UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) is delighted to reveal the winners of its first “Take That Tech to the UK” competition. Following 48 submissions from companies in Finland and 19 from the Baltic countries, two technology companies have been selected to grow their projects and to establish them in the UK market. The winners are Plan Brothers from Finland and Diktamen from Finland receiving a full business set-up package to support their entry onto the UK market. Additionally, the two runners-up, Bliu Bliu from Lithuania and GoWorkaBit from Estonia, will get tickets to attend next summer’s London Technology Week.

"This is where it begins. It's like a plane speeding up to the tipping point to be able to ascend: that's where we stand now, ready to conquer the UK market", says Arttu Vesterinen, Head of Sales of Plan Brothers.

"In this competition, the people you meet and the networks you get are even more important than the actual prizes.These connections are worth their weight in gold”, states Niklas Elers, CEO of Diktamen.

Plan Brothers is a high-growth security industry start-up founded in early 2012. The company delivers high-performance software for security and real estate management. Diktamen is a company specializing in the optimization of dictation, transcription and management of workflow solutions for hospitals.

The technology sector in the UK is one of the largest wealth creators and saw the fastest pace of growth over the past few decades offering technology companies in Finland and the Baltics exciting opportunities for international expansion. With this competition UKTI has been encouraging the next generation of technology entrepreneurs to select the UK as their preferred location where they can set up and grow their business.

“When organising the competition we were looking for brilliant minds from Finnish and Baltic tech companies that were ready to up their game and step out onto the world stage via the UK. And I’ve been delighted to discover how many dynamic tech companies there are in Finland and the Baltics”, explains Mark Prisk, MP, UK Prime Minister’s Investment envoy for the Nordic and Baltic countries. “We received a fantastic range of proposals which went far beyond our initial expectations.”

The ten shortlisted companies, Bliu Bliu (Lithuania), Booxmedia (Finland), Diktamen (Finland), Ecolane (Finland), Etuma (Finland), Flyvice (Finland), GoWorkaBit (Estonia), Plan Brothers (Finland), Transfluent (Finland), TribaLearning (Finland) chosen by external advisors pitched their concepts to a top-ranking UK jury during a dinner at the British Ambassador’s Residence in Helsinki. Plan Brothers and Diktamen won over the jury with their innovative approach, the relevance of their product and services for the UK market and their potential for business growth in the UK.

The competition organised by UKTI highlights the growing relationship between the United Kingdom and the technology scene in Finland and the Baltics as well as the structures in place to support international expansion. It serves as an impetus to encourage Finnish and Baltic tech companies to select the UK as their preferred location where they can set up and grow their businesses.