Impact 22

Last week, a new era for Slush Global Impact Accelerator kicked off. Slush hosted a workshop for startup hub managers – coming from five different countries – in Botswana. For the past three years, the GIA team has been running the program all the way from Finland. However, now we’ve decided to take off from […]

On the Slush Music stage, three powerful women Linda Portnoff, CEO of Musiksverige and Founder of Riteband, Anya Trybala, Founder of Synth Babes and The Banshee Club Via Musikka, and Claudia Schwarz, VP at Music Tech Germany discussed the current state of women in the music industry. As phrases like: “I’d like to see more women […]

Over the past decade, we have witnessed unprecedented technological growth. Despite, these developments we are increasingly concerned about the sustainability of our planet and humanity as a whole. To make a long lasting change, we have to redefine the way people and organizations interact with the world. We believe that it takes entrepreneurs to create […]

Impact Day keynote speaker Anne Badan, CEO of The Shortcut, empowers people who haven’t found their place in society yet. The first time you hear about a new impact non-profit The Shortcut, you almost want to ask: Is diversity even a topic we need to discuss about in 2016? Sadly, it is. In Finland, as […]

Entrepreneurship that combines scalable business models with positive impact on the environment and society is on the rise. The number of founders who aim to solve pressing global challenges is growing, showing that it is possible to do well also by doing good. Our next speakers are founders who have built their organizations by giving […]

40 entrepreneurs from 20 global competitions will join us in Helsinki in late November to accelerate their impact business ideas, engage with the Nordic startup community and make a life-lasting connections with the major culmination at Slush 2016. We are excited to launch the second edition of GIA. Slush Global Impact Accelerator is a program […]

“The opposite of poverty is not wealth, the opposite of poverty is human dignity.” In her Slush Impact keynote, Jacqueline Novogratz, the CEO and Founder of Acumen Fund, spoke avidly of the possibility of capitalism – exemplified by events like Slush, where capital finds promising entrepreneurs and technological advances. Yet as capitalism also increases inequality […]

The tables were turned on Thursday afternoon at Slush, when non-profit organizations took central stage and pitched their cases to startups for the first time in Slush history. The idea was for non-profits to gain new insight as to how best solve the issues they are dealing with in development in a new way. Supporting […]

Slush is over, but this certainly does not mean that we can’t reminisce about it. Slush 2015 brought many amazing startups and people together in one place. Meet four startups that attended Slush this year: 4YOU2 idiomas, Bridz, Holvi and NetMedi. 4YOU2 Idiomas 4YOU2 idiomas is a high quality and low-cost network of language schools […]

Wednesday evening’s “Towards New Finnish Wellbeing” event was part of the Impact track with an aim to create new public-private interfaces and encourage fresh ways of collaboration between entrepreneurs, NGOs and public actors. The event brought 300 participants together to brainstorm the future of Finnish wellbeing. Co-organizers included Soste, Helsingin Diakonissalaitos, Sitra, Tradeka, RAY and […]

Are soft values the new black? Many startups around the world are on a quest to find ways to improve the lives of children, parents and families. When talking about global challenges, families are a logical choice – after all, what is more universal than an expecting mother looking for information on her pregnancy or […]

The first day of Slush Impact took off with a Fireside chat together with former President of Finland and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Martti Ahtisaari. President Ahtisaari was interviewed by Anne Berner, angel investor and the Minister of Transport and Communications of Finland. The discussion revolved around peace, sustainable development goals, and the art of […]

As a part of the Impact Track, Wednesday morning’s Green Stage hosted a lively discussion between two tech accelerator power ladies – Kate Courteau, Director of Non-Profits at Y-Combinator and Maria Ritola, founder of Peloton Club incubator. During the past ten years, Y-Combinator has essentially defined the paradigm for tech startup accelerators. Kate joined YC at […]

Although the actual Slush event is still a couple of days ahead, pre- and side-events are already in full swing. One of them was Slush Impact X, which was organized in collaboration with Impact Iglu and Helsinki Think Company. Here’s a taster of this sold-out event targeted at students. The Slush Impact X was organised […]

Slush Impact brings the next top world-changing startups to Slush. Impact Accelerator finalists come from emerging markets including Kenya, Jamaica, Nigeria and many more. We joined their sightseeing tour in Helsinki before Slush and heard their thoughts about Finland, Slush and being an impact entrepreneur. ”We like to think of ourselves as different. But a […]

Slush Impact brings together social innovators, non-profits and investors from near and far to find solutions to global challenges. This year, more than 300 changemaking startups are attending accompanied by world-leading speakers. Meet the speakers Nils Hammar, Kate Courteau, Aurora Christe and Deepak Ravindran – four social innovators who will take the Green Stage on […]

First organized in 2014, Slush Impact returns with a more ambitious program to boost global changemakers’ work for a more sustainable and equal planet. Slush Impact track gives voice to entrepreneurs solving world’s greatest challenges. Be it access to clean water, girls’ education or poverty reduction, these brave individuals start companies to tackle global grand […]

Nicholas Haan, Director of Global Grand Challenges at Singularity University announced today at Slush: Finland will be hosting its first Singularity Global Impact Competitions in 2015. The winner is invited to attend the crown jewel – ten weeks’ Graduate Studies Program organized in California during the summer. Since its inception 2008, Singularity University has helped […]

The Global Hub Reception, one of the many fantastic side events around the Slush program, was organised Monday evening within the Slush Impact track. Host of the event, Heidi Humala, who also runs a business incubation management training program at the World Bank, discusses the role of incubators and accelerators in making change happen. “Business incubators […]

With an increased focus on emerging markets and impact entrepreneurship, we are proud and excited to announce a cooperation with the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, to bring outstanding startups and innovation hub personnel from Asia and Africa to Slush. Over the last few months, together with our local hub partners, we’ve selected 17 […]

Chase Adam’s Watsi is the first crowdfunding site where donors can directly fund high-impact medical care for people in need. Since August 2012, the company has raised more than $2 million for patients. The money has gone directly to care for 1000 people in 16 countries. Chase Adam has always thought that health care is […]