Katerva
The mission of Katerva is to find, evaluate and accelerate disruptive sustainable innovations from around the world. We’re looking for ideas that leap efficiency, lifestyle, and create action that is a generation ahead of current thinking.
FIND
Over the past decade we’ve build a global network of technology and innovation scouts who provide us with a continuous feed of disruptive products, services, technologies, business models and business processes from across all sectors, from around the world, and at all stages of development.
EVALUATE
Disruptive technologies have the power to reshape our world over the next few years, but identifying those technologies that have the maximum potential for wide-scale launch and mass commercialization can be daunting. To assist us with this, we’ve built a global network of top executives, leading scientists, serial entrepreneurs, and seasoned policy experts who help us evaluate and rank those disruptive technologies, products and ideas. Complementing this vast brain trust of human intuition and experience, we’ve recently added a powerful set of data science tools designed to help us predict which innovations are most likely to succeed.
ACCELERATE
Katerva operates under the belief that the only useful and valid definition of innovation is “the process of change that creates and grows wealth.” As such, an idea or inspiration – regardless of its appeal on paper – only becomes an innovation once it has successfully proven itself in the marketplace. Success typically requires three other key ingredients:
Leadership Development: Remember the old Apple campaign, “Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. But the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They invent. They imagine. They heal. They explore. They create. They inspire. They push the human race forward. Maybe they have to be crazy. How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art? Or sit in silence and hear a song that’s never been written? Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels? We make tools for these kinds of people. While some see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do!”
Access to Investors: Money is the crude oil of innovation. Without it, even the most tenacious innovator eventually runs out of steam.
The Ability and Willingness to Collaborate: Individual product and services innovations seldom add any value in isolation; they must be integrated and physically “bundled” with a wide range of other physical and process technologies to be applied. This requires access to, and a willingness to collaborate with, strategic partners.
“Be the change you want to see in the world” – Mahatma Ghandi.
JOIN US
Recognizing these realities, Katerva is in the process of establishing a set of programs, partnerships and spaces dedicated to stimulating and accelerating disruptive innovation. These include virtual pitch days, an annual awards gala, online discussions and webinars, an immersion programs for early, mid and late-stage entrepreneurs, and an electronic matchmaking platform designed to bring innovators and investors together.
By signing up and becoming a Katerva citizen you are joining a global community interested in accelerating the spread of the world’s most promising sustainable innovations. Join the revolution!
Who’s going to save the world today? You are. We’re just here to help make that happen.
WHAT DOES KATERVA MEAN?
The name Katerva (Ca-tair-vah) comes from the Latin word Caterva — meaning “crowd.” It is the global community that makes it possible for us to accomplish our mission.