341 ideas were submitted to Ajujaht
This year, the biggest contest of business ideas, Ajujaht, received total of 341 ideas that is by 32 times more compared to the last year. Such amount of ideas was last presented to Ajujaht eight years ago. Tallinners submitted this year 65% of more ideas than last year.
According to the chairman of the management board of the originator of the Ajujaht, Enterprise Estonia (EAS), Alo Ivask, the big number of presented ideas shows increasing interest of people towards entrepreneurship. “Ajujaht has a certain role in the entrepreneurship sector in Estonia, and this role has become more important over the years. We hope to see exciting or even world-changing ideas and support their development during the contest as well as after it,” said Ivask.
Head of Innovation of SEB Group, Mart Maasik, said that the significance of contribution of Ajujaht lies precisely in supporting its different forms. “During the last two years, SEB has given a special award to the idea that solves societal and social problems. There is no lack of such ideas at Ajujaht, and it is nice to see that many different regions in Estonia submit ideas for social businesses,” said Maasik.
Executive Manager of Elisa Eesti, Sami Seppänen, said that the previous year experience as the main supporter of Ajujaht was positive and they hope to see substantive cooperation projects also this year. “It is important for Elisa to contribute to creation of innovative solutions that really matter for the users. With Ajujaht, we are also looking for solutions that would use the opportunities and potential of soon created 5G network. There will definitely be fanciful ideas also this year, but our wish is to assist the teams who also have ambition and skills for implementing the idea with the help of the mentor. Last year we took MARKUS to Elisa to test its solution for creating the personal identification system and we believe that such kind of substantive cooperation projects will come about also this year,” said Seppänen.
Majority of the ideas came from Tallinn and Harjumaa, 175 and 54 ideas, accordingly. 54 ideas were submitted from Tartumaa, 16 from Pärnumaa, 8 from Lääne-Virumaa, 6 from Viljandimaa, 6 from Võrumaa, 5 from Ida-Virumaa, 4 from Jõgevamaa, 4 from Valgamaa, 3 from Põlvamaa, 2 from Läänemaa, 2 from Saaremaa, 1 from Järvamaa and 1 from Raplamaa.
99 from all ideas come from information and communication technology area, 48 from industry and design area, 23 from tourism and service industry area, 34 from social entrepreneurship area, 22 from healthcare and biomedicine area, 17 from creative industry area and 30 from energy and environment area. 68 ideas were classified under category Other.
The originator of the biggest Estonian business ideas contest is EAS, partner is SEB and main supporter is Elisa. Supporters of Ajujaht are also Elering, Levira, Tehnopol, law office Triniti, Ülemiste City, Rural Municipality of Harku, Rural Municipality of Hiiu, city of Pärnu, Rural Municipality of Saue, city of Tallinn, city of Tartu, Rural Municipality of Viimsi and association of local authorities of Võrumaa. EAS finances implementation of Ajujaht from the resources of the European Regional Development Fund of the European Union.