University of Tartu’s collaboration with Finnish venture capital fund to speed up commercialisation of research projects

On 28 August, the University of Tartu’s Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation met representatives of the Finnish venture capital fund Nordic Science Investments. During the meeting, the parties discussed starting cooperation between the university and the fund and set out the first steps on how the university’s research teams could implement their ideas more efficiently with the help of the fund.

Cooperation with Nordic Science Investments (NSI) is important for the university as it will offer researchers and students the opportunity to develop their ideas into a market-ready technology. For that purpose, the University of Tartu will select the teams engaged in research-intensive entrepreneurship whose work best matches the support the fund offers. For the chosen teams, NSI will provide the necessary expertise and investment and opportunities to collaborate with companies in the fund’s investment portfolio.

“Cooperation discussions with Nordic Science Investments show that the University of Tartu’s entrepreneurial and innovative spirit is not just a corporate image, but that the potential of our research teams’ activities is also noticed across the gulf in Finland. NSI helps our researchers to improve the Technological Readiness Level of their projects and bring them closer to commercialisation,” said Mihkel Tammo, Head of Entrepreneurship at the University of Tartu.

“We see the University of Tartu as an exciting hub of world-class science and entrepreneurial spirit. NSI is excited about the partnership and our goal is to engage with their research teams early on, as we like to be there at inception. Pre-seed is where NSI adds the most value by helping turn research into viable technologies,” said Matti Hautsalo, founding partner at NSI.

Nordic Science Investments is a venture capital fund based in Finland, which held its first close in February 2024. The fund focuses on supporting research teams, especially spin-offs from Nordic and Baltic universities in deep tech, life sciences and health technologies. NSI is committed to boost high-quality, science-based spin-offs in Nordics and Baltics.