Around Finnish Entrepreneur’s Day, the Finnish Startup Community is highlighting Finnish startups and growth companies that are building solutions to some of society’s most important challenges.
Behind every company is a founder who saw a problem and decided to build a solution.
For Fernando De los Rios of Hyperion Robotics, that problem is how to build the infrastructure required for the energy transition fast enough, while reducing costs and the carbon footprint of construction.
Building the infrastructure the energy transition needs.
The world needs enormous amounts of new infrastructure.
At the same time, according to Hyperion Robotics, construction remains more than 90% manual, productivity has stagnated for decades and labour is becoming increasingly scarce.
In Finland alone, more than 1,250 green transition investment projects worth over €300 billion are currently being planned, according to the Confederation of Finnish Industries. Turning even a share of these plans into reality will require enormous amounts of new infrastructure.
(Vihreän siirtymän investointeja valmistui vuonna 2025 yli 8 miljardilla ja uusia hankkeita tuli vireille 24 miljardilla – Elinkeinoelämän keskusliitto)
Fernando points to a $15 trillion global infrastructure gap and believes that without greater automation, the energy transition and wider infrastructure buildout simply cannot happen fast enough.
As Fernando puts it:
“Without automation, the energy transition and infrastructure buildout simply can’t happen fast enough to close that gap.”
The challenge is not only how quickly infrastructure can be built, but also how to reduce the carbon and material footprint of building it.
Bringing robotic manufacturing to construction.
Hyperion Robotics is building Physical AI and robotic factories for construction.
The company replaces manual precast concrete production with robotic manufacturing. According to Hyperion, its approach can cut production time by up to 70%, while delivering significant cost savings and reducing carbon emissions.
Hyperion’s ambition is to make construction as productive as manufacturing became in the 20th century.
If the company succeeds, Fernando believes critical infrastructure could be built faster, cheaper and with a fraction of the carbon footprint, while also creating a new category of high-value robotics jobs.
What needs to change in Finland?
Fernando believes Finland needs to be more open to new solutions in construction.
Industry players, from developers and contractors to utilities, need to actively support and promote low-carbon, robotically manufactured solutions to help them reach the market faster.
For Hyperion Robotics, the question is how to build the infrastructure society needs fast enough and with a lower carbon footprint.
More stories are coming soon!
Entrepreneurs Build. Because Some Problems Are Too Important to Ignore.