Last Friday, electronics manufacturer Incap has been named the Investor of the Year in Estonia by Invest Estonia’s umbrella institution Enterprise Estonia. The Estonian Entrepreneurship Award is the highest national recognition for companies in Estonia. Held for the 27th time, it’s a business competition with the longest history in Estonia, organised by the joint institution of EAS and KredEx and the Estonian Employers’ Confederation. Previously, Enterprise Estonia awarded Incap the 2017 Regional Enterprise of the Year Award.
From Estonia to the Moon
Now Incap is producing circuit boards for stereo cameras that will be used on the Moon in connection with NASA’s Artemis lunar program. The devices have been developed by another Estonian company named Crystalspace.
The state-of-the-art cameras built for the lunar mission must withstand extreme conditions. During take-off and the entire mission, they will be subjected to extreme conditions and temperatures from -173 to +100 degrees Celsius that occur on the Moon.
The cameras will be part of Maxar Technologies‘ robotic arm called Sample Acquisition, Morphology Filtering, and Probing of Lunar Regolith (SAMPLR). It’s expected to land on Moon by 2024. Furthermore, Incap is not stopping by making Estonia the true space nation. As the company has invested in the Estonian education sector, facilitating a program in electronics engineering, the next space projects will probably follow soon.
Estonia is a great society with an ideal size
Investments in Estonia’s industry sector are vital to its development because they create jobs and spur economic growth.
“Why is Estonia the place to invest in? Estonia is a great society with an ideal size where a lot can be done,” Greg Grace, Managing Director at Incap Estonia, states.
Incap is committed to continuing its investments in Estonia’s manufacturing sector and helping the country meet its development goals. Invest Estonia’s Director of Business Development in Finland Pilvi Hämäläinen is also willing to bet on future achievements by Incap. “We support Incap via our network so that they can successfully operate in Estoni. We have helped them with different matters regarding workforce and investments, and we have helped the Estonian electronics industry from a foreign investor standpoint, including bringing them face-to-face with important partners,” Hämäläinen says.
“Every award is always a surprise – and this is a really good surprise. Our whole team in Saaremaa has done a good job, and I think they deserve it in every way,” Grace notes.
A global company with strong Estonian ties
Incap was founded in Finland more than 30 years ago, having its operations in Finland, India, Slovakia, the UK, and Hong Kong and employs approximately 2,500 people. It has been operating in Estonia since 2000. Today, the factory at Kuressaare, the biggest city on Saaremaa island, Estonia, employs 100 professionals providing high-class services to globally operating customers. Incap’s Saaremaa factory produces components for global markets such as medical and aerospace industries as well as consumer products. By all means, Incap has a significant impact on the local economy. The Estonian branch of Incap generated a turnover of €18.6M last year.
Incap has strong ties with Estonia. In addition to the factory in Saaremaa, the company’s CEO Otto Richard Pukk has Estonian roots, as his father was born in Estonia. Furthermore, Pukk’s career at the company started in the Saaremaa entity.
Estonia is a hot place to invest in
Manufacturing is a hot investment topic in Estonia, blurring the line between startups and traditional industries. Just in the last few weeks, Tallinn-based Cloud Factory raised €2M for its scalable zero-waste jewellery factory, while Estonia’s Katana snapped €36M for its manufacturing and inventory software.
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