Back in June, we reported on howNokia’s former employeeswere helping to kick-start the Finnish tech startup scene. As part of this feature, we spoke withPetra Söderlingwho is Head of Open Source, Symbian Smartphones (Nokia), a member of the board at the Finnish Mobile Association and also founder ofMobile Brain Bank.
Mobile Brain Bank is a Finland-based non-profit organization which seeks to join the skills of developers and other experienced individuals who have left a safe corporate career behind. Petra founded the organization around the time of the economic downturn to help encourage the tens of thousands of mobile professionals who were leaving companies such as Nokia, Motorola and Intel to launch their own startups. “Some of these companies offered very nice severance packages”, says Petra. “So some people also had money. The idea was to start an organization where we’d encourage these people to turn into entrepreneurs and launch new startups in the mobile industry.”
Petra has now announced that she will be launching a new ‘for profit’ counterpart to accompany its existing service, where developer entrepreneurs and startups can offer their skills to companies requiring mobile applications. It’s an online matching service for specific development projects.
Petra took some time out atThe Future of Mobile Conferenceon Friday to talk to The Next Web about Mobile Brain Bank and its new service, and here’s what she had to say:
Story byPaul Sawers
Paul Sawers was a reporter with The Next Web in various roles from May 2011 to November 2014.
Follow Paul on Twitter: @psawers or check h(show all)Paul Sawers was a reporter with The Next Web in various roles from May 2011 to November 2014.
Follow Paul on Twitter:@psawersor check him out onGoogle+.
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