Jyväskylä-based eWatt joined the Sport Finland network for the World Football Summit Europe in Seville. eWatt, a provider of solutions that reduce energy consumption, made a lot of international business and financial contacts at the football event.
eWatt helps both businesses and consumers to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions by providing smart and environmentally friendly solutions for property management. So, the Sport Finland network's trip to the World Football Summit Europe in Seville is not necessarily the first event a company could expect to attend. However, entrepreneur and CEO Timo Saarinen says that after a successful trip, eWatt will continue to participate boldly in events where it stands out from the crowd and where it is easier to attract public interest. The World Football Summit Europe is one of the biggest events in the football industry and therefore offered excellent opportunities for networking and finding new partners.
- This experience has shown that focusing on a single target group, in this case sports venues and stadiums, pays off. The sports world was very interested in the sustainable solutions that eWatt could offer. We wouldn't have met these people at a building or electrical fair, although you would think that would be our area of expertise. We will therefore continue to participate in a variety of events with a specific target group of customers," Saarinen says.
Spain has a lot of potential
While not all eWatt's services can be directly exported from Finland due to technical constraints, Saarinen believes that their offerings could provide even greater value in Spain. This is because buildings in Spain generally have lower energy efficiency compared to Finland, electricity prices tend to be higher, and the fluctuations in those prices are more pronounced, making eWatt’s energy solutions particularly beneficial in the Spanish market.
- As the challenges are greater, the potential is also greater," Saarinen concludes.
He is therefore pleased that his trip to the World Football Summit Europe provided him with international business and financial contacts that could play an important role in opening the Spanish market in the future.
Cooperation sparked interest
The Finnish companies that attended the World Football Summit stood out as a unified team under the Sport Finland stand. Saarinen believes this was a smart approach, as it allowed for greater visibility and engagement than if each company had participated individually, offering more opportunities for networking and exposure throughout the event.
- We were able to manage each other's leads quite easily, and everyone was eager to lend a hand. This collaborative approach was a great benefit, as most of us had set off on our own.
Saarinen was representing eWatt in Spain for the second time, as he was also part of the Sport Finland delegation to Madrid in spring 2024.
- The decision to go on this networking trip was influenced by the fact that most of Sport Finland's companies and entrepreneurs were already familiar to me, and I knew that our collaboration would work, Saarinen says.
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The business delegation trip to World Football Summit Europe in Seville was organized on September 18–19, 2024, as part of the Sport Finland network's activities. The network is based on a joint project led by the cities of Jyväskylä, Lahti, and Kuopio, supported by the European Regional Development Fund, and implemented between April 1, 2023, and December 31, 2024. The companies participating in the trip were eWatt, Awesome Crowd, Kuitu Media, Northern Sports Insight and Intelligence (ACT Head Impact Tracker), ONIT Sport, Nordic Rack and Office (nro.one), Dribla and Appis.
