Estonian Review
One of Tallinn's most high-profile technology business centres, the Tehnopol Science Park, opened a new incubator on 14 August aimed specifically at helping fledgling tech companies get off the ground. The Tehnopol Startup Incubator offers 800 square meters of office space, meeting rooms and demo rooms - enough to accommodate 16 new enterprises and a total of 60 people, Tehnopol said in a release. In addition to the physical facilities, the startups will have access to training sessions and networking events.

Tehnopol board member Pirko Kontsa said that, as global experience has shown, being located in the same space creates synergies between companies, which in turn has generated some of the world's best business concepts.

In his keynote speech at the opening of the Startup Incubator, President Toomas Hendrik Ilves said it is crucial is to ensure that the education offered in Estonia evolves with the times, emphasising the importance of the IT industry to the Estonian economy. "Innovative people succeed even when times are tough – what really matters is how they are prepared. If our young people do not study mathematics, physics and engineering, our startups will never take off," he said. Speaking about the success of Estonian startup companies, Ilves referred to GrabCAD and ZeroTurnaround.

The same day as the incubator launch, Tehnopol also announced the opening of the Prototron startup fund, a joint project between Tehnopol, Swedbank and Tallinn University of Technology, that will provide a total of 120 000 euros in seed money for the top three ideas submitted by 15 September.

Tehnopol has been providing support services to startups since 2003.

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