Building an impact-driven start-up requires a combination of different skills and competences: refining a technological solution with a possible Minimum Viable Product, coming up with a viable business model, and generating considerable impact in our modern society. These are all important parts of a formidable mission, where both expertise and the supporting community can provide encouragement, advice, and inspiration. Our commitment is to provide your team with the best possible support, helping you to navigate through the challenging early phases, reduce risks, and increase the chances of avoiding the initial pitfalls of an entrepreneurial journey.
Based in Viikki, Helsinki Incubator’s Biosphere is a hybrid between an incubator and accelerator for aspiring entrepreneurs and innovators from diverse backgrounds in the fields of bioeconomy, biomaterials, decarbonisation, energy, efficiency, green hydrogen, Circularity, water use and treatment, and agribusiness, with answers and solutions to the current environmental and societal-related wicked problems.
Our enhanced pool of world-class mentors and experts will not only help you transform the world in a positive way by developing your solution into a viable product/service but also to expand your career by learning key entrepreneurial skills that can be used on your entrepreneurship journey. Furthermore, we will ensure to provide you with the opportunity to meet a wide range of potential customers, partners, corporates, and investors to build a strong network and receive valuable and relevant feedback.
By the end of the six-month programme, we expect the teams to be ready to register their company, launch their product/service, seek funding and investment, and have the know-how needed to take the most relevant steps in your entrepreneurship journey.
Biosphere is proudly powered by the City of Helsinki.
The focus of Biosphere is to help you create a scalable, fundable, and impactful start-up based on real and disruptive innovations. We want you to be able to transform the industry that you are focusing on, and we want you to successfully enter an international market. That is the main difference from other incubators in Finland: we follow an internationalisation approach, and we help you engage with real international market players from the program's inception.
Since the beginning of the programme, you will be exposed to actionable insights from our pool of international and national mentors and experts. They will analyze your idea, give you valuable insights, actionable recommendations, and help you in the process of developing your innovation into a customer-driven MVP or PoC.
Your goal is to disrupt the market with your bioeconomy, biomaterials, decarbonisation, energy, efficiency, green hydrogen, circularity, water use and treatment, agribusiness, or related innovations. Ours is to make sure that you receive as much help as possible to succeed in your endeavours.
Biosphere will run from 28 August 2023 to 7 March 2024. The programme will be in English and consist of weekly 100% in-person workshops held at the Viikki Campus and the Helsinki Incubators Space at the City Centre Campus. In addition, the programme will have online mentoring sessions.
Weekly sessions: Throughout the 6-month programme, you will have the opportunity to delve into business intricacies, validate your product, and gain insights into marketing and sales from visiting experts across various industries. A summary of the 2023-2024 programme schedule will soon be available on the website.
Mentoring sessions: At the start of the programme, each team will be assigned 1-2 mentors. Together, teams and mentors will collaborate on a joint work plan, schedule, and define a series of milestones to achieve throughout the programme. Active participation from all team members is expected during these sessions.
Applications for the 2023-2024 programme are now closed, but feel free to send us an open application — we'll be in touch regarding future programmes!
At Biosphere, we extend a warm welcome to teams of aspiring entrepreneurs and innovators from diverse backgrounds, including bachelor's and master's students, PhDs, post-docs, PIs and researchers, professors, and faculty members at the University of Helsinki. However, having a connection to the University of Helsinki is not a prerequisite. We also encourage residents of the Helsinki Capital Region to apply. Our aim is to identify exceptional teams with unwavering commitment, dedication, and outstanding business or tech-related ideas, and nurture them into promising and impactful ventures.
If you don't have a business background, there's no need to worry. Our experts and mentors will guide you through all you need to know about the world of business to successfully commercialise your idea and create a positive global impact.
We invite applications for businesses, technologies, research, ideas, services, solutions, innovations, products, and business ideas that align with the following subjects:
If your domain is not listed above but is connected to bioeconomy, decarbonisation, agribusiness, or circularity, we still encourage you to apply.
Participating in a incubator programme can be included in your transferable skills studies under the course code PHD-313 for a total of 8 ECTS. Please request a certificate of attendance upon completion of the pre-incubator programme, and contact uhds-office@helsinki.fi for credits registration.
Mobile: +358 50 309 1810