Veolia Environnement, a France-based environmental services company, and LADEC, a development agency for the Lahti region of Finland, have launched a new, open innovation platform – the Nordic Innovation Accelerator.
The accelerator, hosted by LADEC in Finland, is based on the Veolia Innovation Accelerator and is targeted at cleantech companies operating in Finland and other Nordic countries. The accelerator works by relaying innovation challenges posed by Veolia Environnement (or, in the future, other partners); accelerator members are then invited to submit solutions, and selected applicants are invited to an interview with whomever set the challenge.
Dr. Nicolas Marechal-Abram, Open Innovation, Innovation Management Department at Veolia Environnement Recherche et Innovation, said: “Companies need help in order to perform to the best of their abilities on international markets. Open innovation has become a vital way of boosting the innovation process of environmental technology companies and creating successful business through interaction.”
Nina Harjula, head of development, Cleantech at LADEC, said:”We see the cooperation with Veolia as an important step towards encouraging Finnish industrial companies to work in closer cooperation with small and new cleantech companies. The support provided by Veolia’s experts and the company’s piloting facilities provide an efficient way of verifying new technology and a fast track to the international markets,”