Always keep a positive outlook

Ten years ago, NewIcon was born like the Phoenix rising from the ashes. My first automation business had run into financial difficulties in 2006, and since entrepreneurship is a way of life for me, I decided to start over.

My philosophy is to always keep a positive outlook and never give up. When you are active and do a lot of things, some setbacks are simply unavoidable. In my opinion, you have to correct your mistakes, get over them and learn from them.

We started with industrial automation services but I also wanted to create a specific NewIcon product from the start. We found the end of our rainbow by chance when the wife of Marketing Director Jori-Matti Savolainen, a pharmacist, told about the new German storage robot at the pharmacy where she works. We all went to see it and decided that we would also be able to build one.

The idea got to a good start and our company found a new course in 2012 when we were admitted into the Young Innovative Company start-up funding programme by the Finnish Funding Agency for Innovation, Tekes. I can still remember what if felt like to receive the information. I knew that we would be able to concentrate on developing new business now.

It has been a pleasure to notice that we are trusted, again and again. We have recently strengthened our company by issuing a crowdfunding campaign with the Kansalaisrahoitus Oy crowdfunding company that brought us nearly 300 new owners. There were also dozens of pharmacy owners among them.

The newly acquired capital helps us invest in our new products, software development and internationalisation. The European Investment Bank is also supporting our growth. We strongly believe that by being agile, investing heavily in the international sales of our products and creating new and innovative products, we can challenge our larger global competitors.

We have now expanded our business from pharmacy automation to cover the automation of pharmaceutical services in hospitals, for which we have launched the term “Total Pharmacy Automation” to describe it. It means that with the automatic solutions that our product family offers, the journey of any medicine from the pharmacy all the way to the patient is safe and streamlined according to the Lean principles, and properly documented. Turn to pages 6 and 7 of Icon News – magazine to find out more about these topics.

This is exactly what we mean with our slogan that we chose years ago: “We help people to help people.

” It feels great to do business that not only enhances processes but also truly promotes people’s well-being. We also help society by generating cost savings and improving medication safety. It makes me feel even better to know that while the routine tasks now take less time, the nurses and pharmacists have more time for their patients and customers.

My vision is that in 10 years, NewIcon is the market leader in pharmaceutical automation in the Nordic Countries and a significant global player with a strong position and roots in its home country.

I hope that we will continue to be known as a reliable and innovative partner that is nice and easy to do business with. It has been a pleasure to work and grow our company together with my truly wonderful colleagues at NewIcon.

Many thanks to everyone for the past years and hearty congratulations to all of us!