Hundreds of ideas from community event to build a sustainable future

At this year's first community event on 31 January at the Learning Centre, work on the development actions for the new strategy was started together with some 150 enthusiastic Aaltoes. The themes addressed were sustainability, radical creativity and entrepreneurial mindset, as well as community and people. 

In his introduction President Ilkka Niemelä emphasized our common values by saying that our values resonate with our purpose.  

This year, we will go through all of our operations – resources and indicators, our way of working and processes, as well as action plans and roadmaps – according to our new strategy. 

‘We need to think about the long-term development of our university and our areas of development. The strategy will be a permanent theme in our discussions in all forums so please be active’, President Niemelä says encouragingly. 

Five themes – hundreds of proposals and ideas 

Members from Aalto leadership introduced each topic in brief. 

In regards to sustainable development, Vice President Ossi Naukkarinen reminded us that much has been already done from previous years, but development actions can be approached by asking, for example, what kind of structures and tools we still need. 

We can also strengthen our creativity by encouraging and creating structures, practices and spaces that support it. According to Dean Tuomas Auvinen, it is also important to promote a culture where there is room for experimentation and where opposing views are also valuable. 

Dean Jouko Lampinen suggested that best parts of an entrepreneurial attitude should also be adopted within our research. This means having the courage to take risks and to push your own ideas forward. A positive "buzz" would also be useful in the academic community. 

CHRO Riitta Silvennoinen encouraged Aalto employees to come up with ideas on how to build the Aalto culture and all views and ideas are most welcome, as long as we remember that people are the core of everything. 

In addition, there was a lively discussion with Marianna Bom and Sirkku Linna about resources and indicators at the bazaar and a generous crop of ideas from all the bazaar points can be seen in the photos below. 

There are several community events for all at Aalto throughout the year and the next community event will be on Wednesday 25 March at 14.30–16 at the Learning Centre, where we will work on planning the development actions in the areas of research, education, impact and values. Save the date and sign up from the link below!

Take a look at the presentation by President Ilkka Niemelä (pdf) Watch the video of the event (> Youtube)

Sign up for the community event on 25 March