Business Camp II – Murmansk, Russia (Dec 2014)

 After the successful Business Camp May 2014, "Young Innovative Entrepreneurs" project continued its cross-border cooperation with Business Camp II. The event was organized and taken place from 03/12 to 09/12/2014 in Murmansk, Russia.

With the participation of YIE members from Lapland University of Applied Sciences, InnoBarentsLab, Jo- Jo the dog films and Urbanid companies, we looked forward to having a productive week.

Thursday (04/12/2014) was full of meetings. Anzelika Krastina, the leader of InnoBarentsLab in Rovaniemi and MIBO partners Larisa Bilous, Elena Skiotis, Elena Zubrickaya had a discussion about planning future cooperation that resulted in signed cooperation agreement. Among few activities agreed for the future is organisation of a winter school also in the form of a business camp, creating joint publications and exchange of expertise through on-line or on-campus lectures.

Jo- Jo the dog films visited their Russian partners: Mr. Pink and Roxy. Joonas and his team planned to film “The 100 Hour Film Race 2014” in Murmansk and they were looking for great location as well as support from local film producers.

Zoltan and Duong had a meeting with IT- centre “Fu2rama” in the afternoon. It went well and promises cooperation in the future.

Next day, on Friday, we had a successful Innovation and InnoBarents – 3DLab training at MIBO. In total there were about 40 participants that were very excited and active during the training and SCAMPER workshop. All feedbacks were very positive from both Russian students as well as MIBO partners.

Later in the evening, we all participated in a networking event organized by Finnish Consulate General in Murmansk to celebrate Finnish Independence Day.

On Saturday, the filming crew continued its work on the film, while Anzelika has a meeting and presentation at Murmansk International Lyceum. Also Russian media was very interested to hear about the cooperation possibilities within the region and with Lapland UAS in the future.

After shooting, Sunday was a chance for me to see and have a better view about Murmansk as this is my first time visiting. The city is undoubtedly great! People here are pretty kind and friendly and I had an awesome enjoyable time with my new friends.

We continued working on Monday with a visit to Star Dome. It was exciting to watch 3D movies in “Dome” and see Mariya explaining sciences in simplest way. We had discussion and planned about future cooperation.

We left Murmansk that afternoon in order to attend Kolarctic final seminar next day in Rovaniemi while the filming group stayed for another day as planned.

I would definitely come back to this lovely city again. Спасибо! See you soon Murmansk! 

   

Text and photos: Duong Nguyen

Invitation to the national mentoring event in Finland!

The training event for the participants of the "YIE" project was held in Northern CCI on the 9th of October 2014, Murmansk, Russia

The topic of the seminar was 

”How to develop an effective Business plan. Supporting young entrepreneurs at the State and Municipal levels”

The Program consisted from the following items:

Useless Business plans

• Business plan without a proven business model
• Major mistakes in Business Planning
• Business plan for starting grant. Nuances
• Proving your business idea using a Business Plan.

Alexey Kalenchuk, Director in state-financed regional institution “Murmansk Regional Innovational Business Incubator”

"Sources and mechanisms of State support for young entrepreneurs"

• Informational and consultancy assistance to young entrepreneurs in developing an effective business plan and preparing of appropriate documents for State support services of  non-commercial organization “FORMAP”
• Financing of starting entrepreneurs projects: Idea-Business Plan-Microloan

 Andrey Dochkin, Director of  non-commercial organization “FORMAP”

"Supporting young entrepreneurs at the Municipal level”

• Informational assistance
• Consultancy assistance
• Financial support

 Natalia Gritsai, Chief Specialist of Investment and Business Department of the Committee for Economic Development,  Murmansk City Administration

All the above topics attracted the audience interest, the participants asked questions and got competent answers both during the reports and after the informational part of the seminar. We truly hope that this event will contribute to Business ideas development of the participants!

Welcome to YIE's project concluding event!

Friday 31st October 8.30 - 14.00 concluding seminar is open public, please register on: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1OqiRKvnXyg1PNVSsK44bkDg7h6ea9ba8BtCP7d1rt6U/viewform

You are welcome to join us!

For more information, please visit page www.innobarentslab.org or send email to ibl@innobarentslab.org

Barents Business Festival was a success!

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! 

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.

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.

Barents Business Festival showcases young talents

Barents Business Festival on 3rd - 4th June, 2014 is the main event of the Young Innovative Entrepreneurs project. The event will be held as a side event to the annual Barents Reunion and takes place in the Peräpohjolan opisto in Tornio, Finland.

The Barents Business Festival area will give participants an opportunity to exhibit their businesses and talents. We can assist you with booking meetings with them, just contact the YIE info desk in the event.

The young, talented and innovative entrepreneurs and talents participating at the Barents Business Festival are presented on the event's blog and in the participants' catalog.

The Barents Business Festival exhibition area is open during the Barents Reunion, and open publicly to the entrepreneurs on Wednesday 14.00 – 17.00.

Welcome! You never know who you could meet there!

YIE participants exploring northern industries in Hammerfest

Hammerfest city

The annual Barents Sea Youth conference (BSYC) took place on 2.–4.4.2014 in Hammerfest, Norway. The goal of the conference is to give young people, future professionals, an insight into regional industry initiatives and career prospects as well as an opportunity to build new networks with each other and the business community in the Barents region.

This year 30 students and young entrepreneurs from Finland, Russia, and Sweden gathered together. It was a unique opportunity for all to get familiar with oil and gas industry developments and to see what its benefits for the development of the entire

region are. Visits and presentations at Statoil LNG plant, Polarbase, as well as meeting the companies during the expo in the conference opened up new perspectives.

From Finland all participants are active members of the YIE project and therefore we took a chance to promote our project and upcoming cross-border activities. One of our experts, Iikka Rahkonen from Lapland UAS’s Tornio campus informed the audience about the industries and business opportunities in Finnish Lapland. Probably the most exciting part

Iikka Rahkonen preparing for his presentation

for young people from the Barents was the teamwork in workshops, working on challenging topics of Arctic technology and looking for solutions to current problems. The conference resulted in presentations by the participants on innovative solutions to given industry problems.

YIE project participants from Finland shared their personal experiences from the BSYC and visit to Hammerfest:

Joni Niskala is an entrepreneur and a YIE participant and his goal was to meet industries in

order to network and seek new business opportunities. His company Minetec Oy deals with hydraulics, automation, installation and maintenance. He admits that this was not a usual trip. He gained new views and discovered a different side of business opportunities. He thought it was nice to see the motivation of students to be a part of northern industries. “I discovered the future potential that can grow from created contacts. I also feel comfortable acting here as a mentor during the workshop, since I have some experience”.

Annika Konttaniemi, business student from Lapland UAS and InnoBarentsLab (IBL) student leader emphasised the importance of teamwork. Her group consisted of 2

Annika Konttaniemi is happy about
the experiences gained in Hammerfest

engineers, a journalist, and herself. The team did not have previous teamwork experience, but was able to work in a very creative manner and she found an especially interesting journalistic approach demonstrated by her team member.  “Everybody needs the culture shock, not only in terms of nationalities, but also in terms of working cultures; we need to act like grownups here.” Regarding the industries, Annika adds: “I am concerned about the nature preservation in Norway seeing all the developments in the oil and gas industry.” 

Roni Mäläskä, business student from Lapland UAS and active student of YIE InnoBarentsLab in Rovaniemi shared that for him, it was first of all a big cultural experience, “an opportunity to work with fellow students who have come from all over the

Barents region and some from even more distant locations to the city of Hammerfest.”  It is not easy to share ideas with each other and learn how to work together and also find the group spirit between team members when you have only known them for a day. I have also received a lot of information concerning oil and gas industries which are located in Norway, the current situation and the future of the business in the area. I discovered also that Norway is more than just oil and gas; it is a way of life. I always had an image that civilisation ends in Rovaniemi, but vibrant life can exist in a northern city of 10 000 people like Hammerfest and that Lapland’s people can offer so much more than they even realise, such as different innovative business services, tourism services and infrastructure development activities.” 

Samir Younes (student of Lapland UAS, IBL member) acknowledged that this trip opened new opportunities and created an understanding of huge opportunities for cooperation in

Roni Mäläskä and Samir Younes meeting
the industry at the Statoil stand

the North, not only in the oil and gas industry, but also for more innovative businesses. “Being in the workshop with engineers made me more confident in my business studies, because the diversity of education, cultural background and personality diversity all contribute to better results. That is also what I learnt from the Statoil presentation, about 19 nationalities working in Hammerfest LNG plant. We talk so much about the North, but now it is time for the action to make it work!”

Heidi Alariesto represented her own company, Sijaishaltija Oy, which aims to help companies to manage staff and find workers easily. Heidi said that her aim was to create

Entrepreneur Heidi Alariesto introducing her own business

contacts during the conference expo, however, due to a closed road on the way to Hammerfest we lost valuable time and therefore there was not enough time for company negotiations. The lesson in this is that you never know if the weather is good in Norway. Overall Heidi admits: “I have got a couple of interesting contacts and I hope that some of the students will contact me and will help me to get into the Swedish and Norwegian markets.” Besides new international experience, for Heidi it was also a good chance to get to know our Finnish participants and she thinks that there is a great potential for cooperation in this group. As an experienced entrepreneur, she acted many times as a mentor or advisor during the workshops.

Heidi Hjulberg, student of Business administration with the Business Academy-model at

Heidi Hjulberg learns differences of working cultures

the Tornio campus of Lapland UAS stressed that she was surprised at the culture differences, even though we are so close here – different Barents countries, the working style of the other students was different from the Finnish one, it sometimes takes a long time to make decisions. “In addition this was a great chance to see the large gas and oil industry and its developments. I got some ideas to create business within the building industry here and I will share these business ideas with my family and will use connections I created.” 

See a video with Joni Niskala (produced by the participants)!

Text and photos:
Anzelika Krastina, 
project coordinator