Invitation to media: Espoo Innovation Day - the kind of innovation the world needs

We warmly welcome the representatives of media to the Espoo Innovation Day on 24th of May to Espoo Culture Centre and Hanasaari. This event has been created in collaboration with Espoo's partner organizations, all relevant to building future proof cities and societies.

Time: Friday 24th of May 2024 at 14 o’clock
Starting place: Espoo Cultural Centre (address: Kulttuuriaukio 2, Espoo)

The innovation community in Espoo churns out 6th most patent applications in Europe, up to 60 % of all patents in Finland. Aalto University and Technical Research Centre VTT together with the city, form a core that brings together all players – start-ups, students, top companies, researchers, and ordinary citizens – to create innovation for a better life.

Espoo is where Finland's most valuable corporations are located, and the city is home to the leading innovation hub in the Nordics. The innovation community in Espoo delivers globally leading innovations from waste-based biofuels to quantum computing, reborn textile fibers to 5G, 6G, and much more. At the heart of the community stands Aalto University and Technical Research Centre VTT. VTT is one of the largest applied research institution in the Nordics, with a strong track record of commercializing research to business. Aalto University boasts one of the most bustling start-up scenes in Europe. Most of Finland's rising stars, unicorns are born in Espoo - in 2022, Espoo-based startups raised over €410M of funding.

At the 2024-year edition of Espoo Innovation Day, we have invited embassies of foreign states in Finland as well as key partners to explore Espoo’s unique innovation community, its innovation culture and actors - the kind of innovation that will shape the world for decades to come.

The event is brought to you by the City of Espoo and Enter Espoo in collaboration with Aalto University, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and the Foreign Ministry of Finland. 
Media representatives are welcome to attend the event at Espoo's cultural center, for site visits to various locations and for a networking event on Hanasaari. Join us for an inspiring day where you have the chance to:

• Hear about innovations that are answers to global challenges
• Get to know the cooperation between Aalto University, VTT and the city of Espoo
• Verifies how Espoo's innovation community shapes the future of technology and society

Programme

14.00 Espoo Innovation Day main stage programme

• Opening, Mayor Jukka Mäkelä 
• Espoo Innovation Story– the kind of innovation the world needs
• Mervi Heinaro, Deputy Mayor for Economic Development, Sports and Culture
• Janne Laine, Vice President, Innovations, Aalto University
• Antti Vasara, President & CEO, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland
• Living and doing business in Finland, talking from the experience. 

14.45 Group photo  

14.55 Bus transfers to site visits

• 15.30 Site visits in the innovation community Aalto University
• VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland
• Nokia
• Microsoft

16.30 Bus transfers to evening mingle at Hanasaari

16.50 Mingle

• Welcoming words by Stefan Lindström, Ambassador - Digitalization and new technologies, Ministry for Foreign Affairs
• Mervi Heinaro, Deputy Mayor for Economic Development, Sports and Culture

18.00 End of the event at Hanasaari (Hanasaarenranta 5, Espoo)

The event is held in english.

Please register by 22 May.

More information: Mari Ala-Mikkula, Marketing and Communications Manager, tel. +358 43 826 7495, mari.ala-mikkula@espoo.fi 

Site visits:

Aalto University

The site visit to Aalto University will give a glimpse into an internationally unique innovation ecosystem of the university. You will learn about university-led and student-led entrepreneurial and innovation activities, hear interesting Aalto-born startup stories and see an example of how Aalto University students work on real-world challenges in interdisciplinary teams. The site visit will take place in the newly opened K3 building (2023) that houses Aalto Design Factory, Startup Sauna, Aalto Venture Programme and two departments of the School of Engineering under one roof.

VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland

Welcome to VTT, one of the leading research and technology organizations in Europe. During your visit, you will learn about our cutting-edge applied research activities in the field of sustainable microelectronics and quantum technology. You will hear how we actively shape the Finnish semiconductor industry with our innovation activities, infrastructure initiatives and spinoff companies. We are a key player in Kvanttinova, thanks to our initiative to put up new specialised microelectronics pilot line next to the existing one in Micronova. And finally, don’t miss the chance to also see Finland’s quantum computers, located, naturally, in Micronova. 

NOKIA 

Nokia site visit will take place at Nokia headquarters at Karaportti 7, Espoo. Nokia Espoo campus is the global Nokia headquarters where all corporate functions and business groups are represented. Focus is on mobile networks and cloud product development, on software business and advanced radio and mobile networks research including standardization. The meeting will be hosted by Karol Mattila, head of Government Affairs Nokia Finland and Vesa Kohtamäki, head Nokia Espoo Technology Center.

You will hear about Nokia’s current portfolio and product development and get a view on our research, innovation, and educational collaborations. You will also learn about our plans regarding active 6G research as well as co-operation with operators and related partners, including enterprise and industrial verticals, e.g. Veturi, Hexa-X, LuxTurrim5G and 5G Test Network Finland.

Microsoft

Welcome to Microsoft Finland. Microsoft enables digital transformation for the era of an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge. Our mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. We’re passionate about making technology accessible, so that the thinkers and doers in this world can collaborate to solve its most complex problems.

Site visit to Keilaniemi, Microsoft Finland’s headquarters will provide an insight into Microsoft’s product development in Finland on Mixed Reality and Surface products. Also Microsoft and Fortum collaboration on one of the world’s largest datacenter waste heat utilization projects will be introduced. In the future, the excess heat from the servers in Microsoft’s datacenters in Espoo and Kirkkonummi will be recycled to serve the needs of approximately 250 000 district heat users in the area. The visit will take place in Keilalahdentie 2-4, in Microsoft and Fortum headquarters.