Keywords: networking

Maritime Accelerator is a programme that brings together fast-moving growth companies and maritime corporations and accelerates cross-company collaboration in order to create concrete business ventures. Together with partner corporations and global growth companies we are building a fertile ecosystem and new concrete business ventures speeding the development of the industry.

The core of Maritime Accelerator is to create concrete business ventures by bringing together Partner corporations from the Maritime Industry & global growth companies from other industries. For corporate and growth companies, the Maritime Accelerator generates new businesses and speeds up maritime industry development. It allows easy access for growth companies to the maritime ecosystem, which is considered to be quite conservative. Run by a steering group consisting of participating partners and operated with supporting partner Avanto Ventures Ltd, the programme also enables corporations to find synergies with other partners and therefore increases the value of the ecosystem, generating new business, speeding up heavy industry development and helping Finland becoming a leading European maritime hub.

The Maritime Accelerator bring together two really different players - big corporations within the Maritime Industry, and small, flexible, globally-sourced growth companies from other industries. Together they form new or improved products and services in order to speed up the development of Maritime Industry. The focus is in accelerating the co-operation between these two parties, not the growth companies itself. Sectors such as the cruise business have operated along traditional lines, and the Maritime Accelerator helps them to find new innovative approaches to enhance their competitiveness thanks to partners outside the industry.

During Maritime Accelerator 2018, concrete ventures were built out of 490 screened international startups. Startups benefited from a 3-month co-creation period with corporates to help reach new venture clients, gaining access to the global customer base to the accelerator partners, and increasing their visibility in the maritime ecosystem. The 6 most promising ones presented themselves at venture finals (a side-event at Slush & co-operation with Breaking Waves conference). The programme enabled new, innovative opportunities for partners to promote their own competitiveness and the future of the industry as a whole. It also increased co-operation between the partners, and co-operation between last years finalists and partners still continues after the completion of the first programme. 2019 will be the second edition of the program with Royal Caribbean and Meyer Turku returning as partners, who will this time be involved in choosing participants in the final stages.