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The phenomenon of innovations from the emerging world making great impact in developed markets, popularly known as “reverse innovation”,  has been keenly observed since the 80’s. Read on to learn which trends in fintech from emerging economies gaining traction in the developed world. Reverse innovation is generally a response to global MNCs falling short of fulfilling the market needs in …

Sjálfsbjörg, the Icelandic federation of physically disabled people, has recently opened up a new entity within the organization called Frumbjörg, an Innovation Center with the aim of supporting innovations for the disabled. It has been obvious for many within the community of disabled in Iceland, and those around it, that there has been a deep need for more focused research …

Polar  Bear Pitching 2016 is a global investment event where over the course of 2 days startups from different countries introduce their projects to the whole world – from a freezing ice hole in Oulu, Finland.  We interviewed Anna Svirelkina from To Round about her experience. The event, which is held yearly, allows competing startups to communicate with investors and …

Studies in Sweden and Norway show that students who play computer games do better in school.  And in Denmark, new research shows that playing computer games helps young people improve their social skills and create more friendships. By Tobias Thomasen Computer games have been blamed for many negative things.  Most often, they are thought to encourage violent and boorish behavior …

Did you know sending out a paper invoice costs nearly six times more than electronic one? Zervant aims to make e-invoicing easier for small businesses.  E-invoicing or electronic invoicing means sending, receiving and processing invoices in an automated system. It is a cost-efficient and practical tool for maintaining accounts, but for smaller companies e-invoicing has not always been the first …

Yes, this title is intentionally a bit “provocative”—especially for my friends in Norway, Sweden and Denmark—as there have been a number of interesting edtech developments in each of these countries, especially in the last year or two. But at least based on my own experience, and what I know right now, I still think that Finland might rightfully claim to …

It has been calculated that, as a result of population growth, the Earth will require 50% more food, 45% more energy and 30% more water by the year 2030. The environment can no longer tolerate production processes that place a burden on it, which is why solutions to future challenges are being sought in the bioeconomy. Finland has turned towards …

For many companies, managing investor relations means unilateral communications, which may turn into a strategic pitfall. On the other hand, small-scale investors often find it difficult to locate easily understandable investment information on companies. Investoreye offers a tool that solves both of these problems. Different-sized companies are faced with different challenges when it comes to investor communications. Not nearly all …

Singapore has unveiled a plan to become the world’s leading startup ecosystem within fintech, challenging similar initiatives in the Nordic countries. Singapore has developed a lot since becoming independent in 1965. Before, the country was a central post for major banks and finance houses, but as the country looks to the future, it has shifted it’s focus towards startups. In …

The Redefining School program, which covered the challenges of education, was featured at Slush 2015. Among the speakers was Saku Tuominen, CEO and Co-Founder of Scool. Scool aims to find the best practices in education and share all the insights and know-how with the world, for free. As Tuominen said in his speech at Slush, the challenges of future education …

Every year, over 100,000 children of jaundice, mainly because of lack of access to diagnostic equipment in the poorest parts of the world. A new Norwegian app aims to reverse this statistic. The treatment of jaundice is both simple and painless, but as many as 114,000 newborns annually die of the disease every year, mainly due to a lack of …

You just saw a really cool TED talk on, say lab-grown organs, and want to learn more about it, but you don’t know anything about biotechnology.  Google scholar would be a good place to start – if you knew the right keywords to search for.  Enter Iris.AI. Iris.AI can use the TED talk as input and find exactly what you’re …

EduLAB is part of a rapidly expanding pre-incubator program at the Oulu University of Applied Sciences in Finland called Oamk LABs. EduLAB specifically targets the global education technology industry. By Blair Stevenson Like the other Oamk LABs, EduLAB is taught in English and is a full-time, 5 month educational program for university level students and professionals in re-training with backgrounds …

A new report by BDO and Danske Bank singles out Nordic fintech disrupters as medicine for “sick” banking industry, and emphasizes the need for both fintech startups and traditional banks to form symbiotic relationships if they want to create true positive disruption. “The Fintech Disruptors Report: Nordic Edition” analyzes current trends in the fintech industry across Europe and the Nordic …

After a test period in Scandinavia, Plane is ready to launch its icebreaker app globally. The launch will occur in connection with the LAUNCH Festival in San Francisco. The founders of plane are CEO and co-founder,Tim Allison , and co-founder, Thomas Baastrup Jacobsen. “We have spent the last few months testing our app in Scandinavia and building a community. It …

Mikael da Costa has tasked himself and his company Finternet Group with something that not a great deal of companies nowadays would even consider.  They are offering legacy media companies the chance to hop onboard the digital express out of Nowheresville before they are left in the dust and stood about wondering what the hell happened. “I often ask people, …

Creathio is a platform that “bridges specialized students with cases posted by companies that have a problem to solve, or simply want to improve an area of their business”.  The goal of the company is to match students with companies, so they can get “hands on” experience with business cases. Creathio works by having students work on real case studies …

Norwegian startup Haxi has been given the green light to continue operations.  The court has ruled that the startup is not breaking the law, and can therefore continue to run their shared transport service. Haxi has won an appeals trial in the Norwegian Court of Appeals, following a police complaint on the “pirate” taxi company in 2014.  Three of Haxi’s …

“Ed-tech is boiling over here in Sweden”, says Jannie Jeppesen, founder of Ed-tech Sweden. But the community remains a black hole for Swedes – and even ed-tech companies themselves.  Ed-tech Sweden is now launching the first ever mapping of the ed-tech ecosystem in partnership with Silicon Vikings, to build transparency from the ground up, and get ed-tech on the agenda. …

The term diversification is a term regularly associated with investment strategies and it is without a doubt the single most powerful tool available to investors. Diversification isn’t a difficult concept to understand, yet it is still often misunderstood. Omar Shaikh, founder of Cocoa Invest, a completely independent online saving and investment company, explains exactly what diversification is and how important …