Prizes were awarded to two student teams at the Takeoff event arranged by Lutes

In a livestreamed event, seven teams pitched their ideas to an audience, who then voted for the winner of the 1500 euros prize. Rantalainen, who sponsored the event, announced the winner of a service package.

The audience’s favourite team was Saledor. The team won the 1500 euros prize amount, sponsored by OmaSP Bank and the engineers’ associations in Lappeenranta and Imatra.

Rantalainen, the main sponsor, awarded a product and service package worth 4000 euros to Palandia, an idea pitched by Tarja Kinisjärvi.

In addition to the two prizes, The Regional Council of South Karelia handed out Uusinajattelija (innovator) shirts to Ekotekt team.

Palandia – design products from textile waste

The starting point for Kinisjärvi’s business idea was the will to reduce the amount of textile waste by recycling the waste fabric to make unique design products, such as bed linen and other decoration fabrics.

Timo-Jussi Talsi and Tommi Teittinen from Rantalainen commented that Palandia is a timely and down-to-earth idea. The focus on local operations, too, attracted them to this winning business idea.

More about the event

You can watch the 4-hour event here.

In the first part you can listen to, for example, the interviews of Peter Vesterbacka and Jethro Rostedt. At 2:46:30 students start pitching their ideas.

”Considering the time and conditions, a very well organized and fine event!” – Timo-Jussi Talsi

The next business idea competitions are scheduled for spring 2021. Lutes is responsible for the Forward program for students and Business Mills arranges the PitchIt idea race that is open for anyone. The finals of both competitions will take place in a joint event in April 2021. Stay tuned!