Emerging societal problems solved in Snjallræði

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Press release from KLAK

Optimism and positivity hovered over the waters in the Festival Hall of Gróska on Wednesday, December 7th, where the final day of Smart Speech took place and presented nine of their start-up companies, all of which focus on solving emerging social problems. A group of entrepreneurs have participated in the incubator for the last 16 weeks Snjallræði and received education and training from domestic and foreign experts in the field of social affairs and innovation, as well as meetings with experienced mentors who have followed them over the past few months.

Each team presented for 3 minutes and then answered questions from the “sharks” Svana Gunnarsdóttir, CEO of Frumtak and Kristján Schram, founder and owner of Instrúment.

Examples of start-ups that presented on the final day include Fort which combats muscle wasting in chronic patients, Sara – a girl with ADHD that contributes to increased awareness of ADHD’s manifestation in girls, and BioBuilding who are developing Icelandic hemp casting.

The final day marked the graduation of these start-ups who have dedicated themselves to solving society’s challenges with ingenuity and a strong vision for the future, and it will be exciting to watch them in the future.

A lot of people made their way to Gróska, but the presenter of the day was the comedian and former mayor Jón Gnarr took advantage. Among the guests were Þór Sigfússon, Managing Director of the Ocean Cluster, Hrund Gunnsteinsdóttir, Managing Director of Festa, Jón Atli Benediktsson, Rector of the University of Iceland and Lóa Bára Gunnarsdóttir, Marketing Manager of Origo. People agreed that the event had been a success and managed to fill people with hope and optimism for a better world.

Kolfinna Kristínardóttir, Project Manager of Smart Consulting: “It’s good to see this interest in social innovation and it’s great to be able to welcome over 150 people here today. The teams made great progress over the 16 weeks and I am very pleased with the results”.

Snjallræði was founded in 2018 by Höfði Peace Centre and now took place for the fourth time. KLAK – Icelandic Startups takes care of the growth space in collaboration with MIT DesignX and is the focal point of workshops where MIT experts come to Iceland and share their knowledge.

The goal of the growth space is to spur innovation that tackles contemporary challenges and thus provides an important platform for community startups.

The project is supported by the City of Reykjavík, the Ministry of Social Affairs and the Labour Market, the University of Iceland, Reykjavik University, Marel, Origo, the Ministry of University, Industry and Innovation, Landsvirkjun and Deloitte. Other partners were the University of Akureyri, the Iceland Academy of the Arts and Festa.