Business Mill, located in Skinnarila on Lappeenranta's higher education campus, is a unique service for knowledge-based companies. The mill is a place to incubate new business ideas and spar existing ones for the better.
LUT universities have produced many entrepreneurs and business ideas, and among other things, a large proportion of the start-ups in the region come from the university.
When it comes to starting a business or growing an existing one, going international or sparring over strategy, many people appreciate expert help. It is precisely to meet this need that the Business Mill concept has emerged, which is part of the LAB university and thus a vantage point for research and education as well as business know-how.
Emma Latvala, who runs the Business Mill, describes the role of her five-strong team as one of business support.
- We are an incubator that addresses the challenges companies face at different stages of their life cycle, says Latvala.
- In the early stages, we help with the business idea, and later on with issues such as expansion. Our activities support the business services provided by the city and our strengths include close links with universities - both intellectual and physical.For a small organisation, Business Mill gets good results. Last year, 145 clients visited the Mill, resulting in 14 new start-ups. More than half of the clients benefited from the expertise on campus - either by finding talent or getting help with issues such as finance, marketing or growth. The average time spent with an entrepreneur is four months, so it's not like a quick briefing.
Business Mill works closely with other actors. One of the most important is Lutes, an entrepreneurship community run by students from LUT University and LAB University of Applied Sciences.
- Lutes has much the same goals as we do, says Latvala.
- It also wants to raise awareness of entrepreneurship and bring together people interested in entrepreneurship. Business Mill also aims to lower the barriers to start-ups in the early stages and turn an idea into a business.
The aim of both organisations is to attract more businesses to the region, and specifically growth-oriented businesses.
According to Latvala, Lutes is particularly closely involved in the Business Mill's start-up phase business services.
- We keep the door to the campus open and Lutes is a great partner to reach out to students, says Latvala.
- Our location on campus and our location within the LAB structure make it even easier to reach out.
Services are also provided in English, as the student population is truly international.Themajority ofBusiness Mill's start-up clients are of non-Finnish nationality.
After the start-up phase, i.e. the business idea and its clarification, the company can move on to the next phase, i.e. growth and renewal. Naturally, only one or the other is also possible.
- The sparring in the growth phase focuses on the challenges that growth may bring and considers, for example, whether the company needs financing, how to manage the growing number of employees and whether internationalisation would be possible, Latvala says.Business Mill expert Jose Piironen says that ideas, and therefore customers, come in steadily from all fields of study.
- Especially from university, we get a lot of customers who are studying energy and electricity, and they might have an innovative idea in mind, says Piironen.The expansion of the LUT universities in Lahti has also had a positive impact on Business Mill. For example, the circular economy laboratory in Lahti has been used to develop businesses in the region. Cooperation is extensive.
- For example, LAB is involved in a lot of ERDF projects, which seek to draw on expertise from both campuses, both in teaching and RDI staff, Piironen says.Lahti does not have its own Business Mill, but the StartHub on the Lahti campus of LAB University of Applied Sciences serves as an accelerator for new business ideas for start-ups in the Lahti region and for supportive partners.
- The cooperation works well both with Lahti and regionally, Latvala says.
- We are all united "think bigger" thinking, which means we are trying to get growth in the region.