Networking Event at SALT during Oslo Innovation Week

The event was held in connection to Oslo Innovation Week (OIW), and the participating companies from Bulgaria, Croatia, Latvia, Poland and Romania received travel grants from the EEA and Norway Grants to attend both OIW and the event. OIW is an excellent place for businesses in Europe to interact and meet businesses, startups, scaleup professionals, researchers, investors and other stakeholders in Norway. See more on Oslo Innovation Week 2022 (oiw.no).

The matchmaking platform remains open for those who registered: Networking Event with Businesses in Europe in Connection to Oslo Innovation Week - Info (b2match.io)

Presentations

The event took place at SALT in the Arctic Main Stage which is actually an old fish rack moved down from Northern Norway to the fjord in Central Oslo. The 150 participants at the event included businesses and other stakeholders in the startup ecosystem, including investors, entrepreneurs, scaleup professionals, research institutes and public institutions.

The venue created a relaxed atmosphere. It started with welcoming words from the Director of Special Assignment at Innovation Norway before it proceeded with two presentations. You can see the presentations here:

Startups, Scaling and the Ecosystem in Norway

EEA and Norway Grants and the Funding Available

Pitches

A total of 15 companies from five countries did a pitch on stage. They were each given a maximum of three minutes and the delivery was impressive. If you registered to the event, you can find their profiles on the B2Match platform. You can see their presentations via links below.

• Manolov X, Bulgaria
• Caddie Engineering, Bulgaria
• Marsevis ECOCube, Croatia
• iCAT, Croatia
• BeTRITON, Latvia
• Stapes, Latvia
• Ko Tu Elpo, Latvia
• Garden Spot, Poland
• Circular Design, Poland
• WebMakers Software House, Poland
• Enterteq Software, Romania
• Frontier Penta, Romania
• Zaya Artificial Intelligence, Romania
• Quick Legal, Romania
• Meta Education, Romania

Networking

The event aimed to connect entrepreneurs, businesses, scaleup professionals, researchers, investors and other stakeholders for partnerships, business and cooperation. The matchmaking was prepared in advanced in the online platform B2Match. The platform remains open for the participants. If you registered, you can access all the profiles via the same link: Networking Event with Businesses in Europe in Connection to Oslo Innovation Week - Info (b2match.io).

By the time of the event, 212 participants had signed up by making profiles in the platform. In total, there had been 3238 so-called profile view in the platform, which means that the participants used it actively to consider each others' profiles and plan meetings for the event. The platform allows participants to book meetings online, and almost 200 meetings had been booked by 152 different participants by the time of the event.

There were 74 companies, 56 startups, 6 R&D Institutions, 2 associations or agencies, 7 from authorities or government, and other actors including investors. (Links work if you registered in advance).

Overview of participants by country: Bulgaria 9 Croatia 7 Iceland 1 Latvia 17 Norway 33 Poland 59 Romania 21

The scheduled meetings, in addition to the unscheduled ones, created a good buzzing atmosphere at the event. Innovation Norway hopes that this contributed to connections, networking, partnership and business going forward. Central-European business and Norwegian partners are encouraged to apply for project funding from the EEA and Norway Grants (see below).

See an overview of results here: Networking Event with Businesses in Europe in Connection to Oslo Innovation Week - Info (b2match.io).

The EEA and Norway Grants

The EEA and Norway Grants support programmes on Business Development, Innovation and SMEs in Europe. The aim is to increase competitiveness and value-creation as well as cooperation with Norway. The final round of financing through the EEA and Norway Grants is opens in the autumn of 2022. The funding available was presented at the event and is accessible on Open Calls on the EEA and Norway Grants by Innovation Norway as well as below.

The Grants are the contribution from Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein to reducing social and economic disparities and strengthening cooperation in Europe. The Grants are chanelled through open calls for projects proposals. Businesses in the beneficiary state applies Norwegian partner. Any relevant Norwegian entities can be partner in the projects. In some calls, Norwegian entities can apply directly as well.

Rolling deadline: Travel Grants for Norwegian Businesses to Attend Trade Fairs in Poland

The event was organised by Innovation Norway, the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development (PARP) and the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia (LIAA).