New terrain: leading companies speed dating with startups to create new business opportunities
According to the interviews, pitching was considered as valuable information to start the discussions with leading companies in Business Finland's 6G Bridge program-led Slush side event in November 2023.
Networking possibilities during speed dating was also important as it provided networking and collaboration possibilities. We were encouraged by the positive feedback of organizing more these kinds of networking events in the future.
Business Finland’s 6G Bridge program organized a networking event 'How to Engage with Leading Companies' Ecosystems' on 30 November 2023 during Slush as a part of Business Finland's co-hosted Happiness Lounge. This event focused on networking and collaboration possibilities between Business Finland funded Leading Companies' Ecosystems and other organizations. We had a great turnout of around 100 people from leading companies, startups, SMEs, DeepTech and governmental organizations all around the world. The day’s agenda included leading company pitching and speed dating.
We executed interviews with almost twenty guests in our event. We aimed to receive information especially about the overall ambiance of the event and goals of the organization regarding the event.
Interviewing guests at the event
Bubbly, inspiring, positive, active, informative, helpful...
These adjectives were highlighted in the interviews. Moreover, the Happiness Lounge received welcoming comments about the atmosphere and space. Especially the word 'Happiness' was rated highly as it describes the event positively.
The interviews revealed that both pitching and speed dating were important for different organizations. Pitching enabled organizations to familiarize themselves with the leading companies’ ecosystems in a short yet informative manner. On the other hand, speed dating was evaluated as an excellent way to connect with leading companies and discuss about future collaboration possibilities. Simultaneously, organizations were interested in networking with others. We also recognized that it was important for the interviewed organizations to discuss what they can offer to other organizations. We have also heard that this event has created new matches!
This event was also considered a new concept of bringing leading companies and other organizations, especially startups, together. A broad mix of different participants such as governmental organizations, startups, and large companies, received positive feedback. One of our interviewees pointed out that organizing events simultaneously with Slush is a fantastic way to get more people over and create broader networking possibilities. The possibility to meet different organizations face-to face was essential for deepening relationships with others.
Suggestions and findings – defining future direction for the 6G Program
We got many great suggestions for the future. Focusing activities on startups, entrepreneurs and small company owners was seen important. Interviewees were interested in similar events and suggested a different angle for these kinds of events. Feedback was given about the Business Finland funding process as well as developing Business Finland's status of being a connector between companies’ partnerships and co-projects, especially for startups. Practical suggestions focused on catering, schedule, name tags, finding the venue, as well as marketing, registration, and information.
6G Program also recognized that it should focus on event registration outreach in a larger scale. Interviews revealed that we were able to reach people from different platforms, such as LinkedIn and Slush website as well as to find customers with the help of our Business Finland colleagues. Word of Mouth was also an essential tool which we can promote with the tools mentioned before. However, we see that our focus should also be to reach people with direct marketing emails. We should also find the tools for reaching those who did not receive any information about the event beforehand. 6G Program will concentrate on how we are able to find them even better in the future activities.
We are grateful for the feedback as we are always developing our operations. Moreover, the willingness of all interviewees to reattend similar activities is an important finding which will be considered in the future program planning.
