Neste donates 750 000 euros to Aalto University

Neste will donate a total of EUR 1 million to universities in Finland to support the research and education in sustainable technologies.

’Neste’s success is deeply built on innovativeness, boldness and long-term systematic research and development. Our extensive collaboration with universities combines leading industrial expertise and high-level research to discover solutions to global challenges, benefiting societies in the long term. With our donation, we also want to show our appreciation for the universities in providing high-quality education which is accessible to everyone, and hence ensuring the diversity and quality of talent and expertise also in the generations to come,” says Lars Peter Lindfors, Senior Vice President, Innovation, Neste.

’We are very grateful for Neste's appreciation for universities and significant donation to Aalto's field of technology. We have decided to use the donation to support research and education in chemical engineering, which is in the core of our strategy to shape a more sustainable future and an area where we have been successfully collaborating with Neste for a long time’, says Ilkka Niemelä, President of Aalto University.

Long-term strategic partnership

Neste is Aalto’s long-term strategic corporate partner. In addition to collaboration on numerous research projects, Neste is also a significant employer of Aalto's alumni and students.  

‘Our collaboration with Aalto supports strengthening sustainability-driven growth areas that are also central to Neste’s strategy, such as renewable products, low-carbon solutions and circular economy’, says Lars Peter Lindfors.

‘Chemical engineering provides the basis of the education in our school. It has a central role in advancing sustainable solutions and breakthroughs by scientific and engineering excellence. With the significant donation of Neste we can now strengthen and further develop this highly important area for the benefit of our students and the whole society. I am very pleased for the strategic collaboration our school has with Neste, and grateful for this donation’, says Kristiina Kruus, Dean of the Aalto University School of Chemical Engineering.

‘Aalto’s front-line science in chemical engineering will create sustainable CO2-neutral, biobased and circular solutions for the future. Dialogue with the industry enables transformation of scientific results to implemented products and technologies to benefit the society’, says professor Jukka Seppälä, Vice Dean for Research at the Aalto University School of Chemical Engineering.

The impact of Neste’s donation will be further amplified by the Finnish state's matching funding campaign for universities, which will continue until the end of June 2022.