Networking

Business Espoo’s networking events

Business Espoo offers a wide range of networking events for companies, entrepreneurs and those planning entrepreneurship. It is advisable to follow the events offered by the actors in the network on the organisations’ websites. In addition to this, Business Espoo’s joint networking events and many of the organisations’ own events are collected in a joint events calendar www.businessevents.espoo.fi. The events calendar is part of the Digital Agenda experiments of the City of Espoo. Read more. 

Targeted investor and matching events

Enter Espoo focuses on building long-term partnerships with international companies and investors. We want to make sure that the companies that turn to us meet the right start-ups and find the most suitable technology solutions for them. By logging in to Launchpad, you will ensure that we find your start-up and are able to provide you with the right opportunities to meet international corporations or investors.

Knights of Nordics

  • 159 international investors from Singapore, US, Japan, Germany, France, Switzerland, India, China, Sweden, Norway and Netherlands
  • 32 global corporates from Japan, Korea, Germany, US and Sweden
  • 74 startups and scaleups from Finland, Nordics and Germany

Corporate-Startup Online Weeks

Organised for the first time in 2020, Online Weeks brought together 107 start-ups and scale-ups with 15 international corporations. Learn more about the event. 

Read more about the matchmaking events organised by the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) on Business Espoo’s internationalisation services page.

Digital matchmaking platforms

The Launchpad matchmaking platform helps startups grow by connecting them with the right investors and large enterprises. Create a profile for your company to find out about other companies and opportunities for collaboration and contact potential partners. The platform will also provide you with tailored information about opportunities that may benefit your company.

Check out Business Espoo´s BE-studio. Glenn Gassen and Elli Keränen join us for a chat on how Enter Espoo attracts international companies and investors to Espoo's innovation ecosystem and helps local players to succeed. They'll tell you why some of the most well-known global brands like Mercedes-Benz or Japanese giant corporations want to come to Espoo — and how local and Finnish startups and other players can be part of all this. BE-studio is hosted by Harri Paananen, Head of Economic Development, the City of Espoo.


Check out the video on Business Espoo YouTube channel. 

Business Espoo collaborates closely with Business Finland whose Dealflow Finland matchmaking platform helps startups make themselves visible to thousands of investors.

Visit Espoo conference and congress services

Espoo Ambassador programme

Visit Espoo, together with the City of Espoo, annually selects and awards a scientist working in Espoo as the Espoo Ambassador. The person selected as the Espoo Ambassador is an active member in international scientific associations and represents internationally the scientific expertise and significant research work of their own university and of Finland. The selected person participates in international congresses in their field and invites them to Espoo as well. At the same time, the Espoo Ambassador encourages other scientists to participate in association activities and organise congresses by sharing information on how Espoo can support and assist scientists in inviting and organising international congresses.

The Espoo Ambassador is announced at the annual awards ceremony, which involves topical speeches about the field of congresses as well as networking with colleagues and with companies offering congress services and premises. 

More information on the Visit Espoo website.
You can also contact us by e-mail: Miikka Valo, miikka.valo@espoo.fi

Organising a business event or meeting

We offer free assistance in planning and coming up with ideas for your organisation’s meetings, well-being and recreation days and various festive and gala events. We help with brainstorming and mapping for premises, programmes and accommodation required for meetings, recreation days, business parties or international congresses, regardless of their size. We organise regular visits to local meeting venues (face-to-face and virtually). 

Meet Espoo information sessions

Information sessions aimed at teams organising corporate and community events gives the whole team a comprehensive picture of Espoo’s meeting service offering and new ideas for organising upcoming events. We hold information sessions for teams of 2–30 people. We will arrive at your office at a time convenient to you. The information session lasts about an hour.

Meet Espoo tours

Visit Espoo organises 4–8 Meet Espoo tours each year for meeting organisers in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area. During the tours, you will be introduced to three different companies offering meeting services in Espoo and the surrounding area during the morning or afternoon. Completely free for participants, the tours provide a great opportunity to get to know the services on site and, at the same time, gain new ideas for future events.

Read more about meeting and congress services on the Visit Espoo website.
You can also contact us by e-mail: Riikka Laatikainen, riikka.laatikainen@espoo.fi 

Services provided to leisure group travel organisers, clubs, federations and associations

We offer free assistance in pre-planning and coming up with ideas for leisure group travel. We will help you find the most suitable accommodation and catering services, places to visit and experience and partners in Espoo, Kirkkonummi and Vihti. ​

  • Expert help in brainstorming and finding suitable destinations, services and partners
  • Familiarisation trips (FAM trips) to destinations ​

You can also order various Espoo brochures and maps from us free of charge. ​

FAM trips ​

Visit Espoo organises, upon request, visits to the locations in the region for commercial tour operators in cooperation with partner companies. ​

More information: tiina.r.backman@espoo.fi

Referral to innovation hubs

Espoo is the centre of the Finnish economy and innovation

Fast-growing Espoo is the second largest city in Finland. We offer companies an excellent location in the Helsinki metropolitan area and good connections to Europe, Asia and Russia. The heart of the largest innovation centre in the Nordic countries beats in the Otaniemi-Tapiola-Keilaniemi area. International corporations, a thriving start-up community, diverse cultural activities, active sports associations and a renowned scientific and research community are sure to make the area interesting. The basis for success now and in the future is smooth cooperation between actors. 

Along with Aalto University, major organisations such as VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, Nokia, Kone, Neste and Fortum have made the ecosystem their home. Supercell and Rovio were born here and hundreds of startups are founded here every year.

Espoo’s innovation ecosystem enables you to form networks and work with the main innovation actors in Finland. Enter Espoo will help you to do sustainable business and establish yourself in the Espoo innovation ecosystem:

  • Meet the local actors relevant to your business
  • Identify sustainable opportunities to grow your business
  • Find spaces and everything you need to start a business
  • Grow your business in Espoo

Read more about the Espoo innovation ecosystem on the Enter Espoo online service.   

Smart Otaniemi – energy sector cluster 

Smart Otaniemi is an innovation ecosystem for smart energy, where different organisations cooperate to develop sustainable and commercially viable energy solutions that help us to move towards a carbon-neutral society. During its two years of operation, the ecosystem’s network has already grown to more than 100 operators and several pilot projects are underway. The innovation ecosystem is coordinated by VTT, and the activities are financed by Business Finland as well as companies and partners. 

Smart Otaniemi offers a new way to do research and development work. Co-creation projects between different companies and research institutes address challenges from different perspectives. Read more.