Aalto University Sustainability report 2021 has been published

”Science, technology and arts play an important role in solving global sustainability problems. Aalto University’s strength is its strong multidisciplinary approach to humanity’s greatest challenges, such as environmental crises. Aalto’s new sustainability report highlights some of the key sustainability actions taken by Aalto University in 2021.

Aalto’s most substantial sustainability impact arises from multidisciplinary research, teaching, and sustainable development solutions that apply research results in practice.

‘The time window for solving the biggest environmental crises that humanity is facing is getting narrower. Aalto and other universities play a key role in solving these crises. We must join forces more efficiently than before across school, university and organisational boundaries’, says Jussi Impiö, Head of Sustainability Solutions at Aalto University.

Aalto’s sustainability report 2021 summarises the key sustainable development actions taken at Aalto in the areas of research, teaching and societal impact, and on campus.

A sustainable society is not the outcome of scientific discoveries and technological innovations alone. We also need stability and a well-functioning economy.

Science and arts help us understand the complex world around us and challenge our ways of thinking. Together, they create new knowledge and perspectives which we need more than ever to solve complex global challenges.

‘Innovations must be understandable and acceptable to people. Arts and design help us achieve this’, Impiö says.”

DOWNLOAD THE REPORT: www.aalto.fi/sites/g/files/flghsv161/files/2022-04/Vastuullisuusraportti%202021%20VALMIS.pdf

Espoo Innovation Garden & Aalto University investigated by EU Joint Research Centre (JRC) as Place-Based Innovation Ecosystem

Title: Place-Based Innovation Ecosystems: Espoo Innovation Garden & Aalto University (Finland)

The case study identifies key success factors in the Espoo innovation ecosystem, with particular attention to the role of Aalto University as an example of an entrepreneurial university.

It seeks to inform policies aimed at supporting the strengthening and emergence of existing or new place-based innovation ecosystems and entrepreneurial universities in other EU regions and cities.

The report starts by defining what a place-based innovation ecosystem is intended to be, and identifies a conceptual framework that can operationalise the study of concrete cases.

The study continues with a presentation of the main local actors and pre-existing enabling factors, progressively moves to the catalysers that have made this innovation garden flourish and finally analyses its Quadruple Helix collaboration model and the way the whole ecosystem is orchestrated.

The publication is a Science for Policy report by the Joint Research Centre (JRC), the European Commission’s science and knowledge service. It aims to provide evidence-based scientific support to the European policymaking process.

Download the publication through this shortlink: http://bit.ly/2q6USiv

Publication information in The European Commission’s science and knowledge service: http://bit.ly/2r2yJit

JRC Science Hub: https://ec.europa.eu/jrc

Picture on cover page above: sketch illustration based on aerial photo of Espoo by SARC OY Architects and SRV OY