HENRIK KUTBERG

Estonia

Field of Study: Economic Development

Mr. Henrik Kutberg is an Expert on Start-up Policy and Financial Instruments at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications of Republic of Estonia. For the last 3 years he has helped develop the start-up ecosystem in Estonia by coordinating policies and measures directed towards start-ups. Through his work Henrik has helped boost the business environment and also address the funding needs of start-ups by alleviating the market failures of the local capital market.

During his Humphrey Year, Henrik would like to grasp at the chance to learn more about DeepTech entrepreneurship, especially at the intersection of science, innovation and policy making. Especially emphasising areas that help address vital social challenges – such as climate change, global health, discrimination etc. As Boston is listed as the 4th strongest start-up ecosystem in the world by Startup Genome[1] with a vast talent pool, iconic firms cultivating future leaders, powerful R&D and a high density of innovators from across disciplines it is one of the best places to visit and learn from. One of Henrik’s goals during his time in Boston is to find out about various ways how linkages are formed between universities, corporates and start-ups to create more research-intensive start-ups. By the end of the Humphrey program Henrik hopes to expand his leadership skills to create or participate in the creation of innovative products, services or solutions which help him develop new policies that promote the development of fast-growing, responsible and innovative companies.

Mr. Kutberg holds a master’s degree in Public Administration from TalTech University. He has also taken a vast array of Business Administration and Technology Governance courses. During his time at TalTech University Henrik participated in multiple summer shcool programmes from University of Ljubljana (Slovenia), Háskóli Íslands (Iceland) to Linköping University (Sweden) that focused on challenges of implementing public policies, small state policies and sustainable e-government solutions.

[1] https://startupgenome.com/ecosystems/boston