Maria 01 is quickly becoming the largest incubator in northern Europe. I had a chance to interview one of the organization’s leaders, Robrigo Ribeiro.
This is part of my ongoing project to explore design and innovation everywhere.
We are somewhat familiar with the workings of incubators in SF Bay area, so it’s interesting for me to learn about startups outside the US. Here are some concepts from our conversation that I had not considered previously:
Destruction breeds creation: The 2014 downturn at Nokia with Microsoft left a lot of talented engineers and thinkers out of a job. Naturally they started gathering for new ideas and creations. We generally believe mass layoffs to be a terrible thing but given the right environment it can seed many new companies.
Motivation for prominence: There’s an interesting cultural dynamic that is being overturned: Finns have a philosophy of ‘humility’ and ‘don’t stick out’ yet there’s the compulsion to plan for the future which involves growing with this technological era. Although they have a proven forestry industry, consumer tech such as Nokia has dimmed from the global scene and that involves growing with this technological era.
Make it or State it: A large portion of the upkeep is upheld by the city and state. I understand that US investors like to buy into a ‘Fad’ (i.e E-scooters, mobile apps) and are more shy about hardware investments nowadays. I can imagine state funding like this helps less flashy technologies to get off the ground rather than chasing the allure of astronomical ROIs.
I’ll be having another visit this week to continue interviewing and seeing some of the startups at work.
https://maria.io/