Student Entrepreneurs Won 50,000 NOK for Their Tradesman Idea
With an entertaining roleplay performance, this group secured victory in Bergen’s first Innovation Sprint. Now they plan to go all in on making everyday life easier for electricians with AI.
Bear hugs, group selfies, and crumbs of marzipan cake at the corners of their mouths. Finally, a deep breath after three days of hard work — but even in the warm air three floors above Bergen train station, some still have energy left.
— Yeeees!
Fillip Vatne Jonassen jumps into the arms of his teammates before they all collapse into a laughing pile. The five of them have just won Bergen’s first Innovation Sprint, held at NHH Connect.
— NHH’s new innovation hub at Bergen train station. Here, the city’s pulse meets young, bright minds. That’s when things start happening.
«Such great fun! I’ve learned so much, and everything has happened so fast,» says Oliver Rokne Dahle, one of the five students from NHH and BI behind the prototype VoiceFlow.
In short, it’s an AI-based app designed to help electricians with complex and time-consuming paperwork. Instead of spending hours filling out reporting and documentation forms, they can simply describe what they’ve done via a voice recording on their phone.The VoiceFlow app converts speech to text and fills out the forms for them — and is also planned to translate seamlessly between languages.
«We’ve talked to several companies who say this is something they really need. Many have employees who struggle with dyslexia or who don’t speak Norwegian very well,» says another team member, Jakob Hovdenak.
The team now receives NOK 50,000 in seed funding to further develop the service — hopefully into a sustainable business. And it’s all happened at lightning speed.
Students in Sprint Mode
Innovation Sprint is the first project under Tilt Student — a collaboration between NHH, HVL, UiB, and VIS (Western Norway Innovation Company).
Earlier this year, the program received NOK 26 million in funding, marking a major boost in Bergen’s support for student entrepreneurship.The sprint kicked off in mid-October, with the final event and climax last week. Over three intense days, 26 students were tasked with forming teams, brainstorming ideas, choosing one, and developing a prototype.
AI was to be used both as a tool and as an integral part of the product.
Impressed experts
Erlend Drevdal Hausken, NHH alumnus, tech entrepreneur, and jury member for the pitch competition, was impressed by what he saw.
«It’s fantastic that NHH is joining the entrepreneurial arena,» says Hausken, who a few years ago sold his self-developed music tech service to Snapchat. Today, he’s a driving force at Bergen’s Startuplab incubator.
«Events like this help spark a flame and hopefully encourage people to pursue a startup career. There were many great pitches, and the level was impressive,» he says.
In the end, though, one team stood out — VoiceFlow. Not just because they opened their pitch with a hilarious sketch about the paperwork jungle in the trades industry.
«They managed to communicate a sharp, well-defined problem with a clear solution. They hit both rationally and emotionally — and had a case that can easily scale,» says Hausken.
Jakob Hovdenak from VoiceFlow is ready to pursue the startup alongside his studies. The next step is to look for partnerships and potential customers.
«Of course — this is an idea we truly believe in.»
