Barents Business Festival on 3rd - 4th June, 2014 was one of the main events of the Young Innovative Entrepreneurs -project. The event was held as a side event to the annual Barents Reunion.
The Barents Business Festival area gave our participants an opportunity to exhibit their businesses and talents. Overall about 20 entrepreneurs from all over the Barents region had prepared their own exhibition stands in the festival area, and 40 other project participants joined the activities.
Barents Reunion celebrated the youth of the Barents
The annual Barents Reunion convention took place in HaparandaTornio, Perä-pohjolan opisto, on 3rd - 4th June. The topic for the 2014 convention was Barents youth and young entrepreneurship.
The keynote speakers this year were Micael Dahlen, the rock star Professor who is an author of six books and an internationally acclaimed speaker from Sweden, and Mato Valtonen, a well-known Finnish musician, actor and entrepreneur.
In addition to this, there were several young entrepreneurs who got a chance to share their journeys as entrepreneurs during both days of the convention. On the first day we heard presentations from Ida Backlund (Rapunzel of Sweden) and Anders Sebring (Arkadia the magician).
On the second day the stage was Yngve W. Bergheim’s (Ramsalt Lab) and Niina Tuikkala’s (Alpakka Media). Especially Yngve W. Bergheim's presentation was interesting as in addition to introducing Ramsalt Lab, he told about YIE's spin-off Barents IT-Cluster. The audience was also introduced with the Sami experience with Tanja Sanila (graphic designer) and Aslat Simma (on behalf of Erica Huuva Simma from Erica Huuva Design).
At the end of the first day's program of Barents Reunion, Young Innovative Entrepreneurs -project was presented to the audience. The project coordinators from Finland (Eila Seppänen), Sweden (Lena Antti) and Norway (Heidi Andreassen) talked about project activities in each country and few of our success stories were presented. For example, Heli Huhanantti and Annika Konttaniemi shared the benefits they have gained by being involved in the Lapland UAS’s learning environment InnoBarentsLab. Also, a Russian participant Stepan Mitaki introduced his and Dennis Kreminsky’s new web-based citizen engagement platform called My City.
At the end of the day, the founder of Ikea (and Barents Reunion), Ingvar Kamprad, wanted to inspire the young entrepreneurs of the Barents region by sharing his story as an entrepreneur.
This year’s Barents Reunion also introduced a new kind of concept by organizing a Dragon’s Den pitching contest for the young entrepreneurs. We are proud to announce that one of our own, Matthew Lynch from Norway, was chosen to be one of the finalist and won this contest with his his business idea, Norwagon. With this win, he was also awarded as the young entrepreneur of the Barents region in 2014.
Barents Business Festival was filled by young talent
The Barents Reunion’s programme was only one part of the two-day event. Young Innovative Entrepreneurs -project had a tent set up outside the Peräpohjolan opisto. In this Barents Business Festival area, our young and talented entrepreneurs had their own exhibition stands where they had a chance to present their businesses. A big thank you goes to the great mind behind the layout idea of the Barents Business Festival area, Elina Stoor from iLme innorooms.
Versatile exhibition stands presenting entrepreneurs' own expertise got a lot of attention from the Barents Reunion’s participants.
As the Barents Business Festival tent was immediately next to the lunch area, just about everyone used their breaks by getting to know the exhibition stands, and of course, the entrepreneurs behind them. So we can say that the Barents Business Festival area was a huge success!
As the Barents Business Festival tent was immediately next to the lunch area, just about everyone used their breaks by getting to know the exhibition stands, and of course, the entrepreneurs behind them. So we can say that the Barents Business Festival area was a huge success!
All the visitors were also given a brochure that showcased the entrepreneurs and businesses that were presented in the Barents Business Festival. In this way they can get to know our entrepreneurs even later on if the time was too limited in the event itself.
After the Barents Reunion, the Barents Business Festival continued and was open for the entrepreneurs for few more hours. First, Martti Kankaanranta from the Regional Organization of Enterprises in Lapland, welcomed YIE participants to the Barents Business Festival. After this, the entrepreneurs introduced their businesses to others participantsand audience.
As the event was interactive, both YIE participants and visitors got a chance to express their feelings about the project on the "Future Thesis" stand.
As the event was interactive, both YIE participants and visitors got a chance to express their feelings about the project on the "Future Thesis" stand.
And before wrapping up the Barents Business Festival, we even took a little walk down the memory lane.
Some of the best memories of the YIE activities were turned into "statues/photos" made of the participants. So the Barents Business Festival was ended with great smiles and laughter.
Young Innovative Entrepreneurs -project wants to thank everyone who were a part of making Barents Business Festival as successful and innovative as the whole project has been from the get go!
- More photos can be found from YIE’s Facebook-page.
- Read also what some of the InnoBarentsLab members had to say about the event they participated.
