November weekend in Helsinki for most of us doesn’t sound like the time of our lives – it’s dark, cold and windy in the seaside city. To make matters worse, the Finnish word for November, Marraskuu, by it’s etymological meaning means the month of death, marras origin from the same word family as Latins mors and French’s mort, death – …

Blockchain technology is becoming more and more demanded worldwide, and today we all have a unique opportunity to witness “the biggest innovation after the Internet itself” gaining a growing number of implementations – both within and outside the financial sector. This significant process inevitably goes hand in hand with massive informational support – and, consequently, cross-industry popularization of Blockchain. And …

The World Bank has just released it’s annual report, “Doing Business in 2017“. Last year we reported on Nordic countries coming in at the top of the best places in the world to do business.  How do this year’s findings compare? These 15 countries in the below infographic, compiled by Market Inspector, rank the highest in their ease of doing …

The construction sector plays an imperative role in the evolution of businesses and society as a whole, and while there is continued interest in determining how to enhance innovation in this industry, little moves forward in the right direction. Despite its high contribution to the evolution of prosperous societies around the world, construction is much too often considered to lag …

Medihub, an Estonian startup founded in spring 2015 aim at building up a kind of database in which patients can search for affordable and creditable clinics, the services of which suit their needs best. CEO Helary Lainjärv gives us some insight into the company’s past, present and future. You’ve been working as a physician for over 8 years now, so …

Tinnitracks is a digital health startup that treats tinnitus through an inventive audio therapy app which works by manipulating the frequencies in music. After capturing the top prize at the Reeperbahn Startup Pitch in 2013 and becoming available on German insurance, they have tackled global market entry at a faster pace than many of their peers. In 2015, they captured …

From Spar Nord announcing a new fintech collaboration with Rocket Labs in Aalborg to the central bank in Norway considering blockchain for real time clearing and settlement for domestic payments among other things, it is clear that fintech is making solid progress in the Nordic banking industry. These developments are in lockstep with the rest of the financial world, as …

Startup Everywhere, a Danish creative content and self-publishing startup, has just launched an app which helps entrepreneurs to navigate cities around the globe. It features co-working spaces, incubators, accelerators, and public working spaces such as cafes with good wifi.  It is currently available in six cities including Copenhagen, Berlin, Lisbon, and Stockholm. Over the last year, founder Sissel Hansen and …

In the startup world the role of an investor is to take “capital off the table”. This means that an entrepreneur can focus on delivering the product, without constantly needing to worry about resources. One of the promises of basic income is to do just that, not only for entrepreneurs but for all of us. But that’s only the beginning. …

It was perhaps significant that the recent Oslo Innovation Week (OIW) five-day series of events was preceded by a forty-eight hour Techfugees hackathon where more than one hundred data scientists, engineers, user experience designers and entrepreneurs united in teams to build prototypes alongside refugees, to find solutions to enable better integration into Norwegian society. the Techfugees Hackathon Techfugees is a …

Among the many happenings during the recent Oslo Innovation Week, Start-up Guide Oslo was officially released at a launch party hosted by MESH. Start-up Everywhere has previously published Start-up guides for cities like Copenhagen, Stockholm, Berlin and many others with second editions in the planning stage. Now, it is Oslo’s time to shine. Audrey Camp, a co-author of the guide …

“Power Couples” was the theme for the recent Oslo Innovation Week (OIW) and quite fitting that Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway (pictures above, interacting with the AV1 robot) attended the opening ceremony at Skur 13, the indoor skate hall alongside the regenerated harbour in Oslo. Oslo Innovation Week is hosted by the City of Oslo and …

Apps like Tinder and OkCupid are filled with people looking for love. But are there any apps that cater to Nordic users? Fortunately there are. The Nordic region is home to apps that are a bit different from the dating apps that most people are used to. Here are some of the best dating apps making the rounds in Northern …

A delegation of Nordic startups rang the bell at the Nasdaq in New York on October 11th, as part of the #NordicMade showcase. #NordicMade is a community initiative that aims to build bridges between global tech regions and strengthen Nordic cooperation.  The bell-ringing also signaled the launch of a new €1.5 million Nordic fund. Helga Valfells, CEO of NSA Ventures, …

A new wellspring of employee organization is emerging in the so-called ‘sharing economy’, but the CEO of Daimler-backed ridesharing business MyTaxi, Uber’s main competitor in Europe, has dismissed the trend. By Tamlin Magee As Uber drivers in London and New York organise for the right to collective bargaining, the boss of Europe’s top ride-sharing competitor – MyTaxi, set to merge …