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Swedish innovation in Silicon Valley spotlight

KTH Innovation program immerses entrepreneurs in startup ecosystem

The celebration starts after the winner of Swedish Pitch Night is announced at Spotify's San Francisco headquarters.
Published Nov 16, 2015

At Spotify's San Francisco headquarters, entrepreneurs from KTH got to present their startup ideas recently for a sold-out crowd and a jury of Silicon Valley investors.

The five companies from KTH are participating in Brighter, a startup immersion program developed by , which hosted their weeklong trip to the Bay Area in late October.

“The students participated in workshops, meetings and study visits around Palo Alto and San Francisco, with a focus on innovation ecosystems and their various actors," says My Klint of KTH Innovation, who is responsible for the Brighter program.

Of the seven companies participating in Brighter in 2015, five are from KTH, with the remaining two coming from Stockholm School of Economics and Mälardalen University.

But they all celebrated after the Swedish Pitch Night competition, which was arranged by the Silicon Valley Forum. The jury awarded a one-year membership in the Silicon Valley Forum to KTH's Furhat Robotics .

"Winning was the cherry on the cake," says Furhat's Samer Al Moubayed.

"Having a unit like KTH Innovation at KTH that brings their top companies to the international scene, and gets them to explore the environments in the Bay Area is not only an educational and inspiring effort, but it also brings the names of Swedish tech startups on the international scene and gains them international recognition."