EIT ICT Labs - HitSeed rebooting HW ecosystem in Europe

HitSeed's launch event held on 23 January at the Open Innovation House in Otaniemi, Finland, gathered together some 60 investors, hardware start-ups and other relevant stakeholders to accelerate the growth of selected HW start-ups.

HitSeed is a Finnish start-up accelerator supported by EIT ICT Labs. They coach, incubate and accelerate the best smart devices and hardware start-ups.

HitSeed's CEO Sami Jokela talked about the Internet revolution continuing towards gadgets and how HitSeed operates. Sami also works for the Business Development Team of EIT ICT Labs. Pirkka Palomäki, CSO of F-Secure, explained the current trends in the HW business in the Silicon Valley and the USA. One of Pirkka's messages was that hardware + cloud is a killer combo!

At the event four start-ups presented their hardware focused business case:

• Varaani is changing the way we store, protect and access our digital information.
• Casambi develops elegant and flexible smartphone based solutions for home and office automation, especially for lighting experiences.
• TwineLab's family phone is making ife-like video calling available for anyone.
• Koru is a maker of fine softwares and user interfaces for social jewellery. Koru is selected to be part of the EIT ICT Labs business development programme.

HW business is growing fast and there is a high demand for focused world-class accelerators like HitSeed. Year 2013 is truly the year for Internet of Things. Sami Jokela, HitSeed's CEO

More information on HitSeed

HitSeed coaches the most promising hardware start-up entrepreneurs in

• development, design, productisation, and marketing of initial products with tools like technology building blocks, outsourced manufacturing, and community-based marketing
• validating market pull and help in initial financing via communities
• turning the initial concept into a profitable business, IPR and later to an successful exit