It's Epic!
EPIC Info
EPIC: Early-Stage Platform for Innovation Challenges
The aim of the EPIC-project is to create a multidisciplinary innovation platform for SMEs, regional research community and global leaders, such as International Space Agencies, to together develop solutions for complex global challenges. As a result new products, services and business opportunities are created strengthening the regional economy and its place at the global stage.
This platform is being developed out of the Epic Challenge educational program piloted in 2015-2016 in Joensuu. The EPIC-project will focus on bringing the means for bigger SME involvement and scalability of the platform. The project will yearly generate tens of technology pilots which will lead to an increased number of SME-lead commercialization projects, university spin-offs, basic and applied research. These SMEs will gain access to multinational student and researcher talent pool, potential solutions for challenges they might be facing and potential concepts for future business. On longer term, this project aims that this platform becomes a place where other global leaders will gravitate to, bringing new challenges and in this way scale up the platform.
In the EPIC-project platform, we identify three main stages:
- The Challenge Definition stage
- The Epic Challenge educational program stage
- The Commercialization stage