Fortum Innovation Challenge

Ecological ideas to increase housing cooperatives’ living comfort

As a leading clean energy company, Fortum is committed to the continuous development of clean, energy efficient and comfortable solutions for better living. The search was aimed to teams of all sizes for solutions regarding i.e. heating, cooling, ventilation or new service concepts.

Fortum provided the winners with the opportunity to pilot their solutions with Fortum’s customers, possibility to utilise collected heating data, visibility in Fortum’s communication and marketing, and world-class expertise in the energy industry. Fortum promised a grant of €10,000 – 30,000 for the pilot, depending on the pilot type. In the end there is a possibility to continue and develop the successful collaboration with Fortum to a long-term partnership.

How we reached the goals

Prior to the competition, Spinverse and Fortum conducted a survey on the comfort of living. Spinverse was then tasked to organize the innovation competition and market it for potential participants. We facilitated communication between Fortum and participating SMEs, sparring the participants also for the pitching stage. We also helped Fortum to first shortlist and finally select the winners

Key takeaways

The competition attracted wide interest, with the total number of submitted applications reaching 70. All innovative ideas were evaluated and ranked according to criteria set before the application period. Two SMEs came on top and proceed to pilot their ideas in the coming summer and the next heating season: Fluxio with a solution more focused on more energy-efficient and mindful behavior by the occupants themselves, resulting in better living comfort and savings achieved with communication and technology, and Solteq using cost-efficient IoT-sensors and online services for managing radiator settings resulting in increased living comfort and lowered heating costs.

Photo credit: Fortum