Press release, November 6th 2009 at 1.15 p.m.



HELSINKI REGION GETS NEW SPINNO ENTERPRISE CENTER



Technopolis has built a world class, award winning pre-incubation

and incubation program over many years in Otaniemi. The unit

generates a significant share of the growth start-ups in Finland.



As part of the reorganization of Technopolis, Technopolis and

Laurea University of Applied Sciences have now made a letter of

intent about transferring these non-profit incubation programs,

financed through EU and other public funding instruments to the

new Spinno Enterprise Center, operated by the Laurea University

of Applied Sciences. While Laurea will operate the programs,

Spinno will be offered as a shared innovation platform for

Helsinki area academic and research institutions, as well as for

area companies. For its part, Technopolis Development Services

will shift its offering from incubation to a service portfolio

focused on fundraising and strategic matchmaking for a more

diverse group companies, including major corporations and later

stage growth companies as well as so-called Born Global start-

ups.



Laurea’s President Pentti Rauhala says that the University of

Applied Science is a natural host for the shared innovation

platform, pointing out that Laurea is increasingly integrated

into the Otaniemi and Greater Helsinki innovation ecosystem. It

has a strong track record in student entrepreneurship and pre-

incubation programs, and has been actively developing its

international innovation entrepreneurship relationships with

organizations like the Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning in

University of Cambridge.  Rauhala says this is an important move

for Laurea. “The new Spinno Enterprise Center is a significant

new step and will give us an important role in the Helsinki

innovation ecosystem.” According to professor Alan Barrell from

Cambridge University, “Spinno is breaking new ground and

contributing to entrepreneur education and development in true

leadership mode.”



Espoo Director of Economic Affairs Kari Ruoho agrees. “This

approach will enable us to manage many of the most promising

Helsinki area cases through a single pipeline where each party

has a clear and complimentary role. Spinno will help streamline

and coordinate the Helsinki entrepreneurial community by

collecting young high potential cases and providing them strong

support from both Finnish and international experts.”



Director of Technopolis Development Services Will Cardwell says

the move is good for everybody. “This move will allow the players

in the area’s innovation community to feed their best cases into

a shared innovation platform, which will in the end enable us to

match them with world-class investors, corporate reference

customers and partners.”



The new Spinno Enterprise Center is planned and expected to

launch its operations in the beginning of 2010 with its

experienced incubation team, headed by Tuomas Maisala, to be

transferred from Technopolis to Spinno. The operations will

continue to be financed by the regional Economic and Employment

Development Center (TE), the City of Espoo, as well as the

center’s customers and other key stakeholders.



Further information



Laurea University of Applied Sciences, Jaakko Tarkkanen, Vice

President, tel. +358 40 830 6158

Technopolis Development Services, Will Cardwell, Director, tel.

+358 40 514 1325



About Laurea



Laurea produces new competences in the field of service

innovations and carries out professionally orientated education,

regional development and R&D activities by following the Learning

by Developing (LbD) operational model. Laurea has been selected

twice both as centre of excellence in education and as centre of

excellence in regional development. Laurea employs approximately

500 personnel and has app. 7 700 students.



www.laurea.fi



About Technopolis



Measured by the number of clients, Technopolis Plc is one of

Europe's largest science and technology park chains. The

Technopolis Group is Finland's largest specialized provider of

business environment services for high tech companies offering a

comprehensive range of services combining modern premises with

business and development services. Technopolis operates

technology centers in Espoo, Helsinki, Jyväskylä, Lappeenranta,

Oulu, Tampere and Vantaa in Finland, and in St. Petersburg in

Russia. Currently, some 1,180 companies with 16,000 employees are

working in the Technopolis technology centers.



www.technopolis.fi