The Spring-weekend gathered young innovators from all over Finland to develop ideas – these six brilliant teams will be seen in the Spring finale

The Spring-weekend gathered young innovators from all over Finland to develop their ideas at the Supercell office. The weekend culminated in selecting six teams to the competition final. The live final broadcast on 7.5. at 13:00 will showcase ideas aimed at making the world more hopeful by activating youth, strengthening mental health, providing opportunities to find hobby companions, and support for studying mathematics, as well as increasing forest biodiversity. Spring invites every young person to join the audience and vote for the winners.

A team working on their idea at the Spring Idea Incubator.

Twelve teams, a total of 47 young people, who advanced to the semifinals in the Spring Idea Competition, gathered in Helsinki at the Supercell office for the weekend to refine their ideas.

– This weekend has been a life-changing experience. The best part has been coming together with different people and developing ideas, thanked Kristian from the Ecoinsight team to everyone who participated in the weekend.

The Spring weekend received much praise from participants for providing a platform where young people’s ideas are taken seriously. Many mentioned that the weekend enhanced creative thinking and taught a lot about idea development – important skills needed for the future.

– The atmosphere was amazing, and the whole weekend left a good feeling. Even though it’s a competition, the group supported each other, the environment was safe, and the team spirit amongst participants was great, Kate and Nella from the Kupla team summed up.

A variety of experts and coaches were also present to support the teams in developing their ideas. Amel Gaily shared inspiration and knowhow on sharpening your idea, Janne Saarikko and Anu Ubaud offered tips and training for pitching, and Pietari Päivänen and Jessica Blechingberg from Supercell delivered a keynote on how to turn an innovation into a success story. Coaches from different entrepreneurship societies, such as Aalto ES, Helsinki Think Company, LUT ES, Boost Turku, Vaasa ES, Tiimiakatemia / Arte osk, worked with the participating teams as well.

At the end of the weekend, the teams presented their ideas to the Spring jury, which selected the six most promising ideas for the final.

The finalists for Spring 2024 are:

Matchpoint

An app that helps find hobby companions

Elias, Salim, Mohsen, Valtteri, Aleksandr

Espoo

Ecoinsight

Harnessing AI to combat biodiversity loss

Henri, Lauri, Huiseung, Aaro, Touko

Espoo – Vantaa – Kirkkonummi

Kupla

A discussion program that breaks echo chambers

Kate, Nella, Waleed

Helsinki – Espoo

Matikkaverkosto

Support for studying mathematics from high school students to elementary school students

Mikael, Cléo, Vilmo

Helsinki

Rihmasto

Activating youth to change the world

Kristian, Eino, Noel, Aslan, Samu

Lohja – Helsinki – Vantaa – Kirkkonummi

Viitelystä eroon -kampanja

A campaign to prevent self-harm

Hilda, Eden, Alexi

Kaustinen – Veteli

The jury emphasized the most potential ideas

The jury focused on the teams’ ability to identify problems, the relevance and originality of the ideas, the broader usability and scalability of the ideas, as well as the composition and motivation of the teams. In addition, the selection of finalists was influenced by how well the teams developed their ideas over the weekend.

– We in the Spring jury were impressed by how much effort the young people put into developing their ideas. These young people have an extensive skillset, and everything needed to make their ideas come true. We definitely encourage everyone to continue developing their ideas, encouraged one of the members of the Spring jury, Outi Kuittinen, CEO of the RELEX Foundation.

In addition to Kuittinen, the Spring jury consisted of Moaffak Ahmed, Martti Hetemäki, Timo Holmström, Marjukka Mäkinen, and Jorma Ollila over the weekend.

Young people will get to choose the Spring winners in the live final broadcast on May 7th at 13:00 on Yle Areena

Three winners will be selected from the six finalists. All members of the three selected teams will be rewarded with summer jobs and a study trip to Copenhagen. During the summer job and study trip, the teams will have the opportunity to develop their ideas into something concrete.

The winners will be chosen and announced during the Spring final broadcast. The Spring final can be watched live on 7.5. at 13:00 on Yle Areena.

In addition to the final broadcast, there will be a public vote where viewers can vote for their favorite ideas in advance and during the final. The pre-voting starts on April 23rd and ends on the morning of the final day.

Of the final votes, 30% will come from the Spring jury and the remaining 70% from the votes of the youth audience and advance voting.

Stay updated on the twists and turns of Spring by subscribing to the Spring newsletter in your email.