A’Pelago launches LabOff Accelerator for researchers

A'Pelago is launching LabOff, the first business accelerator tailored to researchers. The accelerator is being piloted in collaboration with the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke).

A'Pelago's strategy is to promote the blue economy in the Baltic Sea region and, in line with its strategy, to bring together researchers, entrepreneurs, companies, and investors to find and grow new business initiatives. The company has already implemented three accelerator programs in Finland and the Nordic countries. These business accelerators serve international start-ups and corporate spin-offs.

Luke is a research and expert organization that provides research and development services for sustainable business operations and brings innovations resulting from research to the market. The collaboration with Luke provides LabOff with a strong research foundation and a direct link to current environmental and Baltic Sea research.

The new LabOff accelerator aims to serve universities and research institutes and help researchers transition into entrepreneurship.

“We operate in the fields of entrepreneurship, investment, and research. That is why it is natural to invest in a tailored science accelerator. We no longer talk only about startups, but also about LabOffs. Many universities offer incubator services to their students, but these are not optimized for the needs of researchers and scientists. In Finland, there is often talk of the Research to Business concept, i.e., how research results can be commercialized. We prefer to talk about the Researcher to Business approach: how to turn excellent researchers into excellent startup entrepreneurs," says Patrik Anckar, co-founder of A'Pelago, who also works as a professor of Practise at the University of Turku.

LabOff offers a comprehensive, science-based, and researcher-centered accelerator structure where impact is created in the laboratory but put into practice in the field. Through the accelerator, researchers gain access to A'Pelago's extensive international ecosystem and investor network, where collaboration supports international business growth.

"We have a lot of interesting research data, for example, on revitalizing the Baltic Sea. Commercializing this information requires researchers to become entrepreneurs, at least part-time. At the same time, LabOff offers an alternative path for researchers who cannot find suitable career opportunities in the academic world," Anckar adds.

“Luke’s research produces solutions that renew society and also create economic well-being. We conduct extensive applied research that has the potential to generate new business and spin-off companies. We have recently developed our innovation model in many ways, and the collaboration with A'Pelago supports our goals of growing our innovation accelerator services and international ecosystem in the blue bioeconomy sector. Our goal is to promote the impact of research through new business activities," says Pauli Saarenketo, Innovation Manager, Luke

LabOff will start in the spring, and the goal is to present the first business projects at the A'Pelago Initiative event in August 2026. Researchers will be given the peace and quiet they need to complete their own research before starting actual business operations, but the seeds of entrepreneurship will be sown at an early stage.

Additional info:

A’Pelago
Patrik Anckar, CEO, Co-founder 
+358 50 408 7730 | patrik@apelago.fi

Natural Resources Institute Finland (LUKE)
Pauli Saarenketo, Innovation Manager
+358 295 326 569 | pauli.saarenketo@luke.fi