Slush 2017: Smart post box wins Elisa Innovation Challenge

The winner of the Elisa Innovation Challenge 2017 was announced at Slush. Between the three finalists, the victory went to the Finnish startup iqBox that took home the grand prize of EUR 50,000.

This year, solutions designed for both the business world and consumers competed in the same category. The challenge culminated on the opening day of the startup event Slush where the finalists pitched their ideas and the winner was announced.

After a total of 84 pitches, 19 participating countries, 10 teams selected for the challenge and three finalists, the victory went to iqBox, a company based in the metropolitan area. In addition to Elisa business management, the jury included Inka Mero, investor and founder of Pivot5. The evaluation criteria included the innovativeness and applicability of the solutions.

This year, the competition was tough and produced extremely high-level innovation. A characteristic shared by the solutions of the three finalists was that they all responded to the needs of both the business world and the consumer. However, we especially appreciated the ability of iqBox to develop a functional product out of an idea concept in a very short time, says Director Lasse Nordlund from Elisa.

Organised for the third time, the objective of the Elisa Innovation Challenge is to create new, intelligent products and services to solve everyday issues through digital means.

With this challenge, we wish to promote the development of startup ideas into functional products or services to the international market. The challenge is part of Elisa’s wide range of activities with startups: we negotiate with hundreds of early stage companies annually, and as a result act as a client or sales channel for over 80 startups, says Nordlund.

A smart post box keeps food deliveries fresh

iqBox is a revolutionary solution to a problem where the customer is not at home to receive their food delivery. The solution is based on a mutually coordinated smart device and cloud service as well as a completely open ecosystem accessible to any delivery service.

The iqBox solves the problem of receiving food deliveries while ensuring that the cold chain never breaks. The energy efficient smart post box includes a remote-controlled locking system and refrigeration controlled with a mobile application via the cloud service. Our solution offers consumers an unprecedented way of using grocery services. Shopping for groceries at home instead of going to the supermarket also saves time and money, says Markus Heikkilä from iqBox.

Cooperation with Elisa enabled us to quickly create an early stage product and find support for the technical solutions and customer accounts of the device. Winning the challenge means a great deal to us and gives our solution extra exposure. Our next big step is to win a major client to help us head for the international market, says Pekka Honkonen from iqBox.