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Boost your business and performance with the game-changing Finnish expertise and innovations

15.4.2024

A Finnish company delegation with the most interesting sports business-related start-ups and growth companies will visit Madrid on April 25–27. Hosted by LALIGA and Business Finland and facilitated by Sport Finland network, the target of the delegation is to showcase products, services, or other innovative solutions that could interest the local partners and enhance Spanish football and other sports performance and business.

Interested in new ideas and innovations to promote your sports business or performance? The Finnish delegation of top-tier growth companies visiting Madrid LALIGA headquarters, SportBoost Accelerator and Global Sports Innovation Center GSIC, along with an evening reception hosted by Business Finland at the Ambassador’s residence, will provide an interesting setup of a variety of sports and well-being -related businesses.

Reaching a new level in LALIGA cooperation

The visit to Madrid is facilitated by Sport Suomi (Sport Finland), which is a national network enhancing Finnish sports, health and wellbeing companies collaborating and entering international markets. The joint project of the city of Kuopio, the city of Lahti and the city of Jyväskylä offers a platform to share existing international contacts cities have with each other. In this instance, Kuopio and Lahti could become part of established cooperation between Jyväskylä and LALIGA. Through Sport Finland -network start-ups and growth companies also from areas outside Jyväskylä, especially from Lahti and Kuopio, were able to join the delegation.

LALIGA and Finland have a solid history of good cooperation well seeded in Jyväskylä, where, offered by LALIGA and JAMK (Jyväskylä University of Applied Sciences) the sports management students have attended football industry seminars and solved practical business cases for several years.

“Now it’s time to expand this cooperation to innovation, product development and business. We’re excited for the opportunity to present our world-class Finnish expertise to complement the needs of the Spanish football business partners,” says Nina Rautiainen, leader of the company delegation and Program Manager of the innovation ecosystem Hhub in the City of Jyväskylä.

AI innovations to enhance digital and event marketing and arena facilities

The delegation includes start-ups and growth companies with research, AI- and data-based solutions for optimal performance of athletes. For the business partners, there are interesting AI- and data-based solutions for stadium and arena management and energy optimisation, as well as new gaming ideas for visitor experience and fan engagement.

For example, one of the companies, Awesome Crowd, is a customer experience-focused company that provides entertainment and engagement solutions for audiences attending events, aiming to enhance their overall experience through interactive and immersive activities. Onit Sport, already a LALIGA collaborator, offers professional mental coaching for athletes, coaches, and parents at all levels.

“We’re bringing in the best Finnish expertise and the most interesting new start-ups to enhance Spanish football and their business,” Rautiainen says.

“Doing business”, or finding partners, is, of course, a concrete target for many, but Rautiainen emphasises the importance of long-term partnerships and collaboration.

“By getting to know each other, we can discover new opportunities for collaboration and co-development, for example, within the innovation ecosystem operated by LALIGA, and thereby bring forth even better products and services together for local league organisation, clubs, and other stakeholders within the ecosystem.”

Interested in meeting and networking with Finnish companies?

The company delegation is available for informal meetings on April 26 and 27. We strongly recommend pre-booking a meeting with specific representatives.

Meet the companies:

• ONIT Sport https://onitsport.fi/en/
• Ketoinen https://ketoinen.fi/english/
• Pro Recovery https://prorecovery.fi/recovery-service/
• SAHA Training https://www.sahatraining.fi/ (in Finnish)
• BGMT: Awesome Crowd https://awesomecrowd.rocks/
• eWatt https://www.ewatt.fi/en/
• Wello2 https://wello2.com/

To book a meeting with any of these companies, please contact Sport Finland contact person Project Manager Santtu Pirskanen, +358 44 718 2521, santtu.pirskanen@kuopio.fi.

Sport Finland is implemented as the join lead project by the cities of Jyväskylä, Lahti and Kuopio from 4/2023 to 12/2024. The project is based on ecosystem agreements between the state and the university and university consortium cities (InnoCities) and is funded by The Council of Tampere Region, which grants support for the lead projects from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) in accordance with the priorities and specific objectives of the Innovation and Skills in Finland 2021–2017 program.