20 Mar EnergySpin Forum

EnergySpin Forum during EnergyWeek 2026: Industry Meets Startups

EnergySpin brought industry and startups together on 19 March at the EnergySpin Forum, held at Startup Factory, University of Vaasa, during EnergyWeek 2026 – the week that draws thousands of energy professionals to Vaasa every year.

Marko Koski from EnergySpin Operations & Partnerships opened the afternoon, presenting EnergySpin’s accelerator work with smart energy startups and the Hard2Scale project – an EU acceleration programme matching industrial startups with large industrial partners in hard-to-abate sectors and Capacitor+ project together with University of Vaasa building energytech startups through incubation program.

The programme featured two fireside chats. The first, moderated by Patrik Österåker (Botnia Ventures), tackled the challenges industrial startups face when scaling across borders, with Elijah Aldana (Ignite Sweden) and Miikka Miettinen (FiBAN). The second, moderated by Emil Gulyk (Vaasa Entrepreneurship Society), explored building venture teams from the industry, with Jeff Wallace (Silicon Valley in Your Pocket) and Philipp Holtkamp (University of Vaasa).

The afternoon culminated in a startup pitching session, where industrial startups pitched directly to investors and corporates – exactly the kind of connection EnergySpin, Hard2Scale and Capacitor+ exist to create.Thanks to all speakers, startups and partners – including FiBAN, University of Vaasa, Merinova, VASEK and the EU-funded Hard2Scale programme – for making the Forum a highlight of EnergyWeek.

See you next year.