Five projects have been selected to the final round in the Uutisraivaaja innovation contest. The finalists are: Long Play, a platform for long-form feature journalism, Nearhood, a hyper local information service, Infogram, an innovative data visualization tool, PalloPostia, a news service for children and On Display, an application for displaying a weekly art dosage.
Finalists will receive 10 000 euros of seed funding with which they develop their project further for the next 6 months. They will also receive entrepreneurship training organized with Aalto University’s Start Up Sauna program. The finalists will also visit Silicon Valley. The winner or winners of the Uutisraivaaja contest will chosen from the five finalists, and the winner or winners will be announced at Slush start up conference in Helsinki in November.
“Each of the finalists broaden the field of journalism and distribution of information by introducing new viewpoints, target groups and topics. It is a very interesting and heterogenic selection”, says Pekka Ala-Pietilä, chairman of the Uutisraivaaja jury.
The contest drew 105 applications from Finland and abroad.
“There were both newcomers and experienced entrepreneurs in the applicants. Many had prepared their project for a long time for the Uutisraivaaja contest”, Tanja Aitamurto, Chairman of the Review Board and Coordinator Uutisraivaaja Innovation Challenge says.
Long Play: A new kind of digital publisher of long-term investigative journalism and feature writing. Members of the team are Johanna Vehkoo, Hanna Nikkanen, Reetta Nousiainen, Ilkka Karisto, Anu Silfverberg, Riku Siivonen, Ilkka Pernu and Antti Järvi.
Long Play pitch video:
Nearhood: a hyperlocal social media platform bringing together residents, organisations, government and the publich sector. Team members are Lari Lohikoski and Miemo Penttinen.
Nearhood pitch video:
Infogram: an innovative data visualization tool. Team members are Uldis Leiterts, Raimonds Kaze, Alise Semjonova, Kaspars Bankovskis, Mikko Järvenpää and Andris Berzins.
Infogram pitch video:
On Display: A display application for artwork. A piece of art for the week presented in a mobile application. Team members are Tuomo Rainio, Janne Sundqvist and Riikka Notkola.
On Display pitch video:
Pallopostia: A mobile and tablet news service for children. Team members are Iina Berden, GertJan Berden, Markku Holtari and Aarne Cederberg.
Videos: Markus Petteri Laine