A! Sign of Change

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A Sign of Change: Aalto University impacting and changing the world for the better

Campaign status

1 500 323 Halfway First 100 A full thousand! 1 500
Updated 8.1.2025 9:16
30 000 000 € 7 515 961 Halfway Good start 30 000 000 €
Updated 8.1.2025 9:22

    Time for all of us to step up for our shared future

    The world is in the midst of a sustainability crisis and a technological revolution. We are faced with ever-fiercer competition, rapid advances in artificial intelligence and pressure for funding cuts. 

    Sure, we need actions from institutions and businesses, but individuals alike can make a difference. You can make a difference. 

    As a global society, we cannot afford to wait for that 'someone else' to make their move first. We all need to act – within our abilities, of course. 

    Community is at the heart of both Aalto’s and Finnish society’s success. Each of us plays a role in this shared success story. 

    We have high expectations. And how could we not? Our students and researchers are striving both in Finland and globally, so we need to keep up to enable the progress, to support tomorrow’s experts today and to safeguard our collective well-being. Within this campaign, the aim is to bring abroad at least 1500 donors and to reach 30 million euros by the end of 2026. You are warmly welcomed to join the effort.

    Believe in a more hopeful and international Finland with us. Make A! donation.

    Bubbles with benefits material
    Bubble wrap from wood. At the time Bachelor's students Satu Paavonsalo (Design) and Valentine Schwarz (Fashion, Clothing and Textiles) came up with a cellulose-based solution to plastic problem in a CHEMARTS course.

    A! sign of change

    We need bold thinkers and brave doers, and that is why at Aalto, we educate and foster change-makers. At the same time, our wider community, our alumni, and other stakeholders, are invited to support the pursuit.

    The A! of Aalto – that is, a sign of change – is everywhere: concretely in the names of the people and companies advancing technology, business, and art, and symbolically in the beginning of everything from A to Z. It is representing a community of change-makers building bridges across society.

    In the first weeks of January, you can spot the A! in some of the biggest success stories of Finland in the streetscape of Helsinki and Espoo, but more importantly, every day, you can feel, and benefit from, the Aalto impact in the society through our alumni, research, innovations, and partnerships. 

    You might not have thought of it before, but since you found yourself here, there is a high likelihood you too are a change-maker, someone who is ready to step up for a forward-looking Finland.

    Some of us can contribute by a way of world-class academic research, some by enabling and administrating that work; some of us can afford to donate a little, some a lot. We all have a role in taking care of our shared future. 

    Your donation to Aalto University is a contribution to the society.

    Make your hope yield results: Invest in a future 

    While making a donation is always a form of charity, why not think of your donation as an investment? Many invest in shares and funds, but have you ever thought that you could invest in the future: in education, research and the promotion of science and art?  What if you were to invest in future experts, in those who make the hard decisions in 10, 50, 100 years from now, and in innovations that enable things we cannot even imagine yet?

    When you donate to the university, the profitability of your investment will not be measured in monetary terms. Instead, your investment to higher education and research will yield results on the long term and come to fruition, for instance, as Finland’s competitiveness, technological development, solutions to skills shortage, optimally running society, and enhanced well-being of the youth.

    We all can make a difference in our everyday lives. Pay forward a compliment, a smile, a favor. Give your time, volunteer, mentor, donate.

    Hopeful and international Finland

    Yes, there are global crises and Finland is facing skills shortage, but the are plenty of reasons to be hopeful and to believe for a better future. 

    At Aalto, we are answering the call by producing, year by year, more talent, more entrepreneurs, and more innovations. We encourage different study fields to collide and collaborate. We support our innovation ecosystem to deliver startups that introduce research-based solutions to world’s sustainability problems. We foster creativity.

    Every year, about a hundred new companies are established by Aalto students, and companies founded by our alumni employ already over 30.000 people. And this number is only ought to increase as 80 % of the students consider entrepreneurship careers. 

    While for some, just the idea of leaving one's comfort zone feels oppressive, some, in fact, thrive in ambiguity. To proceed without knowing the end results and to withstand uncertainty are skills we need our decision-makers to have. 

    Reading textbooks teaches standard models of things, but when more is needed, enter creativity and collaboration. Creative thinking and operation models push us to progress even in an occasionally inevitable stalemate: because there is no single specific goal, there are always multiple directions to move in. 

    At Aalto, the magic happens when our students and researchers look for the right questions before jumping into, inevitably insufficient, answers. Meaningful difference is made where two, or more, seemingly separate worlds or academic fields come together. 

    The university enables the makers and doers to prosper, to experiment and play, to collaborate and create. It is all about identifying, initiating, and celebrating these confluences. It is in this environment where impact is being made, where contributed euros are best spent.

    We build satellites because Earth’s future depends on space. We find ways to feed the growing population within the planet’s boundaries. We redefine what biomaterials are capable of. We develop new technologies that are needed to overcome diseases.

    There is plenty to be hopeful.

    Currently we have students representing 117 nationalities, and half of the research and teaching faculty has joined Aalto outside of Finland. Our alumni are working in hundred different countries around the world.

    Internationalisation also means exposing Finnish students to foreign cultures, influences, and perspectives. In 2023, a record number of just about a thousand students made use of the opportunity to leave for an exchange semester/year abroad. Aalto is the most international university in Finland. And very proud of that. 

    Diversity is an opportunity and a resource. At Aalto, we celebrate voices from different academic fields and cultural backgrounds coming together with unique ideas and creative solutions. We truly believe Finland’s long-term success relies on research and innovation – and integrating international talent.

    Half of Aalto’s international graduates are employed in Finland one year after graduation. This is a testament to Aalto’s role in internationalising Finland. While we are happy about the progress, we still have work to do – and we need your help.

    A gold-plated cryostat sits half open with many cables coming out from the bottom.
    Aalto's pioneering quantum research started already in the 60s. Today, Aalto-spinoff Bluefors is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of cryostat: a refrigeration device used to cool the quantum circuits of a quantum computer close to absolute zero.

    Donate and get your very own symbol of collaboration

    When people from different fields come together, share their knowledge and ask questions, we get disruptive ideas, thrilling beginnings, and unprecedented applications. 

    One of these collaborations is the embodiment of this campaign. A project that demonstrates creative thinking, sustainability ambitions and entrepreneurial mindset; a project that combines design and bioproduct technology; an idea brought to life by a designer fascinated whine shine and a material scientists who is glad he didn't make it as technical physicist.

    The strength and uniqueness of Aalto is condensed in a beautiful wooden pin.

      Noora Yau and Konrad Klockars

      Many of nature’s most impressive colours are created without pigments. A peacock’s feathers and the shell of a beetle are covered by a special nanostructure that gives them iridescent hues and makes them glisten in the sun. When light hits these structures, our eyes perceive their intense and vivid colours. 

      Noora Yau and Konrad Klockars started collaborating in 2017 with their own wood-based version of this nanostructure. Now, there's nothing new about human-made structural colours, but instead of being made of plastics and metals, and containing lead and other toxic substances, Noora and Konrad's version is environment-friendly.

      Shimmering pieces of wood in different colours

      Noora and Konrad make their structural colour out of nanocellulose, which is created by splitting the cellulose contained in wood into nanoscale lengths. One nanometre is equal to one millionth of a millimetre.  

      Nanocellulose is non-toxic and renewable. It is used in, for example, medical applications and composite materials. It can also form a nanostructure that yields structural colour – if you know how to process it.

      Shimmering wood -pin

      What makes this pin so special is that it is a glistening sign of support for our students and researchers; a concrete embodiment of your values and efforts for our shared future. 

      An idea inspired by nature, brought to life by Aalto students of different fields, created from biodegradable nanocellulose in a 3D-printer, and worn by our donors such as You: A Shimmering Wood Pin.

      Donate and get your very own pin.

      Donors who have contributed in the campaign

      List of donors, individuals and organisations, who have given a permission to publish their names.

      envelope icon
      Contact: For donations over 10.000 euros
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      Learn: Why invest in teaching & research
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      Celebrate: Set up an anniversary fundraiser

      Making difference

      Take a look at how your donation could be put in good use. 

      Blue, pink and transparent colour bubble material

      Donation is a consumption choice

      A donation to the university is a consumption choice, just like buying a new shirt.

      Give for the future
      Ukrainalainen opiskelija kurssikavereidensa kanssa

      Donations make a difference

      Donations have a significant impact on Ukrainian students receiving scholarships at Aalto University.

      Give for the future
      Opiskelijoita kävelemässä vihreiden puiden alla

      Donations make it possible for all the students to participate in student exchanges

      International student exchange is an essential part of the studies of many students at the School of Business

      News
      Liikuteltavan magneettikuvauslaitteen prototyyppi.

      Accessible MRI could revolutionise the diagnosis of brain disorders

      A research team at Aalto is developing an accessible magnetic resonance imaging machine

      News
      Wooden crystals on black surface

      Natural luxury – Wooden crystals make fashion shine

      Biomaterials and 3D-printing conjure a sparkle out of wood without harming people or the environment

      News
      Tekstiiliperhonen, jonka siipiin on punottu valoon reagoivia säikeitä.

      The butterfly effect – bending and turning artificial muscles with light

      In the future, the innovation could be used in for example the development of smart textiles, soft robotics and medicine.

      News
      Selluloosapohjainen, biohajoava kuplamuovin korvaajainnovaatio Bubbles with Benefits. Kuvassa vaalea ohut materiaali ympäröi kahta juomalasia

      Biodegradable bubble wrap replacement Bubbles with Benefits wins innovation competition

      The innovation of Aalto University’s design students was awarded by the Finnish Forest Industries and the Finnish Forest Products Engineers' Association.

      News
      Stack of wood. Photographer: Eeva Suorlahti.

      What if the world’s cattle munched on Finnish wood?

      A new manufacturing method will open entirely new markets for microcrystalline cellulose. It could be used, for example, to enrich animal fodder.

      News
      Kolmannen-vuosikurssin arkkitehtiopiskelijoita vuonna 1921

      Architect Annikki Paasikivi legacy gift has a significant impact on numerous student generations

      Architect Annikki Paasikivi Scholarship Fund operates actively at Aalto University. Every year, dozens of scholarships are awarded to students of architecture from the fund established in the 1950s.

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