OREANDA-NEWS. January 28, 2014. The winners of the international quality innovation contest were announced in Stockholm Museum of Modern Art. Two entrepreneurs in the spin-off list of the University of Tartu, AS Icosagen, led by Academician and Professor of Biomedical Technology Mart Ustav, and OU GreenBead, initiated by students and young researchers, were very successful at the contest.

The triumphant innovations of Estonia were both among the first three places while competing for the first place. The total winner of the international contest was a Finnish company StickTech with its innovative and cost-effective dental treatment technology “everX Posterior”. The company competed in the category of microenterprises.

AS Icosagen, which has been operating in the market since 1999, won in the category of Estonian small and medium-sized enterprises. The subject matter of the work presented at the contest was production of polyclonal antibodies by means of the “Golden Egg Technology“ method.
The winner in the category of Estonian potential innovation was GreenBead OU, initiated by the students of the University of Tartu and young researchers in 2013, which presented at the contest the idea of reusable detergents based on nanotechnology.

The mentor of GreenBead OU Aivar Pere, Advisor in Entrepreneurship at the University of Tartu, said that continually strong basic research, culture of applied research, expanding cooperation and feedback of the University of Tartu with the business sector creates fruitful conditions for the formation of high-tech spin-offs. “A very good example of this is GreenBead OU, which was acknowledged at the contest of quality innovation, and which is currently in national incubation and deals with product development at Estonian Nanotechnology Competence Centre, financed by the “Innovation voucher grant” of Enterprise Estonia”.

The procedure used for the assessment of innovations presented at the contest takes account of innovation, applicability, effect on clients and/or on society, learning experience and efficiency. Chairman of the high-level jury was Yrjo Neuvo, Professor at Aalto University in Helsinki.

As at 31 December 2013, there were 43 spin-off entrepreneurs related to the members of the University of Tartu. The fields of activity range from biotechnology to psychology.