IdeaKymi Competition 2025
The idea competition in Kymenlaakso region
Invent the winning idea!
Third IdeaKymi competition is now open and ready to receive innovative proposition in five categories.
Submit your idea suggestion between Sep 1st – Oct 15th 2025.
Do you have an inventive idea, creative solution or a promising discovery or business idea the whole world should know about? IdeaKymi competition will offer you visibility, expertise and financial rewards.
Competition is organized by the Kymenlaakso Innovation Network.
IdeaKymi competition
Location
Kymenlaakso
The purpose of the competition is to encourage innovation and creativity by searching, discovering and rewarding innovations, inventions or ideas that can be seen to have commercial potential. The proposal can be, for example, a technical solution, product, service, service improvement or idea with justification.
The content of the proposal is otherwise not limited, but the evaluation will focus on the priorities of Kymenlaakso’s regional development: logistics, bio- and circular economy and digitalization. We will also focus on the built environment, the food sector, creative industries, innovativeness of schoolchildren and the welfare sector.
This year, the competition will be held for the first time using the digital Ideajalostamo platform developed by the Finnish Innovation Foundation, Satakunta University of Applied Sciences, and South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences. This is a pilot project for the platform.
More information and competition rules can be found in Finnish at Kymen Innovation Association website.
Competition categories
Please note that the Participate in the competition! button in the competition categories below will first take you to the strong authentication view:
Log in to the innovation competition platform with bank credentials or a mobile certificate via the Signicat service. Strong authentication of both innovators and judges and competition organizers is a prerequisite for using the service. The proposals and personal data of innovators participating in the competitions are processed confidentially and securely.
The competition period is September 1 to October 15, 2025. Proposals must be received by October 15, 2025, at 4:00 p.m. The competition language is Finnish, but participants may submit additional information in English directly through the application.
An invention, product, service, process, social innovation, or innovative business concept with the potential to develop into a business.
An invention, business idea, university or workplace invention that takes into account recycling, green transition, and ecological, cultural, and social sustainability in innovation.
(University invention: created by university staff in the course of their employment in research activities
Workplace invention: developed in an employment relationship with an employer.
Accelerating the commercialization and digitalization of innovations in the real estate and construction sector.
A series that seeks new, fresh ideas and solutions with development potential. Although the series is aimed primarily at students, anyone living or studying in the Kymenlaakso region can participate.
An idea competition for young people and schoolchildren, seeking open-minded and inventive ideas.
Awards
The awards ceremony will be held on December 4, 2025 at the Kymenlaakso Innovation Symposium in Kotka, at the Vellamo Maritime Center.
- 1. BUSINESS FROM INVENTION, winner: €2,500, second prize €1,000
- 2. RESPONSIBLE FUTURE, winner €2,500
- 3. BUILT ENVIRONMENT, winner €1,500
- 4. START WITH AN IDEA, €300 each
- 5. GROWING IDEA, €300 each
Employee inventions: The employer pays any compensation for inventions in accordance with the Employee Inventions Act. Universities agree on compensation in accordance with the Higher Education Inventions Act. The prizes are taxable income for the recipient. The evaluation panel has the right to distribute the total amount of the prizes also differently from the announced amount.
Organizers
Members of the Kymenlaakso Innovation Network in 2025
- Kymen Innovation Association
- Invention Foundation
- Cursor Ltd
- Kouvola Innovation Oy
- South Kymenlaakso Vocational College Ekami
- Kouvola Vocational Institute Ltd, Eduko
- South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences, Xamk
- Kymen Entrepreneurs Association
- Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment for Southeast Finland
- Kymenlaakso Regional Council
- Kymenlaakso Chamber of Commerce
- Kouvola Unit of LUT University
- South Kymenlaakso Employment Services
- Kouvola Employment and Business Services
The IdeaKymi competition and its conceptualization for the Ideajalostamo platform are part of the AKKE project. The project is implemented by the Kymen Innovation Association and the Invention Foundation together with the Kymenlaakso Innovation Network. Project funding: Supporting sustainable growth and vitality of regions, Kymenlaakso AKKE funding. The IdeaKymi 2025 competition is conceptualized by the Ideajalostamo Kymenlaakso project of Xamk and the Invention Foundation, which is co-funded by the European Union with the granting authority of the Kymenlaakso Region.
