Prime Minister Sipilä opened Slush startup event
Today, 11 November, Prime Minister Juha Sipilä opened Slush, a startup and technology event being held at Helsinki Expo and Convention Centre. In his opening speech, the Prime Minister stressed the importance of productising and commercialising innovations. He also said that he would like to see businesses and the academia working in closer collaboration.
’The patents and innovations of universities and inventors should be used more systematically and actively in collaboration with companies. Innovations could be stored in an innovations bank, where they could more easily be located and identified for possible commercial use. In this bank, new innovations would also be better protected in terms of intellectual property.’
In a matter of a few years, Slush has grown into one of Europe’s largest startup and technology events. This year, there are 15,000 participants from nearly 80 countries in Helsinki. In addition, there is an impressive group of international venture capital investors.
‘It’s great to feel the drive and the spirit of the Slush team. For our foreign visitors I'd also like to say: Welcome to Finland. You've come to the right place at the right time. I'm sure investors attending this year’s Slush will find very good use for their money’, Prime Minister Sipilä said.