Kristo Ovaska awarded in Zurich
04.02.2011
Kristo Ovaska, founder of the Venture Garage and the Aalto Entrepreneurship Society AES, has won the ACES award (Academic Enterprise Awards) in the “Bridge” category.
The Bridge Award is for an individual who has promoted an environment of enterprise and innovation in a university or public research institute.
Ovaska is founder of Aalto’s Venture Garage, which has given rise to 50 campus start-ups. He also launched a bootcamp program for entrepreneurs attracting and mentoring teams from across the Baltic Rim and sending winners to Silicon Valley and Isreal. Ovaska also co-founded the Aalto Entrepreneurship Society (Aaltoes) in 2008 and became its first chairman, attracting over 5,000 members. His many initiatives have created a dynamic entrepreneurial hub on campus, connected the university to the international community of serial entrepreneurs, business angels and venture investors and provoked a rethinking of policies to support entrepreneurship in Finland. The judges noted that student-driven entrepreneurship initiatives are a vital component to driving innovation and technology transfer.
The ACES is a pan-European competition among companies spun out from universities – to recognize the best academic entrepreneurs from across all technology disciplines. The judges' decision took into account the creativity shown in encouraging collaboration and entrepreneurship, and the success of those policies.
More infomation on the award:
http://aces.sciencebusiness.net/aces/bridgeaward
More information on AES and Aalto VG:
Aalto Entrepreneurship Society
