Success stories
Previously implemented innovation programs have helped Port of Tallinn create innovative products and services. Together with GlaxoSmithKline Estonia, we discovered new solutions in healthcare. And we supported innovation in the welfare system, in collaboration with Tallinn City Government.
Traffest
We organised an innovation day for Traffest OÜ, aiming to discover distinctive solutions for advancing smart city services. In this event, aligned with the company’s specialisation in intelligent transport systems (ITS), critical urban challenges were identified, ideas to address them were gathered, and efforts were dedicated to refining the business model, feasibility, and prototype. The central objective centered around enhancing urban spaces through intelligent solutions that promote environmental friendliness and diminish car usage. The outcome encompassed business solutions collaboratively crafted by participants and clients, followed by their presentation. During the Innovation Day, Traffest received valuable insights and advice, offering guidance on which projects and programs to apply their new business concepts to, along with the potential applications of their developed solutions.
Viljar Nurme, CEO of Traffest, stated, “Conducting innovation days within the company holds immeasurable value, aiding in the discovery of new business avenues aligned with strategic objectives, and enhancing the overall innovation potential of the company.”
Eesti Energia
Science and Business park Tehnopol, in collaboration with Eesti Energia, has established a business accelerator program, which has successfully run for three years and encompassed six accelerator cycles.
The primary objectives of these accelerators have been the creation of novel products and services, business expansion, prototyping, and the formulation of viable business models. Additionally, they have aimed to foster future energy solutions and diminish customers’ environmental impact, while also introducing practices for developing client-centered services.
Tailored to meet specific customer needs, the 10-day accelerator has yielded impressive results, with nearly 50% of the solutions now actively operating in the market and securing a competitive edge.
The accelerator program entails over 100 hours of intensive teamwork, including customer validation, development sprints, field-specific training (including management), and mentorship from domain experts.
The program’s outcomes include the establishment of cross-company collaborations and follow-up initiatives for the implementation of more mature concepts. These efforts have led to the realisation of cutting-edge innovative energy solutions.
Kadi Steinberg, Head of Eesti Energia’s Enefit Idea Hub, shared, “The accelerators organized in collaboration with Tehnopol are a proven cooperation format. The adept utilisation and advancement of this format enable us to gain valuable experience in service development, leveraging the combined creativity and expertise of professionals to attain significant solutions. The six successful accelerators thus far underscore the effectiveness of the collaboration, communication, tools, and mentor network, consistently adaptable and developmental throughout the process.”
Elering
Tehnopol also provides support to clients for the development of in-house solutions. In collaboration with Elering and our trusted development partner Thorgate, we developed an automated solution for the network system in just 8 weeks. This solution, a database, enables more efficient selection of capacities to be considered in the electrical grid.
Hansab
Hansab Group, in collaboration with the Tehnopol Science and Business Park, organized its first in-house hackathon, with teams participating from other Baltic countries as well.
Goal: Foster internal innovation within the company, create ambitious business cases, and validate ideas with real clients in the fields of healthcare, data management, retail, parking, access control, and the pharmaceutical industry.
Six teams from the Baltic countries, totaling over 45 participants, took part in the hackathon. Customer perspectives were also included in the initial validation.
Momentum: A 48-hour hackathon followed by the development of the best business ideas.
Result: Four successful ongoing business ideas in various specialised fields – Navigators (smart in-store navigation), Sandbox (Hansab’s surveillance system development), HERS (restructuring hospital trauma center queues), Entringo Lite (exploring new possibilities for implementing the Entringo ticket parking system).
Johnson & Johnson
As a result of collaboration between the Tehnopol-led Connected Health cluster and Janssen Estonia (Johnson & Johnson Estonia), workshops have brought innovation to depression treatment.
Within the framework of the collaboration project, three one-day workshops were conducted with the aim of finding innovative ways and digital solutions to improve the treatment journey of depression patients and enhance the efficiency of the treatment team.
Various representatives from different fields contributed to the workshops: primary care (family doctors, mental health nurses), specialised medical professionals (psychiatrists), the social sector, patient representatives, and government representatives.
Following the workshops, development partners were engaged in the project, and together, solutions were developed to address the most critical challenges in advancing the depression treatment patient journey.
As a result of the collaboration project, knowledge about potential digital solutions to support the depression treatment patient journey was increased among different stakeholders, and important insights and areas for the development of existing solutions were shared.
In collaboration with the developer of the depression treatment patient journey, Therasync, an operational environment was developed based on the input from the workshops to improve communication between the treatment team and the patient, enhance patient-centered treatment, and support the patient throughout their treatment journey.
Therasync’s mission is to become the world’s leading case management platform in the field of mental health.
Kairi Kontkar, Innovation Manager at Janssen Estonia, stated, “Both Janssen and Tehnopol aim to contribute to the improvement of mental health and depression treatment in Estonia. We selected the most pressing problems, and solving them with the help of digital technology would provide a significant leap forward.”
West Tallinn Central Hospital and The North Estonia Medical Centre
Tehnopol has also provided innovation services to Estonian hospitals (PERH and LTKH), supporting the development of hospitals through innovation-supporting activities, including innovation mapping, innovation days, introducing health technology startups and sectors, creating connections, service design training, and the opportunity to participate in international projects for the development of Estonia’s healthcare sector (digital support for mental health and remote monitoring of COPD patients).
JCI Digital Innovation Days Hackathon
In November 2019, upon the request of JCI Estonia, Tehnopol organized the largest international hackathon in Estonia, with 250 participants from over 50 countries registering. The aim of the hackathon was to find new digital solutions for challenges presented by Estonian large enterprises as well as issues identified by participants themselves from various fields.
Over the course of 50 hours, 15 mentors and two trainers assisted 16 teams in developing a solution idea for their challenge, creating an initial prototype, validating the solution using it, and presenting the results in a pitching competition.
Tehnopol developed and conducted a one-day innovation training for the Development Department of the Emergency Response Centre with the goal of introducing various types and methodologies of innovation. Through group work, the aim was to develop a vision of what the Emergency Response Centre’s work would be like in 10 years, considering both technological and process innovation.
As a result of the training day, the Emergency Response Centre received valuable input for the ongoing development of their strategic document.
Migraine Hack
Goal: Find novel digital solutions to help migraine patients better manage their condition.
Momentum: A 48-hour hackathon followed by 6 months of prototype development and testing.
Result: 3 new solutions are now on the market.
43 hackers from 10 different countries, supported by 14 international mentors, developed ten innovative services during the hackathon. These services are designed to help people living with migraines gain better control over their lives and manage and alleviate their symptoms more effectively.
Tallinn City Enterprise Department
As part of the Smart-Up BSR project, in collaboration with the Tallinn City Enterprise Department, Tehnopol organised a three-day international innovation camp aimed at finding solutions to three challenges outlined by the department in the areas of better urban space utilisation, community involvement in urban planning, and the development of city digital services.
During the innovation camp, the participating teams delved deeper into these issues based on explanations provided by the owners of the problems. With the guidance of mentors, seven idea solutions were developed to address these challenges.
As a result of the innovation camp, the Tallinn Enterprise Department has prioritised the topics and solutions, with the most significant ones being considered for inclusion in the next development plan for the city of Tallinn.
“We, together with the Tehnopol team, conducted a 3-day international innovation camp for over 90 participants from ten Baltic Sea Region countries as part of the Smart-Up Baltic Sea Region project. Our aim was to collectively find possible solutions to make urban spaces more attractive and convenient for residents and to increase citizen engagement in urban improvement. It was gratifying to see that development weekends, which have traditionally been geared towards the development of startups, can also be successfully adapted for the development of public sector services. In addition to the professionalism of the organisers and mentors, Tehnopol’s innovative resources on-site certainly played a crucial role in the success of this endeavor.” (Jaanus Vahesalu, head of the Tallinn City Enterprise Department).
HIV Digital
Objective: tackle HIV-related challenges
Momentum project: 48-hour hackathon and 10 months of prototype testing
Result: new products and services on the market
Sirje Kõuts, member of the Estonian management board of GlaxoSmithKline:
We wanted to contribute to improving the HIV situation in Estonia but do so in an innovative way. In co-operation with the Connected Health Cluster, managed by Science Park Tehnopol, the innovation programme HIVdigital was created, the purpose of which was to initiate a discussion about innovation options in the field of HIV, encourage generating innovative solution ideas, and support developing the best of them into working and useful applications. As output of the programme, two new HIV-related digital solutions were created, along with start-up companies that are developing them. The Diagnostic Match decision support for GPs helps to find people who need HIV testing, within seconds. The mobile application hINF makes the communication between an HIV-positive patient and his or her doctor convenient and saves time, replacing almost half of the visits with digital visits. These solutions have potential to become widely used both in Estonia and elsewhere in the world. The greatest value of the programme is in the process itself, which gave a boost to development of patient-centred solutions, with all interested parties contributing together.
Read more at https://www.hivdigital.ee
The Port of Tallinn
Objective: resolve the challenges of the three fields of operation of the Port of Tallinn
Momentum project: one innovation day and incubation of the best solutions
Result: three solutions now being implemented
Valdo Kalm, Chairman of the Management Board of the Port of Tallinn:
With the help of the Tehnopol Startup Incubator, we organised a hackathon-style innovation day for the employees and co-operation partners of the Port of Tallinn to better deliver innovation to our employees and find smart solutions for developing in the port’s business domains. Via techniques known in the start-up world, seven innovative ideas were born under the guidance of experienced mentors, three of which we implemented immediately. We experienced that the best practices used in start-up entrepreneurship can also be successfully used in a company that has a long history but is innovative.
Project duration: hackathon-style idea day and mentor support to further develop established ideas
Tallinn Social Insurance Board
Objective: resolve challenges related to social-welfare services
Momentum project: one innovation seminar
Result: new products and services under development within the framework of the ESF contest and the City of Tallinn’s procurements
Tõnis Mölder, Deputy Mayor of Tallinn:
Such idea days are very important, as problems become much clearer if practitioners and entrepreneurs join forces, and from there it is possible to develop necessary new solutions. It is important also that the most important part of a social service not be forgotten: people.
It is not only start-ups and successful large enterprises who address innovation. Various public-sector institutions too are thinking more about how to provide people with better services and how to make processes more efficient and convenient.
The Health and Social Insurance Board of Tallinn invited social-welfare experts and technology companies to participate in the idea day organised by Science Park Tehnopol to together find innovative solutions for significant social-welfare issues experienced in daily work.
The ideas are to be further developed within the soon-to-be-launched ESF contest titled ‘Innovative Solutions in Social Welfare Services’ and in the City’s development projects and procurements.
Focus on COPD
Objective: tackle COPD-related challenges
Momentum project: 48-hour hackathon and six months of prototype testing
Result: three new products/services under development
Head of the Connected Health Cluster’s innovation department Kitty Kubo:
The FOCUS ON COPD programme aimed to find innovative solutions addressing how to find people who live with COPD more efficiently and organise their treatment with better results.
The programme COPD IN FOCUS helped to launch developments that are important for Estonian health care, from which we can learn and move forward.
The programme’s innovation fund was used to finance the prototyping and testing of three solution ideas. The developments are being implemented in co-operation between clinicians and technology enterprises. These developments consist of COPD smart screening and an SPG process on the primary level (Järveotsa-approved general medical practice, North Estonia Medical Centre, Dermtest, and Diagnostic Match), a home screening service for a seriously ill COPD patient (University of Tartu Pulmonary Clinic, Cognuse, and Queretec), and a pulmonology rehabilitation self-help application for a COPD patient (University of Tartu Pulmonology Clinic, North Estonia Medical Centre, Tartu Health Care College, and MotionChart).
The innovation was boosted by GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis, and Boehringer Ingelheim.
