Asema Electronics Ltd from Finland won a special prize at the Slush 2011 start-up event early November in Helsinki. The winner gets the chance to meet with leading European investors at the EIT ICT Labs Business Club in Paris early December. Asema Electronics is a specialist in bringing smart energy to consumers.
- Asema Electronics won because of their innovative, sustainable approach, scalability of the business and good growth opportunities in Europe. It also links closely to our smart energy action line, explains Mika Naumanen, lead for the Business and Entrepreneurs Club activities at EIT ICT Labs.
Reducing electricity consumption by more than 10%
The Asema E electricity saver intelligently controls lights and appliances but also helps consumers buy cheaper electricity. It aims to reduce the household or office electricity consumption by 10% and pay the investment back in two years.
- You can centrally control all your appliances and lighting and even do this remotely. For example if you have left your coffee machine on at home, you could switch it off from your office, explains Jani Hursti, CEO of Asema Electronics. The system connects directly to the Nordic power market NordPool and knows the exact price of electricity 36 hours beforehand. It automatically helps consumers in getting the full benefit of market price fluctuations by running heaters, chargers, and home appliances like the dishwasher when electricity is cheap.
Huge market potential
Dr. Jani Hursti founded the company in March 2011 when he bought a smart socket spin-off from VTT, Widsen Oy, and merged it to his own company that developed an energy display. Asema Electronics now employes seven persons and is based at Aalto Venture Garage in Otaniemi, Finland. After pilots in Sweden and Norway their product Asema E is ready for launch.
- We are thrilled by the opportunity offered to us by EIT ICT Labs to meet with leading European investors. The problems we face with climate change and saving energy are pan-European, so finding the right European partners is key to our success, Jani Hursti points out. With 250 million smart meters expected to be installed in Europe by 2020, and a 10% reduction in user’s electricity bill, Asema Electronics market looks very promising. Asema Electronics has been named a finalist in the Finnish National Innovation Awards of 2011.
For more information : www.asema.com
Slush 2011 – leading start-up event in Northern Europe
Slush is the leading start-up conference in Northern Europe that brought together the best start-ups in the Nordic region, top VCs from Europe and Silicon Valley, angel investors, and tech industry professionals in Helsinki, Finland. There were 100 start-up pitches. The winner of the first prize was Ovelin, a company who has also been awarded for the best learning game in 2011, with their WildChord concept on making people enjoy learning to play an instrument. Asema Electronics was the first runner-up.
For more information: www.slush.fi
