Can I apply?
If you have a business idea and/or company that has novelty value and potential for international markets in the future, you can apply for funding. Grants are available for testing, developing, piloting, and promoting your business. The criteria for funding are:
- multidisciplinary team (LAB/LUT)
- commercialiability
- novelty value
- potential for international markets
- overall capacity and need for experimentation
The same team can apply three times, bearing in mind that the criteria become stricter with each round. In the third round, support can be applied as part of a larger development project.
The funding is conditional on the team having at least one LAB student from the Lappeenranta campus. To be part of a team, a student from the institution must be involved in business development activities, for example for a short project (description, sales, visual design, etc.). The team member cannot play an "advisory" role. It must be possible to verify that the work of the LAB student is related to the development of the business idea.
Funding will be granted for product development and testing, marketing, customer acquisition, and prototyping costs. The aim is to lower the threshold for entrepreneurship and encourage multidisciplinarity, international business, and networking. The project cannot cover start-up costs or other fixed costs (such as PRH costs, telephone connections, and premises).
Applying
To apply for funding, pitch a business idea and a cost estimate to the Business Mill team. In the first round, it is sufficient that the pitch is evaluated by the project manager (Kaisa), in the second round at least two other BM people are needed to evaluate the pitch and in the third round, in addition to the two BM team members, the jury includes at least one external LAB employee.
Please contact Kaisa and reserve time for pitching!