Albania Future Now: the Albanian innovation ecosystem is presented in another international arena
2025-11-20 13:33:03
TiranaPost
After a dignified presentation at global conferences such as ITB Berlin, Gitex, and Viva Tech in Paris, Albania is stepping into another major international arena: at Slush, one of the most important events in the world for startups, investors, and technology professionals, taking place in Helsinki on November 19-20.
Under the slogan "Albania Future Now", Albania is presenting itself with some of the talents, startups and supporters of its innovation ecosystem, who will benefit from the great opportunities that Slush offers for presentations in front of international investors and funds, which can promote and support their further development; for connections with mentors, technological partners and large companies; for gaining experiences from the success stories of founders, who have built large companies, starting from seemingly small ideas.
One of the strongest pillars of innovation progress in Albania is human capital, people with bold ideas, vision and passion to create change. Albania is proving that it has a broad base of talents, professionals and entrepreneurs, who think differently, who are not afraid to experiment and undertake new initiatives. Well-educated, connected to the world through knowledge, technology and international cooperation, they are turning their creativity into an engine of development for Albania. It is precisely this human potential that is attracting the attention of investors and international partners and is making Albania an increasingly interesting place on the regional innovation map.
The journey of these startups is clear evidence of progress, not only of their individual, but also of the entire ecosystem in Albania. What began less than a decade ago, with sporadic efforts of a few individuals and donors, today in Albania, has taken the form of a genuine ecosystem, where startups with bold ideas in mind find support in various acceleration programs, where they receive the necessary mentoring to expand from one stage of development of their startups to the next (acceleration programs are now organized by local actors, who, due to the international attention that Albania has already received, collaborate with big, international names: Growpreneur with Deep Ecosystem; Piramida/ Innovation Hub with Plug and Play).
Their products, services, and companies actively participate in various events, "pitching" to present themselves to various investors. Such was the case with Tirana Slush'd, the Finnish model, which came to Tirana for the second year in a row, where the winner of this edition received an investment of up to 300,000, provided by investor Fil Rouge Capital, one of the most well-known capital funds in the region.
In this edition of Slush, where 200 speakers and decision-makers, 1700 partners and ecosystem builders, 3500 investors and 6000 startups are present, Albania participates with 8 startups, supported by EU4Innovation: DollAPP, Katalogim, LekoTech, PayStorm AI, Great Shift as well as TeutAI, MedApp and Avenirs. They are representing at Slush Helsinki, not only their companies, but also the Albanian ecosystem, clearly showing that Albania has the talents, ideas and energy to be part of the global innovation map, that the Albanian startup ecosystem is growing and consolidating with sure steps, towards a more innovative future and connected to global markets.
