Sponsors

Founded in 1875 by Jules-Louis Audemars and Edward-Auguste Piguet in the Swiss village of Le Brassus, Audemars Piguet is the oldest Manufacture of Haute Horlogerie never to have left the hands of the founding families. Today, its range encompasses complex mechanical watches, Haute Joaillerie creations as well as a line of jewellery. At each stage in its history, the Manufacture has daringly adopted avant-garde techniques in order to place them in the service of traditional craftsmanship. This approach has earned it an unparalleled number of world firsts in the field of Haute Horlogerie.

PricewaterhouseCoopers (www.pwc.com) provides industry-focused assurance,tax and advisory services for public and private clients. More than 120,000 people in 139 countries connect their thinking, experience and solutions to build public trust and enhance value for clients and their stakeholders.

Vision Capital is a Trans-Atlantic fund providing growth capital for leading technology companies. Vision invests in promising European and US technology companies and then takes an active, hands-on approach in expanding these businesses across the Atlantic. Vision Capital specializes in investments focusing on communication, software and Internet/e-commerce companies that are proven winners and have global potential. Their portfolio consists of venture backed European technology companies with a strong foundation in Europe who wish to enter U.S. market and U.S. companies who seek an added-value investor who can assist in global expansion.

Weber Shandwick is a Communications Partner of the European Tech Tour, supporting both the European level organization and the various country tours.  Weber Shandwick, a unit of The Interpublic Group of Companies (NYSE: IPG), is one of the world's leading public relations agencies, with offices in major media, business and government capitals around the world. Weber Shandwick is a leader in marketing public relations, public affairs and corporate communications counseling, and also provides services in advocacy advertising, market research and visual communications. Find out more at

Nokia is a world leader in mobile communications, driving the growth and sustainability of the broader mobility industry. Nokia connects people to each other and the information that matters to them with easy-to-use and innovative products like mobile phones, devices and solutions for imaging, games, media and businesses. Nokia provides equipment, solutions and services for network operators and corporations.

Eqvitec Partners Oy is a privately owned and independent Nordic technology venture capital firm. We have € 300 million under management in four funds, from which we invest in early and growth stage technology-intensive companies in the Nordic area and support them in their development and expansion.

Nordic Venture Partners is a multi-stage ICT fund that was founded in the fall of 2000. The management company was originally known as Danske Venture Partners and on the 1st. of January 2004, Nordic Venture Partners was founded as a management buy-out from Danske Bank. Nordic Venture Partners, is committed to commercialising technologies beyond the Nordic to build sustainable companies.

3i is a world leader in private equity and venture capital. The scale of our international network sets us apart. The expertise of our people, combined with our network of business leaders and corporate relationships, underpins the value that we deliver.

CapMan, one of the leading private equity investors in the Nordic countries, was founded in 1989. Its core business is private equity fund management and advisory services.

Castrén & Snellman provides the highest quality legal expertise and solutions. Our full-service concept allows us to provide legal services for all fields of business. Tradition and experience have been the cornerstones of our practice for over 117 years, which distinguishes us from the other Finnish law firms. Our company's continued success is based in high quality expertise, values and traditions that date back to 1888.

Conor Venture Partners is a VC management company investing in ICT sector in Finland and Sweden. Conor mainly focuses on seed technology investment opportunities in the ICT, embedded systems, electronics, new applied materials, and optical components industries in the Nordic region. Conor aims to be an active partner to it´s portfolio companies and to create value by strong operative involvement. Conor is actively looking for new investment targets in it´s target area.

Finpro provides services, support and information to help Finnish companies enter the international market as swiftly, safely and efficiently as possible.

Mäkitalo Rämö Juutilainen is a top ten Finnish law firm, with offices in Helsinki and Tallinn, advising a range of public and private clients on all aspects of their domestic and international business. The firm has significant expertise and experience in advising hi-tech clients on the commercialisation and internationalisation of technologies including advising on venture capital and growth funding rounds to maintain the development of its client companies.

Microsoft is the worldwide leader in software, services and internet technologies for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software - any time, any place and on any device.

Nexit Ventures is a venture capital firm focused on wireless innovation. Based in Helsinki (Finland), Stockholm (Sweden) and Saratoga (Ca., USA), Nexit invests primarily in Scandinavian and US-based early stage technology companies. With expertise and contacts across the wireless ecosystem, the Nexit team opens up and creates opportunities for its portfolio. For Scandinavian companies, Nexit's business contacts in Silicon Valley provide a bridge to markets, partners, experienced management and investors. US-based ventures get an opportunity to profit from Scandinavia's market-leading wireless network infrastructure, technology, insight and advanced user base.

The Council of Oulu Region is a joint municipal authority that assumes responsibility for the general development of its region and performs the statutory duties of a regional development agency.

Oulu Innovation Ltd is a development company whose mission is to promote the competitiveness of business based on technology expertise in the Oulu Region and to improve the region's international appeal as a business and expertise development environment. Oulu Innovation Ltd participates in national and international innovation network coordination. Oulu Innovation Ltd is owned by the City of Oulu and the technology centre provider Technopolis Plc.

Hannes Snellman Attorneys at Law Ltd is a leading Finnish law firm focusing ontransactions and related corporate and commercial law.

Roschier Holmberg as a leading law firm in the Nordic Region with offices in Finland and Sweden, operates in the international marketplace. Reflecting the focal areas of its practice, the firm is divided into the following three practice groups: Corporate Advisory and Disputes, Transactions and Finance, and Techonology, Media and Communications.

Technopolis Plc is Finland’s largest provider of operating environments for high tech companies.

AC-tiedotus is an affiliate company of Weber Shandwick Worldwide, which is the PR unit of Interpublic Group.

Red Herring is a media company whose mission is to cover innovation, technology, financing and entrepreneurial activity. Its staff of award-winning journalists tell readers what's first, what matters and most importantly, why.