The SPARK Nordic delegation had significant market exposure meeting leading global business executives in Silicon Valley, California — The call for new SPARK Finland projects is now open!

Earlier this May, SPARK Finland program, collaborating with SPARK Nordic, organized an annual trip to Silicon Valley for researchers participating in the mentoring program to see how the innovation ecosystem at Stanford University – the home of the SPARK program – and its surrounding area operates.

SPARK Finland offers students and researchers from its member organizations support for advancing research-driven projects in the life sciences and health sectors. The concept originated at Stanford University and has spread around the world. Janina Stauffer and Helena Lähdekorpi, SPARK managers for the Turku and Tampere regions, provide the background information.

In addition to participants from Finland, the SPARK Nordic delegation included members from the Norwegian and Danish programs. The purpose of the trip is to enhance the impact of projects and deepen market understanding, as well as to increase the global visibility of projects, programs, and emerging startups.

“Meeting people in person and engaging in rapid interaction plays a key role when working among the world’s leading players. You simply can’t advance things in the same way from Finland. An open and collaborative work culture is also important: here, expertise and networks are actively shared, and both companies and research projects are helped to move forward through joint efforts”, says Esa Räsänen, a visiting professor from Tampere at Stanford University. A project from Esa’s 2020 SPARK mentoring program later became MoniCardi Oy, and Esa participated in the travel program as an alumni.

At the SDDS symposium, participants had the opportunity to hear presentations from some of the most influential professionals in the field. In addition to leading researchers and Nobel laureates, participants were able to engage in discussions with dozens of investors, executives from the industry’s largest companies, and representatives from the FDA. We met more world-leading professionals during our visits to innovation offices at the top universities – Stanford and UCSF (Stanford OTL, UCSF Innovation Ventures). We also explored the activities of the Nordic Innovation House and heard several stories about founding startups and their journey to becoming growth companies, complete with challenges and successes.

“The atmosphere was highly inspiring, and the insights and advice we gained were both timely and essential for advancing and commercializing our innovation (R2B-Research to Business project) — a good example being the rapid uptake of AI in drug development. The discussion culture was exceptionally open; everyone was friendly and helpful”, says Vilja Pietiäinen from the University of Helsinki’s KUDOS project, who is participating in the mentoring program. 

We also had the opportunity to attend a mentoring evening for the SPARK at Stanford program and see the local projects. All ten SPARK Nordic projects got to practice their investor pitches in front of long-standing and respected SPARK mentors, and we also had the chance to brainstorm with top-tier IP experts at Knobbe Martens. Everyone received detailed feedback and plenty of ideas for the future.

“During the trip, we pitched our own projects numerous times to top professionals from various backgrounds, and we practiced in both short speeches lasting just a few minutes and longer discussions”, Janne Leivo from the University of Turku’s ICDx project sums it up.

We’ll meet again in June, when SPARK programs from around the world gather in Helsinki for the SPARK GLOBAL Annual Meeting and to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the SPARK at Stanford program.

“It’s unique that the top names in the field from around the world want to meet in Finland; it says a lot about the level of Finnish research-driven commercialization projects,” says Pasi Sorvisto, founder of SPARK Finland program.

SPARK Finland supports idea owners in developing practical solutions for the healthcare sector – Our application call is now open!  

Do you have an idea in the life sciences or healthcare sector and need support and global networks to develop it into a product that meets clinical needs? Applications for the SPARK Finland mentoring program are now open! Read more on our website and contact the manager in your region.

Applications are accepted annually in May and November; we also offer various webinars and courses for researchers and students at member organizations of the program. You can explore the development of healthcare ideas even before starting your own project. Alternatively, the Pre-SPARK Concept Discovery Program offers an intensive course in September–November to familiarize you with the subject matter. The application for this course is also open until June 31, 2026. 

Further information

• My Nguyen (Helsinki), my.nguyen@sparkfinland.fi
• Helena Lähdekorpi (Tampere), helena.lahdekorpi@tuni.fi
• Janina Stauffer (Turku), janina.stauffer@varha.fi
• Irina Lavikainen (Itä-Suomi), irina.lavikainen@uef.fi
• Pre-SPARK course manager: Usha Mohanraj, usha.mohanraj@sparkfinland.fi