Professor Kalevi Ekman selected as the ‘Otaniemi Person of the Year 2009’
15.01.2010
Professor Kalevi Ekman from the Aalto University School of Science and Technology has been awarded the title of ‘The Otaniemi Person of the Year 2009’.
Mr. Ekman has worked as the Director in the spearhead project of Aalto University, the Aalto Design Factory. The Design Factory is a new kind of open environment for research and education on product development. Situated on the Otaniemi campus, the Design Factory offers modern facilities of 3 000 m2 intended to be used for cooperation between researchers, students and companies.
The Design Factory accelerates the change in the Aalto University culture of operation and teaching by supporting interdisciplinary and problem-based learning and research. The competition, opened in November 2009, was the fifth of its kind organized by the company Otaniemi Marketing (Otaniemen kehitys Oy). It invited various interest groups to nominate a person or group which has furthered the cooperation among actors in the Otaniemi area and promoted the Otaniemi expertise either in Finland or abroad.
The award decision was made by the Board of Otaniemi Marketing, which includes representatives of the key actors in the region. This was the fifth time the Otaniemi Person of the Year was selected. Previous holders of the title are the Director of the Otaniemi International Innovation Centre Veijo Ilmavirta, the Director of Micronova Veli-Matti Airaksinen, the Chief Technology Officer of Enfucell Oy Xiachang Zhang and VTT Young Professionals.
Additional information Otaniemi Marketing Ari Huczkowski, tel. +358 40 521 5642 ari [at] otaniemi [dot] fi, http.//www.otaniemi.fi.
