Finnish education event in HK

OPPORTUNITY FOR FINNISH START-UPS IN THE EDU SECTOR

For the first time in Hong Kong the Finnish Chamber of Hong Kong will organize and

host a Finnish education event. There is huge interest in Hong Kong about the

Finnish education system and how it is able to always score so high in the PISA table,

without the exam focused culture that exists in Asia.

One goal of this event is to have Finnish educational experts, explain the history of

the Finnish system, where it is today, and where it might go in the future. At the

same time it is an opportunity for selected Finnish educational start-ups to gain

exposure in Hong Kong, with the objective of establishing and opening potential

business opportunities.

This is an invited audience only event, there will be over 150 people invited, their

backgrounds will have some association with education. From school group owners,

to educational distributors, to influential patents groups, they will mainly be from

HK, but there will also be decision makers from China and some other SE Asian

countries who have already confirmed their attendance.

In addition we will have strong media coverage such is the interest in Finnish

education, this will range form Now TV the biggest cable company in HK, (who are in

the process of making a documentary about Finnish Education) to parent

publications and general HK media.

The FINNCHAM event will take place at the SME center, which is housed in the Hong

Kong Conference and Exhibition center Wanchai. The event will begin 12 mid-day

and conclude at 5 pm. The Finnish Consulate General of Hong Kong will make the

opening talk, followed by Professor Kristiina Kumpulainen, who is the Professor of

Education at the Department of Teacher education, Faculty of Behavioral Sciences,

University of Helsinki. Additional Finnish experts are also now in talks to attend and

will be announced very soon.

It is the intention that during the event start-ups will have the opportunity to

network and to demonstrate their products, this would happen in two ways. First

start-ups would be able to have a small table and two chairs in part of the event hall,

secondly they would also have the opportunity to make a 10/15 minute presentation

to the whole audience as part of the event

On the 18th there would be opportunities to have informal meetings local companies

involved in the education sector, and to possibly make a school visit, subject to

numbers and interest.

A second major opportunity for start-ups is to take part in the 21st Century Learning

conference 18-20th Feb, which is also being held at the HKCEC. This opportunity

would be in the form of having a small presence at the innovation center 19-20th for

this conference. FINNCHAM have negotiated a special price for this attendance for

Finnish Start-ups, this will be 400 USD for two people for two days. Please note the

attendees at the 21st Century conference pay a high fee for attendance due to the

number of speakers, which means you would have access to high quality decision

makers from 25 countries world wide. Of this 85% are from Asia, where the markets

in education are all growing.

If you have an interest in attending this double opportunity, send me an email at pasi@polkuni.fi.