Turku UAS launches StartLab to make students’ business ideas come true

Turku University of Applied Sciences offers mentoring for all its students to develop their own business ideas. StartLab provides support and help with entrepreneurship-related issues.

The new StartLab at Turku University of Applied Sciences will start on 5 September. StartLab aims to create opportunities for growth entrepreneurship and to find new innovations that could become growth companies.

StartLab serves all students of Turku UAS, regardless of their field of study. It also serves staff, such as research groups, who may have a need to commercialise innovations.

− We’ve had student entrepreneurship before, in all shapes and sizes, but now we’re developing ideas even further. The hope is to create even more business ideas and growth entrepreneurship opportunities, says Marita Nummi-Wikström, senior lecturer and coach in the Business Sector at Turku UAS.

A mentor pool has been set up to provide StartLab with entrepreneurial support and mentoring. In addition to the coaches from the Business Academy of Turku UAS, the mentor pool includes a large number of business experts with a wealth of entrepreneurial experience or other necessary skills.

Bringing entrepreneurship into the classroom

At Turku UAS, it is possible to study for a Bachelor of Business Administration degree with a focus on Innovative Business and Entrepreneurship, among other things. From this autumn onwards, StartLab will bring even more growth entrepreneurship skills to the studies of this study path. The aim is to enable students in this field to be well prepared for growth entrepreneurship.

− Students will be able to develop their theoretical knowledge as well as try out their ideas in practice, says Nummi-Wikström.

Students from other fields who are interested in entrepreneurship are encouraged and guided to participate in events such as StartLab and the coaching available.

Cooperation with the Turku start-up ecosystem

Nummi-Wikström stresses the importance of cooperation with different actors, both regionally and internationally. StartLab will cooperate with Turku’s start-up ecosystem and, where possible, will guide people to contact the services it offers. There have also been international initiatives, such as visits to various accelerators and start-up communities at Nordic universities.

Turku UAS’ Entrepreneurship and Value Creation research group works together with StartLab to promote university-based entrepreneurship. The research group works in RDI projects and promotes SME growth and innovation, business model innovation in the digital-green transition and sustainable entrepreneurship.

− At StartLab, we work for the whole of Southwest Finland. This is a way to bring new innovative entrepreneurship to Southwest Finland and to increase regional competitiveness and vitality. I see a need for more SME entrepreneurship in innovative sectors, says Nummi-Wikström.