Once again the Eurapco Lab Innovation Team attended Slush in Helsinki! This year the theme for the 15th edition of the biggest start-up event in Europe was Break of Dawn.
The Eurapco Lab Innovation Team was able to connect with dozens of start-ups over two days. We listened to exciting speeches and discussions and had the opportunity to meet and learn from people such as Emett Shear, Co-Founder and CEO of Twitch, Nikolay Storonsky, Founder and CEO of Revolut, Stani Kulechov, Founder and CEO of Aave and legends of marketing such as James Vincent, who together with Steve Jobs formed Apple’s narrative for ground-breaking products such as iPod, iTunes, iPhone, and App Store. Some also might have found to find Finnish prime minister Sanna Marin’s speech interesting.
Impressions
In general, we did not feel that we had come across any ground-breaking, brilliant inventions. Rather, we encountered topics that simplify existing things and make them more efficient and effective. But if you look closely, we have had fruitful periods in science and technology in the last decade that preceded infrastructural breakthroughs:
- Exceptional strides in the wind and solar energy, as well as in energy storage, have put us on the brink of reducing electricity costs for the first time in over half a century.
- Battery packs are 90% cheaper today than in 2010.
- As part of our exceptional COVID-19 response, we’ve rolled out the first mRNA vaccines.
- We’ve finally reached quantum supremacy.
- Brain-computer interfaces are allowing the paralyzed to write and restore sight to the blind.
These are all examples of junctions in the fabric of human knowledge, which in a short time are connected to exponential possibilities and enable things to be created that change the world.
With Break of Dawn this year, Slush points out that today we are facing the first critical step into a universe of opportunities. Across energy, biotech, space exploration, computing, the internet, and AI – it’s been long since the future looked this exciting.
After all, it is our imperative in this ecosystem to ensure that these technologies create a brighter future for all of humanity. – Mikko Mäntylä, President of Slush
Main Trend’s Highlights
The topics were very broad this year. From biotech to no-code/low-code to space tech, everything was represented. While new materials and fusion & renewables mainly covered the sustainability aspect, health was primarily about mental health and women’s well-being. AI & ML and Quantum were also represented.
- Sustainability is an established domain, which was evident across all startups as well as in the organization of the entire event.
- Web 3.0 was the most prominent topic, with diverse use cases ranging from new decentralized social media models to blockchain-based industry labour markets for builders to customer loyalty platforms.
- Almost in all speeches and discussions, the crypto crisis was also a big topic due to the bankruptcy of FTX. Nicolas Cary, co-founder and vice-chairman of blockchain.com sees the downfall of the crypto exchange provider as a big learning for the authorities and regulators but also for the crypto-community. Markets need to be better regulated and there needs to be more transparency. KYC and AML are accordingly important buzzwords for the near future of blockchain technology. Nicolas Cary also pointed out that the collapse of the crypto markets was actually not decentralized at all, but collapsed services, that were formed on the top of the blockchain, were more or less centralized services that, for instance, FTX failed to manage.
- Foodtech was also clearly in the foreground, this year with the strongest focus on the production of sustainable next-generation food from the roots of mushrooms.
NOTE: Automated vehicles were a big topic in SLUSH last year (2021). This year the whole domain was lacking from the stages and start-up stands. There was one start-up that will be mentioned later on this site.
