EIT Health Workshop Helps Young Innovators Create Their Own Business Story
On October 8, the Latvia Hub of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology Health Community (EIT Health), which is based at Riga Stradiņš University (RSU), organised a workshop for young innovators: Three effective ways to build your business story. The workshop took place as part of the Icebreakers’21 innovation festival (icebreakers.lv).
One of the goals of the EIT Health Latvia Hub is to improve the ability of young innovators to develop their ideas and turn them into profitable start-ups. An integral part of this process is the ability to present yourself and your business in a compelling way. In order to train the participants of the Icebreakers’21 innovation festival to create their own business story, the EIT Health Latvia Hub invited Eeva Kiuru (pictured), an entrepreneur and expert from the Finnish healthcare innovation ecosystem, to lead the workshop.
During the workshop, Kiuru explained what a business story is and why it is so important, defined the elements of a story, and taught participants about three different types of business stories. In the practical part of the workshop, she helped participants to create a one-line story about their business, which is useful when an entrepreneur only has a few seconds to say the most concise and important about themselves they need to be able to give as much information as possible and make a good impression. After the workshop, Kiuru answered participants' questions, who took the opportunity to hear her expert opinion.
'Marketing is not just about presenting the product that you make or the service you provide, it is also the stories you tell about yourself and the problem your business is solving.
Because of that, it is important to learn effective and persuasive ways in which to communicate what your business does, who it serves, and how it impacts the world,' Kiuru explained.
Eeva Kiuru has 20 years of international experience in commercialising healthcare innovations and other innovation work in four different roles: international and product marketing within the leading healthtech pioneer company Polar Electro, ecosystem development at the Oulu Wellness Institute, entrepreneur of a healthcare innovation education company Health Innovation Academy (healthinnovationacademy.com), and working as an educator and certified teacher (including at the University of Oulu).
The next EIT Health Latvia office event for innovative young people will be the annual iDays hackathon that will take place in early November.