Call for Application: Helsinki Education Hub (HEH) Incubation Program.
Call for Application: Helsinki Education Hub (HEH) Incubation Program
-You will build your Minimum Viable Product by using our Edtech specific product development program; build your solution faster
-You will test and co-develop the product in the Helsinki Edtech Testbed and / or through other innovation networks; co-develop and validate your solution with users
Who should apply?
The HEH Edtech incubator is a 12 week long innovation program for early stage Edtech startups. The program starts in late Early-September 2025 and ends in Early-December 2025.
We are looking for teams that:
1. Are research-based University teams (researchers and / or students), from University of Helsinki, or other higher educational institutions, that have a plan to register the company (y-tunnus / company-ID) soon after, when they have completed the innovation program. These are teams that receive R2B (Research to Business) funding from Business Finland and University-based teams with an idea, that is close to a prototype solution.
2. Have registered their Edtech startup already, but have not developed a full MVP (Minimum Viable Product) yet.
3. International early stage Edtect startups that are willing to register (not HQ) their company in Finland before the start of the program. The City of Helsinki Soft Landing https://www.hel.fi/en/business-and-work/soft-landing services will partner, and advice you, with in the registration process.
The innovation program is designed to best serve those who have a prototype, or are close to having one (an idea), of a future solution and want to develop it further into a Product. Our program is a Product Development Program. The program is not an Accelerator program, that ends in a Demo Day, with the main goal of raising funds. After our program, we will guide you to the next Edtech specific Accelerators, through our network, for that purpose.
The program will support Edtech entrepreneurs in the following:
1.You will be able to embed learning science into the solution; make it research-based.
2.You will get practitioner level feedback for the solution; co-develop with educators
3.You will go through a 7 week long* Lean LaunchPad (A product development program, based on research, from Stanford University, US) phase; from prototype to MVP
4.You will have the possibility to access the Helsinki Edtech Testbed program, depending on if you are a registered company (y-tunnus / company-ID) and the solution you are building; test your solution.
5.You will have access to other Faculty of Educational Sciences led education innovation networks.
6.Once you have done those, we will connect you to Edtech specific accelerators and investors in Europe and the US; build and test in Finland and enter international markets.
Workload?
On average, we expect you to spend 2–4 hours per week learning with us in person during working hours. Some modules will be online, but the majority will take place at the Helsinki Education Hub
The 7 week long Lean LaunchPad phase means: FOCUS!
Each Monday or Tuesday (10:00 – 13:00) during the 7 week period you will learn a new topic. The rest of the week you implement. The following Monday or Tuesday (10:00 – 13:00) you will present a progress report (“what did we learn”) for the coaches and your peers – and learn a new topic. The rest of the week you implement. This cycle goes on for 7 weeks…and in the end you will have a product.
Questions?
If you have any questions about the program, please feel free to contact:
niko.lindholm@hel.fi / +358 40 194 4209
Edtech Innovation Lead, Senior Business Advisor at Helsinki Education Hub.
