In June, TalTech’s magazine Mente et Manu published an article titled “The Goal of 500 Startups: How to Elevate Estonia to the Top?”.

The discussion revolved around how TalTech, the technology center Tehnopol, and the applied research center Metrosert are collaborating to help create 500 deep tech startups in Estonia. The conversation also considered the role these three partners could play together in achieving Estonia’s goal of establishing 500 deep tech startups. This topic was discussed with Kristo Reinsalu, head of TalTech’s entrepreneurship department, Agnes Roos, CEO of Tehnopol, and Indrek Tulp, head of Metrosert’s applied research center.

To start, Indrek Tulp clarifies the country’s actual goal: if we talk about 500 deep tech startups and follow the classic startup rule that 10 percent of them succeed, the goal is to have 50 deep tech industrial companies in Estonia. However, this is a longer-term perspective than 2030, as deep tech takes longer to mature than typical startups.

Indrek Tulp notes from his own experience and the literature he has read that creating a successful startup requires at least three types of people: first, a developer or scientist, especially in the context of a deep tech company; second, an operations manager who is good at leading a team; and third, a salesperson. “In a startup-supporting ecosystem, it is crucial that we can bring these people together. A typical scientist—speaking as a scientist myself and having seen many— is not the business development type; these are very different natures,” Tulp explains.

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