Mihkel Tammo to head the University of Tartu Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation

As of 1 April, Mihkel Tammo, who has previously led the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Centre of Enterprise Estonia and the metal industry company Estanc and was one of the founders of the Green Tiger platform, will start as the Head of the Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Tartu.

According to Mihkel Tammo, it is essential to strengthen the link between top researchers at the University of Tartu and the business and public sectors. “The university has the power to develop products and technologies to move towards a more sustainable and smart society. My goal is to provide an entrepreneurial practitioner’s perspective to introduce university researchers’ discoveries and their business opportunities to entrepreneurs,” said Tammo.

Tammo has been advising the research-intensive companies of the University of Tartu and Tallinn University of Technology since 2022. Vice Rector for Development Tõnu Esko said that Tammo’s experience in both the private and public sectors is valuable as it can open new doors for collaboration. “Previous changes in the Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation have created a favourable environment for further development. Mihkel Tammo has experience in entrepreneurship, advising researchers and public sector management. And building a bridge between these three is the task of the centre. I believe Tammo will be a strong strategic partner for researchers and entrepreneurs to get closer to the goal of creating 500 Estonian deep-tech companies by 2030,” said Esko.

The Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation aims to provide each research idea with entrepreneurial potential that emerges at the University of Tartu with an opportunity to become a reality. “In Estonia, the need to increase the added value of our economy has long been discussed. We have reached the point where we understand that to achieve this, we need to invest in research-intensive entrepreneurship. The University of Tartu is a leader in this societal change, and I hope that my work fulfilling the goals will be successful,” Mihkel Tammo added.