BEHIND THE SCENES

What is Skinnovation all about?

Skinnovation is about Skiing, Innovation & Entrepreneurship

As the name already tells, Skinnovation combines skiing and innovation. During Skinnovation startups, investors, innovative corporates and entrepreneurship enthusiasts meet up to ski together, attend talks in ski huts and pitch in the ski lift. Skinnovation provides an extraordinary setting to work on extraordinary ideas. We believe that great ideas are not born in closed rooms, but when being outside and on the move. Therefore, skiing (snowboarding actually works as well) is the perfect sport because it combines speed, freedom and accidental meetups in the lift. That’s how future ideas are created.

Who’s behind Skinnovation?

A great time, with an even greater vision

Like many great ideas, Skinnovation was not created in a conference room but during lunch at a burger restaurant somewhere in Innsbruck… However, long story short: Kathrin, at this time fresh research assistant at the University of Innsbruck, initiated the first Skinnovation pilot in February 2015, supported by the Center for Academic Spin-offs Tyrol (CAST) who took over the role of family, friends and fools. Believing in the idea, the CAST provided the necessary cash (very small amount at this point of time) and some valuable advice to make Skinnovation happening – and well it paid off. In 2016, Skinnovation has been taken to the next level. The University of Innsbruck became the official organizer of Skinnovation and executes the event in cooperation with the Junge Wirtschaft/Wirtschaftskammer Tirol (Chamber of Commerce). And since then the Event has been growing and attracting an always increasing number of Skinnovators from close and far away.

So let’s go Skinnovation 2023!

Why is Skinnovation happening?

To inspire, create and JFDI

Vision without execution is hallucination (Thomas A. Edison)

Skinnovation is happening because things need to be done. Skinnovation#1 started with just 40 brave skinnovators working on the goal to develop ideas to make Innsbruck more innovative and attractive for startups. After this very successful first pilot, it quickly became clear that Skinnovation is awesome and Skinnovation#2 needs to be bigger and bolder. Now we are already hosting the seventh edition which is still happening in Innsbruck, following the same motivation but, of course, aiming higher and reaching out to skinnovators all over Europe to come together to ski and innovate in the beautiful Tyrolean mountains.