Advancing entrepreneurship and innovations

Five things to know about university impact

When you think about the powerhouses ensuring our societal and economical success, universities may not be the first thing to pop into mind. It's clear that a university's basic function is to provide education and advance scientific research, but what else is there?

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Aallon osasto Slushissa

How do Aaltonians handle impact?

Aaltonians are a major source of societal impact in a variety of roles. Meet some of them! 

Team lead Hemmo Honkonen checking on cladding

Innovation diaries: the story of WUUD from research to business

The innovation diary is a cumulative story following a multidisciplinary innovation team that received funding from Business Finland for 18 months in January 2023. You are welcome to follow the story of team WUUD, a joint project with the school of Arts and school of chemical engineering. The end product is an evironmentally friendly and durable wooden design cladding. The diary is by written by team lead Hemmo Honkonen.

Impact
MJ on stage giving a talk

Myungji “MJ" Suh: The Aalto stand at Slush is all about how we can make the world better

'You are entrepreneurial when you see a problem as an opportunity, instead of avoiding it as a threat. A can-do attitude is also an entrepreneurial skill.'

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Jarek Kurnitski

Professor Jarek Kurnitski as a member of the new climate panel

Government appointed new Climate Change Panel for 2024–2027 which will be composed of 15 researchers from universities and research institutes. The chaired is Jyri Seppälä from the Finnish Environment Institute.

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The Visentools objects enable people to tell stories with visual metaphors. From left: Thomas Tuominen, Janina Saarnio, Robin Gustafsson, Mikko Illi and Shena Saj. Photo: Susanna Oksanen.

A new visual teamwork tool based on metaphors

A typical problem in teamwork is an imbalance in participation – a few team members are active but not everyone's voice is heard. The Visentools project uses visual tools and haptic feedback to make workshops and team meetings more participatory and meaningful. The project is funded by Business Finland and has been piloted since May.

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Shaping a sustainable future

Sustainability has been the default choice at Aalto from the very beginning. A focus on sustainability is at the core of all our education, research and innovation services.

Colourful abstract graphics for Designs for a Cooler Planet 2023 visual identity.

Designs for a Cooler Planet 2023 – Exhibitions

What don't we see even though we should – or could? Explore the exhibitions of Designs for a Cooler Planet 2023 to discover what Aalto students and researchers should be made visible.

Designs for a Cooler Planet
Campus Sustainability Champion logo

Something new and something old as Campus Sustainability Champions

This year, numerous community-submitted proposals vied for the title of Campus Sustainability Champion.

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Kampus, ilmakuva

Aalto University launches H2 Innovation Center – accelerating the transition to a sustainable hydrogen economy

The new H2 Innovation Center brings together multidisciplinary hydrogen research

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SSD posters

The world's and Finland's biggest sustainability science events under the same roof next year

University of Helsinki and Aalto University are participating in organizing a major international conference on sustainability sciences in June 2024. The event organized in Helsinki and Espoo combines the international SRI congress and Sustainability Science Days.

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Impact with radical creativity?

Radical creativity is one of Aalto's key tools in pursuing impact and a sustainable future. What does it mean? And why radical? Read a new study why paradigms need to be overturned!

A woman dancing in front of a big building

A deep dive into radical creativity

Aalto University has produced a film to highlight its creative culture.

Portrait image of Tua Björklund

‘What was surprising in the responses was how close radical creativity was perceived to be to the core of research in all disciplines."

Tua Björklund

Deep technology solves global challenges - Aalto University is a great growth platform for deep tech companies

Deep tech companies that got their start at Aalto University include IQM, ICEYE, Ioncell and Mustekala.

What is deep technology? And how is Aalto contributing to deep tech research, knowledge and entrepreneurship? Read more about how deep tech is part of our everyday life.
Centimeter-sized silicon chip, which has two parallel superconducting oscillators and the quantum-circuit refrigerators connected to them. Credit: Kuan Yen Tan.
Agate sensor device

AGATE: Beyond human vision

Mini-sized sensor sees hundreds of colours to feed the world.

Events
A man holding two small foam boards stands in a lab room.

Research project turns waste into sound-absorbing solutions with biodegradable foam

Team plans expansion while adhering to circular economy principles

News
Nanotechnology

Aalto's low temperature lab is home to several spinoffs

The spin-off companies of the laboratory, for instance in the field of modern refrigeration, low-temperature instrumentation and human brain imaging, have shown competitiveness all over the world.

Professor Jose Lado, facing the camera, sitting on wooden steps.

An atomic-scale window into superconductivity paves the way for new quantum materials

Researchers have demonstrated a new technique to measure the quantum excitations in superconducting materials with atomic precision for the first time. Detecting these excitations is an important step towards understand exotic superconductors, which could help us improve quantum computers and perhaps even pave the way towards room-temperature superconductors.

Entrepreneurial mindset: Aalto alumni founders

Aalto's 100 000+ alumni have had enormous societal impact. Read about some of the people who found their startup spark in our community.

Vacuumwood.tech - a modular, carbon-neutral construction system (external link)

In the past, wood-based and vacuum-based construction approaches have been used, but there has never been a hybrid like this, resulting in a moisture-resistant and long-lasting construction system that can be used in a range of environments - from the ultra-cold to the ultra-warm.

Panu Miettinen

Flowrite - AI startup aims to reduce time spent on written communications by 50% (external link)

In 2018, Adobe reported that US white-collar workers spend an average of 3.1 hours a day checking work email. That's a problem that Flowrite is trying to fix.

Aalto founder stories: Flowrite

Veri - a wearable that helps tackle poor metabolic health (external link)

Veri is democratising access to information about our bodies, empowering people to make better choices.

Anttoni Aniebonam, Veri CEO

Surgify - Drilling down into a surgical startup’s journey (external link)

Helsinki-based medical startup Surgify is playing its part in reducing post-surgical complications. Its groundbreaking surgical drill design is helping to reduce the risks associated with complex brain surgeries while improving recovery time.

Visa Sippola from Surgify

Ioncell - transforming used textiles and wood pulp into new textile fibres. (external link)

A staggering 70,000 tons of textiles are consumed each year in Finland alone. Globally, most textiles are discarded at a landfill, while in Finland, they largely end up as energy waste.

Ioncell CEO Antti Rönkkö

Fepod: easy measuring for optimal pain medication dosage (external link)

Willow bark. Mandrake. Opium. Over the centuries, we've explored countless treatments to soothe pain. And we've got better at it over time. Now pain medications like paracetamol, codeine and morphine are commonplace. But are they optimal?

Valkoinen laboratoriotakki sekä analyysityökalu, jolla voidaan mitata veripisarasta särkylääkkeen pitoisuus.

Impact with an international approach

touching fingers

Aalto University network of academic, research, and exchange partnerships (external link)

Aalto University has a wide range of partner universities around the globe. Have a quick look at our mobility partners by searching through the link.

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