Antti Haase & Kaj Kostiander Aix en Provence, 26 Sept SomePitching competition as a regional support tool in Northern Finland for innovation evaluation process

Overview of instrument (nature, main goals,…): Online startup competition for new business ideas and teams. Participating teams make a pitch video (max. 90 sec) about their innovative product or service, which is evaluated (1-5 stars + comments) online by general public and then by the jury made of investors and business professionals. The winner is selected based on the total ratings from the public and the jury: the winner gets prizes, mentoring and additional meetings with investors. Antti Haase & Kaj Kostiander Aix en Provence, 26 Sept. 2012

SomePitching Youtube-channel: Antti Haase & Kaj Kostiander Aix en Provence, 26 Sept. 2012

Administering agency / Organisation: SomePitching ry is a registered non-profit organization, which supports the start-up community in Oulu region in Northern Finland. Main sponsors of the competition are Business Oulu, Business Angels Finland and Technopolis Science Park (Oulu). Antti Haase & Kaj Kostiander Aix en Provence, 26 Sept. 2012

Target Group: SomePitching competition is targeted at all individuals (or an individual), teams and startups with a new and innovative business idea, which they want to promote and get in touch with potential investors. There is only one category in the competition. There are no limitations on the business sector. The jury membership is targeted at venture capitalists, business angels and business professionals interested in start-ups and/or fresh business ideas for investment purposes. Antti Haase & Kaj Kostiander Aix en Provence, 26 Sept. 2012

Selection process (1/2): During the first week of the competition the public voters rate (1-5 stars) the product/service based on the pitch video. Anyone can vote for free, but registration to Innozed web-application is necessary and requires an address. The more videos a voter judges, the more credits he/she gets and thus is more likely to win prizes (e.g. cameras and movie tickets) in the final raffle between the registered voters in Innozed. Antti Haase & Kaj Kostiander Aix en Provence, 26 Sept. 2012

Selection process (2/2): Based on the public ratings, top 5 teams are chosen to the finals. In the second week the jury rates (1-5 stars) the finalists in five areas: 1. video itself 2. skills of the team 3. business potential 4. innovativeness of the idea 5. market potential The winner is selected based on the total ratings from the public and the jury. The jury’s judgments count 75 % and voters 25 %. Antti Haase & Kaj Kostiander Aix en Provence, 26 Sept. 2012

Tools to support the selection process: Innozed ( is an innovation management software (in beta-testing phase in June 2012) for evaluating ideas. All interactions are done via and can be completed within minutes. Registered community members can send ideas (e.g. pitch videos) to Innozed, which are then sent to other members as evaluation tasks for rating and commenting. Innozed applies game mechanics by rewarding credits to evaluators based on completed evaluation tasks. Based on the feedback Innozed calculates “an innovation score” for the ideas using an algorithm for evaluating their business potential. Antti Haase & Kaj Kostiander Aix en Provence, 26 Sept. 2012

Expected results: The competition aims to boost entrepreneurship and the start-up mentality, general pitching and idea-marketing skills, and raise awareness of innovative business ideas and the teams behind those ideas. In best case scenario the start-ups get new contacts and financing from private sector investors. In addition to participants, also the voters (general public) can win prizes based on their activity. Antti Haase & Kaj Kostiander Aix en Provence, 26 Sept. 2012

Video pitch example: New product innovation prototype / idea pitched for potential investors. Video made by a group of four students guided by a professional (teacher) Antti Haase & Kaj Kostiander Aix en Provence, 26 Sept. 2012

Kaj Kostiander Antti Haase Antti Haase & Kaj Kostiander Aix en Provence, 26 Sept. 2012