On May 12-13, the Institute of Solid State Physics, University of Latvia, together with CAMART2 partners from RISE Research Institutes of Sweden and IDAL (Latvia), organized a lunch-to-lunch Deep Tech Entrepreneurship workshop “How to turn a deep tech idea from a lab, research, or vision into a successful business”.
The event aimed to give the first glimpse of the challenges and solutions of setting up a deep business to be prepared when an opportunity surfaced. The gain for the participants was an overview of the lean startup toolbox and what you need to unlearn as an academic scientist or engineer to become a deep tech entrepreneur. During the event, specific initiatives, and support mechanisms for the startups in Latvia were also presented.
The workshop featured the key speakers – a startup coach and business advisor at RISE Martin Askne, senior researcher and advisor at RISE Henrik Florén, and head of the Technology Department of Investment and Development Agency of Latvia Ņikita Kazakevičs.
Martin Askne - a serial entrepreneur who became a startup coach and business angel after co-founding fourteen innovative startups, of which two were listed on the Stockholm Stock Market. He has coached more than 300 ideas and innovative startups and has made (almost) every mistake that can be made as an innovative entrepreneur. Martin is currently working as a startup coach and business advisor at RISE Research Institutes of Sweden and is head of pre-incubation activities at Propell. As an expert in Lean Startup methodology, Martin is often engaged as an educator in the Swedish startup ecosystem.
Henrik Florén – holds a PhD in Technology Management from the Department of Industrial Management and Economics at the Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden. He is currently senior research and advisor at RISE. Henrik is also an associate professor of industrial management at the Department of Innovation Management at Halmstad University and Mid-Sweden University. Henrik’s research interests are within innovation management, specifically related to the interplay between technology, product, and business development in the context of digitalization and emerging technologies.
Ņikita Kazakevičs – Investment and Development Agency of Latvia, Head of Technology Department. He has been involved in improving organizational and entrepreneurial decision-making using design thinking methods and business intelligence tools. He has experience working on creating and applying decision making support systems for startups and organizations in vastly different stages (proto-ides, problem-solution fit, product-market fit, growth and scaling).
