How can TalTech be shaped over the next decade into a driving force that cultivates engineers, generates technologies, and connects science with entrepreneurship? This question was tackled during the TalTech development strategy discussion “TalTech 2035 – Estonia’s Growth Platform of the Future?” by Vice-Rector for Entrepreneurship Erik Puura, Tehnopol CEO Agnes Roos, Head of the Innovation and Technology Department at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications Sigrid Rajalo, and TalTech Council member and CFO of the tech company Helmes, Madis Margus.
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Favorable winds are blowing across the entrepreneurial landscape of Estonia’s only university of technology: the state is placing greater emphasis on science-based business. Caroline Rute, the new head of the university’s entrepreneurship department, calls it a “positive problem” – there is more interest and support than before, and now it’s time to turn those opportunities into tangible results.
Europe needs more courage, structure, and collaboration for science to generate new companies, emphasised Stefan Drüssler, CEO of UnternehmerTUM, Munich’s centre for business development, at the university’s engineering academy conference.
C2Grid, a spin-off company that emerged from TalTech's research activities, is developing digital twins based on drone videos, enabling the practice of crisis response and the planning of battlefield operations. Less than a year after its founding, the company has secured its first investment and is preparing to enter the market.
TalTech spin-off SafePas recently received a €2.5 million grant from the Enterprise and Innovation Foundation to further develop Drug Hunter – a portable analyser capable of detecting the composition and quantity of illegal substances from a saliva sample in just a few minutes.
TalTech’s biotechnology spin-off ÄIO has reached a major milestone. In September, the company completed its first full-scale production batch, resulting in a ton of yeast-based alternative oil.
The Estonian deep-tech company MindChip, the first official spin-off from TalTech, is developing an AI-powered autonomous captain – an intelligent system capable of independently navigating a vessel, assessing situations, and responding to the surrounding environment.
At the sTARTUp Day 2025 festival in Tartu, the highest recognition went to SafePAS – a startup founded by TalTech Associate Professor Jekaterina Mazina-Šinkar. The company is developing Drug Hunter, a portable device for rapid drug detection.