TREMOR — Impact in Society, Education, Wellbeing, Communities & Law

For those shaking up the societal status quo, TREMOR is the place to cause shockwaves by taking well-defined ideas and work on turning them into entrepreneurial reality with support & mentoring tailored to their change-making needs.

About TREMOR

Even the most modest of solutions can have a seismic effect on their surroundings. When turned into reality, they have the potential to disrupt existing inadequate structures and help create more diverse, equal, inclusive, and empathetic communities, big and small.

The City Centre-based TREMOR is an ambitious four-month incubator programme including a one-month cross-programme bootcamp. It is for those shaking up the societal status quo to bring their well-defined business idea and turn it into a sustainable & social entrepreneurial project.

We want to make sure that you'll have the best chances of creating real impact with your solution, so if selected, your team will benefit from months of dedicated, tailored support & mentoring specifically geared towards sustainable & socially minded entrepreneurs and their needs. We'll work hard to empower and embolden you, and provide you with what you'll need to succeed.

Through lectures, workshops, and other events, our team, hand-picked mentors, and subject-matter experts will provide you with the toolkit, knowledge, and contacts to grow your career and take your solution & turn it into a successful enterprise. We'll also try to get you to meet as many potential partners, clients, and investors as possible during the programme to guarantee that you end up creating the most relevant and impactful product or service you can and make the necessary connections to bring it to the world.

We hope that by the end of TREMOR, you'll be ready to register your company, unveil your solution, apply for funding, or get in talks with investors, and carry onwards on your change-making journey in whatever way feels most relevant to you and your team, be it joining a hub like Maria01 or seeking further support from places like Business Helsinki.

TREMOR is proudly powered by the City of Helsinki.

Programme Outcomes

The goal of TREMOR is to empower social entrepreneurs by nurturing ventures to create positive societal change. We want you to be able to create a wide social impact in the industry that you are focusing on, and we want you to successfully enter the international market. We pride ourselves on being quite a unique programme in Finland: it is driven by seasoned mentors, experts, and business angels from Finnish and international companies who will guide you every step of the way, helping you to gain the following outcomes.

By the end of the programme we expect every team to have, at the minimum:

A precise identification of a problem/ need and a compelling value proposition addressing such a need
A clear identification of a social issue aligning with one or more sustainable development goals
A pitch deck that can be fluently presented in sales and funding events
An action plan, a go-to-market strategy, to guide your venture into the future
Tangible elements that bring your business to life (logo, website, LinkedIn page, etc)

At an individual level, we expect participants to have learned:

Understanding the problem and devising a solution
Key business concepts and tools, viewing things from a business perspective
Sales skills and business strategy knowledge
How to seek funding and manage finances
Pitching skills, presenting and tailoring your message to different groups
Basic elements of marketing, market research, and customer understanding
Teamwork, project and time management skills

Programme Topics

Join a vibrant community of innovators! TREMOR is seeking teams with groundbreaking ideas, research and technologies that address global challenges like climate change, poverty, and inequality, addressing the Sustainable Development Goals. You may be developing solutions in the following areas:

Society
- Employing the Underprivileged
- Care for the elderly
- Services for Marginalised People
- Reducing Loneliness
- Managing disinformation
Wellbeing
- Mindfulness
- Nutrition
- Fitness
- Mental Health
Communities
- Services in a Community's Native Language
- Aiding Community Members to Find Work
Law
Education
- Interactive Learning
- Study and Tutoring Services
- Early Education
- Languages
... and more!

This is not an exhaustive list — we warmly welcome you to apply with any other Society, Education, Wellbeing, Community, or law-related solution, too!

Looking for inspiration? Check out the teams that took part in the 1st, 2nd & 3rd batches of TREMOR, or check out our TREMOR alumni stories at the link below!

Mentors

After the first month’s bootcamp your team will be matched with 1-2 mentors from our pool of talented mentors. Specifically selected to meet your needs, the mentors will be at your service throughout your TREMOR journey via bi-monthly online sessions.

Your mentors will delve deep into the intricacies of your idea and tap into their own experiences, networks, and expertise to give you actionable insights and recommendations to help you in the process of developing and testing your innovation and propel your venture forward.

Programme Schedule & Structure

TREMOR 4 will last for 16 weeks, and will be held from 24 February to 11 June. The programme will be in English, and will consist of weekly or bi-weekly workshop sessions.

Programme Structure

For the 4th edition, the programme will be divided into two phases, bootcamp & specialisation.

During the Bootcamp phase (Weeks 1-4), teams will first spend 4 weeks building entrepreneurial skills in weekly and biweekly joint sessions held with participants of the BIOSPHERE and NEXUS incubators at the University of Helsinki's City Centre campus. In addition to providing core skills and knowledge, these sessions will be an opportunity to connect with other like-minded individuals and teams from other programmes, find potential synergies and explore opportunities provided by the other specialised programmes, and lay the groundwork for the rest of the incubator.

During the specialisation phase (Weeks 5-16), following the initial 4 weeks of joint workshops, teams will first have matchmaking with mentors to ensure that the right people are collaborating. After this, teams will have weekly workshops covering a variety of entrepreneurial topics, work with their mentors, and take part in sessions for co-working & addressing subjects that emerge from the needs of participants and observations of mentors.

Session Information

The programme's sessions on entrepreneurial skills will cover a variety of topics, such as Design Thinking, Lean Canvas, Sales, Marketing, Financial management, Intellectual property rights, Legal advice, Prototyping, Pitching, Funding tools, and more. Please note, that the exact topics, dates, and visiting experts of the sessions are subject change during the programme.

The sessions for co-working will be a great place for participants to spar with each other and help each other grow in a mutually beneficial and supportive environment. The co-working sessions will always be started with a reflective dialogue session to help support this.

The mentor sessions will be arranged on a regular basis with the team's dedicated mentors as well as with rotating mentors who will provide additional expertise based on their special skills such as marketing, technical development, investments, and more. We expect your entire team to meet with your mentor at least twice a month, with sessions lasting from 30 minutes to 1 hour each. The sessions can be held online or in-person depending on the availability of your mentors, and we expect you to be proactive in arranging them at times that are best for you and your mentors.

Schedule Information

For more information about the specific schedule, check out the TREMOR 4 schedule below

Applying

Applications for the 4th batch of TREMOR are are now closed. However, if you are still interested in the programme, please read the application requirements below and send us an open application. We will be in touch when the next call period opens.

TREMOR is open to applications from teams and individuals with a well-defined societally impactful idea and solution they'd like to turn into a business. Applicants and teams can be University of Helsinki students, researchers, staff, or alumni, and/or enthusiastic and ambitious change-makers from the broader Helsinki Metropolitan Area. What matters to us isn't your affiliation, but the quality of your idea and your dedication to creating a better society.

To apply, we'll ask the following:

REQUIRED:
- A Dedicated Team: A team of at least two members
- An Innovative Idea: An idea that meets TREMOR's topics
- A Short Video (max 3 minutes): Explaining what problem you're solving, how you plan to stand out from competitors, and why your team should be chosen?
- Business Model Canvas: Filled in with information of your potential business.
- A Pitch Deck Or Presentation: Showcase what your team has to offer
- A One-Page Document: Describe your product, service, or solution, and include details about your team members, their contact information, and include a website (if you have one).
- Commitment: At least one team member will have to actively participate in the workshops and mentoring sessions.
OPTIONAL:
- A filled out value proposition canvas
- Evidence of idea validation (e.g. customer feedback, surveys, piloting, proof of concept, MVP)
- Explain which SDGs you're tackling with your idea
You can use these templates as a reference.

Due to our requirement for in-person attendance at our weekly sessions, we sadly cannot accept applications from teams not based in Finland.

We will review each application individually as they come in, and invite those teams who meet our criteria for an initial interview. During the interview, we will ask you to introduce your team and its competencies, or reflect on what kind of know-how you are lacking from your team, and to prepare to explain your expectations and learning goals for the 4-month programme and how you are going to achieve them.

Obtaining ECTS Credits

Doctoral Researchers:

Participating in an 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.

Bachelor's or Master's Degree Students:

Participating in the programme can be registered in Sisu under the course code PHD-313 for a total of 8 ECTS. Please request a certificate of attendance upon the completion of the incubator programme, and contact uhds-office@helsinki.fi for the registration of the credits.

Students must then co-ordinate with their degree programme to include these credits into their degree. It is advised to check with the degree programme beforehand if the credits can be included into the degree, and under what section.

The Entrepreneurship & Innovation Services does not guarantee that credits can be included in all degrees.

Pete Karumo, TREMOR Programme Manager

pete.karumo@helsinki.fi

+358 50 4389235