An improved ice rejection system
Researcher got important answers through Northern Spinoff
Is there market potential in an improved rejection system for wind turbines? That’s a question researcher and entrepreneur Greger Nilsson asked himself and thanks to the Northern Spinoff project a team of students were able to help him get the answers he needed.
Each year, hundreds of business ideas from companies and entrepreneurs in Norrbotten are forgotten or not prioritized, often due to lack of time. This is something Arctic Business and LTU Business want to change and last autumn the EU-funded project Northern Spinoff was launched, where companies and entrepreneurs were encouraged to apply for help in order to move forward with their idea. One of the accepted applicants was researcher and entrepreneur Greger Nilsson.
– My company Blade Solutions repair blades for wind turbines, which gave me the idea of a better rejection system. The system works and I have a patent on the solution, but I have not had time to do market research and sell the idea to companies. I simply needed help, says Greger Nilsson.
Greger Nilsson, Blade Solutions
Ready for sale
The help has consisted of a team of three students from Aurora Student Consultants, a non-profit organization at Luleå University of Technology; Gustav Wangsell, Max Broström and Axel Lindwall. Led by business developer Martin Gidlund at LTU Business, the students have been trained in LTU Business’ market validation method IDD (Innovation Due Diligence), where they mapped the market and packaged Greger’s idea.
– After working on this project for a few months, we could see in our validation that the idea is appreciated and that it can be a valuable solution in the manufacture of wind turbines. It is a competitive industry, but we believe that the future is bright, says student Gustav Wangsell.
Win-win for entrepreneurs and students
The plan for the future is to continue working with one of the companies that has shown interest in the idea and Greger is grateful for the help he received through Northern Spinoff.
– This was what I needed in order to move forward. I am very busy with the rest of the work in my company, which means it would have been difficult to get it done without help, says Greger.
“In Norrbotten, there are many people and companies whose business ideas could create more jobs and hundreds of millions in revenue. We are therefore very happy to have captured some of the ideas that might otherwise have been forgotten.” – Göran Carlson, project manager for Northern Spinoff
Martin Gidlund from LTU Business is happy about the collaboration and says that it is a win-win between entrepreneurs and students.
– This type of project benefits the whole region; entrepreneurs get help to move forward with their business idea and the students gain experience and build contact networks for the future.
Gustav Wangsell agrees and believes that it is good to work with real cases as a student.
– It is really an invaluable experience. And hopefully our efforts will lead to the development of something new that will make even more students stay in the region after their studies, he says.
Göran Carlson, business consultant at Arctic Business and project manager for Northern Spinoff, is also pleased with the project.
– In Norrbotten, there are many people and companies whose business ideas could create more jobs and hundreds of millions in revenue. We are therefore very happy to have captured some of the ideas that might otherwise have been forgotten, he says.
More about Northern Spinoff business
In the autumn of 2020, Arctic Business received an EU grant for the Northern Spinoff Business project, in which they, together with LTU Business and students from Luleå University of Technology, would find and refine Norrbotten business ideas with the potential to become an international hit. The best ideas are further developed and packaged to be able to generate new business and jobs for the region.
Northern Spinoff Business is financed by the European Regional Development Fund Upper Norrland through the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth. The funds aim to increase the competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises by strengthening existing companies and helping to start more new ones.
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