Tag: jana pavlenkova

Ragmar Saksing / Head of the field of Green Technology, Tallinn Science Park Tehnopol

Green technology is a relatively new industry, and as with any new direction, it creates some doubts in people. The representatives of large and old industries are particularly distrustful and to dispel these doubts, I will briefly explain the nature of green technology and its benefits for entrepreneurship.

The main goal of green technology is to reduce the impact of human activity on the environment and to improve the environment. It is a sustainable and environmentally friendly technology that to the maximum extent utilizes renewable energy sources and materials. At the same time, energy use is minimal and/or, the created materials are recyclable. It is important that the products to be created are environmentally friendly throughout their life cycle.

Chemistry vs. physics

Today’s economy is largely chemistry based. At the heart of such an economy is the extraction and recycling of mineral resources. The economy of the future is more physics based, utilizing all the operating forces and renewable energy. For this purpose, new business models are created that define how we have been used to doing business so far. From an entrepreneurial perspective, this means generating revenue through change.
Smart entrepreneurs welcome change, seek and find new opportunities. They develop companies in a multi-layered manner, on a wide scale. Smart entrepreneurs do not get rich at the expense of the environment; they make the entire business climate better while taking the environment into consideration.
A very simplified example of this is solar energy. People do not buy solar panels just because they have a green state of mind. Solar panels are installed to save money and/or generate revenue. Solar energy can be widely used, and while doing that, the environment becomes better. The useful life of most solar panels is 25+ years and who would not like to live in a house, drive a car or scooter and do it for free?

New opportunities in traditional areas

In particular, the decentralization of central systems is one of the areas that should be observed in the development of green technology. Energy savings, energy efficiency in buildings, alternative energy sources, and energy use, food production, recycling of materials, transport and logistics bring along many new opportunities. In all of these areas, science-based businesses are gaining momentum, where smart entrepreneurs help fund scientific inventions.
A contemporary man emerged about 200,000 years ago, the first proof of agriculture dates back to 23,000 years, the industrial revolution began less than 300 years ago. In this time scale, one should not underestimate the formation of nature during 3.8 billion years. People have invented plenty of things and reaped a lot of economic benefits from the inventions. In the future, we could look at nature as a catalog of products, where all the achievements have benefited from 3.8 billion years of research and development. Now our challenge is to put it to work for humankind cleverly.

In the second round of Prototron in 2018 the Expert Committee decided to give out funds worth of 62 500 euros. In addition teams were able to gather additional funds on the Fundwise platform.

In total almost 300 ideas were submitted out of which 5 reached a successful funding.

• Pillirookõrs, which is making straws out of reed is already a brand well-known for a conscious consumer. In addition to a straw they’re now developing a material based on reed to develop alternative single-use plates or cups based on reed. They were supported with 20 000 EUR.
• Vetik is working on a marine algae based natural and healthy red colorant to substitute current unhealthy ones used in the cosmetics industry. They were supported also with 20 000 EUR.
• Decomer Technology received 7500 EUR from Prototron, in order to develop a novel water-soluble packaging material suitable for food and other industries.
• Captain Corrosion is developing handheld corrosion management device and providing corrosion-related consultations. Funding received: 7500 EUR.
• Questcity is developing an VR-augmented professional platform for designing and completing interactive quest-excursions. Funding received: 7500 EUR.

The winners will be awarded with a six-month free incubation space at Tallinn Science Park Tehnopol and legal assistance from Hedman Partners and an opportunity to use the Mektory labs and the premises of the Tallinn University of Technology. Veebimajutus awarded winners with 6 months of free web hosting and e-mail services together with know-how on website development.
For the first time the the winners were consulted by the team of Fundwise – how, when and for what can crowdfunding be used. In addition they had a chance to experience it first hand and collect additional funds.

Prototron fund is put together by Swedbank Estonia, TalTech, Tallinn Science Park Tehnopol and tallinn city. Next round of Prototron opens in January. You can submit your ideas via our web until 15th of March 2019.

Thursday, March 15th was the last day to apply for Spring round of Prototron and we closed the application with 230+ ideas from Estonia and other countries. Transport, medicine and solutions to improve our everyday life were most common fields.

This round brought many ideas, based on science. Solutions formulated in research and thesis is a sign, that Estonian scientists are taking big steps to commercialise their research work. This is only positive and clearly a mark, how necessary were the changes we made in Prototron to finance ideas of TTU intellectual property.
Several ideas were to improve car engine and gadgets. Modernised energy source, solutions for children and pregnant woman, development of drones, different API and ideas, which use blockchain, and even proposal to start teleportation – this is the pool of the ideas our experts will start access next two weeks.

Established in 2012 by Swedbank, Tehnopol and Tallinn University of Technology, Prototron is nowmarking its sixth year by raising this year’s total support amount to 130 000 euros.
In addition to financial support, Prototron also provides mentorship and valuable contact networks of potential investors as part of the training programme for the applicants. . The winners will be awarded with a six-month free incubation space at Tallinn Science Park Tehnopol and legal assistance from Hedman Partners.
In 5 years Prototron received applications with 29000 different business ideas, including 58 project that were successful in receiving funding of 670 000 in total for creating the prototypes vital for their product development process. Thanks to Prototron, 24 new products have successfully been launched to the market.

Oktoobrikuust on Prototroni ekspertkogus uus liige – Swedbanki ettevõtete panganduse juht Liisi Himma.

“Eesti on väike ja me ei saa riskida sellega, et mõni andekas idee jääks teostamata üksnes rahaliste vahendite puudumise tõttu. Prototron on suurepärane lahendus kindlustamaks, et iga ettevõtlusgeeniga inimene saaks võimaluse panna oma idee proovile ning näha, kuidas heast ideest paberil sünnib käegakatsutav toode,” räägib Liisi.

Tema sõnul on digitaalne ajastu ümber kujundamas tervet majandussüsteemi – infotehnoloogia ei ole enam pelgalt üks paljudest majandussektoritest, vaid sellest on saamas Eesti majanduse selgroog. “Muidugi on mul ülimalt hea meel, kui mõni järjekordne Eestis asutatud kõrgtehnoloogiline start-up on kaasanud piisavalt investoreid, et murda globaalsele turule. Samas on minu suureks sooviks leida ka võimalus, kuidas tuua digitaalsesse ajastusse kaasa traditsiooniliste valdkondadega tegelevad ettevõtted – olgu selleks nurgapealne pagaritöökoda, naabrimehe ehitusettevõte või kunagise klassiõe õmblusfirma. Õnneks pakub IT lugematul arvul võimalusi, kuidas ka traditsiooniliste ettevõtete tegevust efektiivsemaks, mastaapsemaks ja kasumlikumaks muuta – tarvis on üksnes piisavalt tahet ja head ideed, ning klientuur meie väikeettevõtete näol oleks juba olemas,” lisab ta.

“Olles töötanud 12 aastat pangas ettevõtete finantseerimise valdkonnas ja näinud lugematul arvul erinevaid ärimudeleid – nii töötavaid kui mittetöötavaid – loodan ma väga, et suudan Ekspertkogus aidata välja sõeluda just need kõige suurema potentsiaaliga ideed. Ühtlasi, omades vilunud silma rahavoogude ja eelarvestamise maailmas, juhiksin tähelepanu ka nõrkadele ning tugevatele kohtadele äriplaanis. Minu senine kogemus on ilmekalt näidanud, et ettevõtmised, mis töötavad paberil või Excelis, et pruugi küll päris elus toimida, kuid vastupidi mitte kunagi – need, mis juba paberil või Excelis kokku ei jookse, ei tule reaalse elu konkurentsikeskkonnas kohe kindlasti toime!”

Liisi soovib tulevastele taotlejatele julget pealehakkamist ja elutervet jonnakust – suurim ebaõnnestumine on üldse mitte proovimine ja suurim kaotus käest lastud võimalus! “Kas teadsite, et näiteks Angry Birds loojad tegid enne suurt läbimurret valmis tervenisti 51 mängu ning oleksid seejuures peaaegu pankrotti läinud, kuid otsustasid siiski veel ühe korra proovida?”