News

This year, 222 ideas where submitted to the idea competition of Eesti Energia - [Enefit Idea Hub – The Pitch](https://ideahub.enefit.com/), of which the top 30 will continue to compete for the opportunity to develop their idea into a business at group´s home market of 60 million people.

Eesti Energia is looking for innovative ideas for the development of new services and technical solutions supporting them in its home markets in the Baltic States, Sweden, Finland and Poland.

This year's idea competition focuses on Smart Mobility, Smart Services and Smart City. The field of services was the most successful with 90 ideas presented. 76 ideas where submitted for Smart City and 56 for Smart Transport field.

According to Margus Vals, Member of the Management Board of Eesti Energia, the ideas presented prove that energy is getting closer to the people and everyone, regardless of their home country, can contribute to its development.

“The idea behind the Enefit Idea Hub - The Pitch competition is to turn the ideas that transform the world into a viable business and bring the energy solutions of the future to today. I am very pleased that a significant part of the ideas brought these two goals together and our home markets made a significant contribution. Solutions to both very specific local problems and global challenges were proposed, „said Vals. "I look forward to seeing how ideas between the submitter and our experts evolve over the next few months, as quite a few of them have the business potential to solve real-world problems."

Most ideas, 149, where submitted from Estonia. 20 ideas where submitted from Poland, 15 from Latvia and Lithuania and 6 from Finland and Sweden. The Pitch also received international attention as 11 ideas were presented outside of Eesti Energia's home markets, including from Germany, the United States and Sri Lanka. The semi-finalists include 21 ideas from Estonia, 4 from Latvia and Lithuania, and one from Sweden and Finland. In 2018, a total of 100 ideas were submitted, 14 of them from Eesti Energia's home markets.

The 30 semi-finalists will defend their ideas in front of the jury on November 28, after which the 10 strongest will be identified. The finalists will enter the Enefit Idea Hub mentoring program, where their ideas will be developed with the help of 16 top energy professionals. The winners of the € 30,000 prize pool will be announced on 21 January.

The Pitch semi-final jury consists of Hando Sutter, Chairman of the Board of Eesti Energia, and Agnes Roos, Head of Business and Information Technology of the company, Jaanus Tiisvend, Chairman of the Board of Elektrilevi, Anu Oks, CEO of Estonian Business Angels and Ardo Kaurit, the founder of Ampler Bikes.