepreneurship and innovation activities such as campus platforms, business incubators and university courses. Together with HIS and the entrepreneurship society Think Company, the university strives to become the number one partner for companies and produce more science-based innovations on all four campuses. 

What makes HIS such an important partner for us?

In short, HIS helps University of Helsinki researchers turn their research results into commercial successes. HIS connects researchers with the business world and makes innovations available to all. HIS supports research-based innovations while Slush focuses on the startup ecosystem. Together, they both help in bridging the gap between the business world and researchers.

“Entrepreneurship is the most effective way to transform the world at scale. For that, we need more research-based deep tech companies, and HIS is doing wonders in enabling these ground-breaking companies to build true progress towards a more exciting and resilient future. We are thrilled to continue supporting the commercialization of deep tech innovations together with HIS!” says Eerika Savolainen, CEO of Slush. 

Some research-based innovations that HIS supports reflect the current and growing demand for healthier food options and alternatives to animal proteins, driving the industry to look for science-based innovation focused on sustainability and reducing the many issues caused by mass agriculture. Some examples include:

• Oleoflow, aiming at making tasty food finally healthy by developing a new generation of lipids for the food industry to reduce palm oil and affect fat digestion. 
• MyShroom, examining new methods to use mushroom mycelium as a novel protein source in response to our global decline in agricultural productivity. 
• Revolutionizing protein production methods that are crossing the interface between biotechnology and food production to bring food from the lab to your table. Quite the future!

You can get an even deeper understanding of what kind of innovations have been at the heart of the partnership of Slush with HIS here.

“We are very excited about renewing this collaboration and to have the opportunity to showcase some of the most promising research-based innovations from the University of Helsinki. Over the years, our participation at Slush has been of great benefit in terms of visibility, networking and feedback for all our commercialization cases! This year, we are thrilled to present some of the scientific ideas we believe have a great potential to support the transition towards a healthier and more sustainable global food system.” says Jari Strandman, CEO of Helsinki Innovation Services.

This year, alongside everything else the University of Helsinki brings to Slush, the legendary Slush Official Side Event, Unicorner is here again. Unicorner provides a venue for researchers and spinouts to present their research-based innovations, like the ones mentioned above. Unicorner aims to connect key investors and partners with researchers and find ways to support the commercialization of scientific solutions.

We’re beyond excited to welcome HIS and the University of Helsinki as our partner for the 8^th year in a row and are looking forward to seeing our collaboration come to life for Slush 2022!