Makers of the impossible
The Makers of the impossible exhibition showcases seven wonderful examples of actions by Aaltonians. You can explore them online or in our brand-new Marsio building on campus. Welcome!
Our world improves through our actions!
The impossible becomes possible with:
- A spark of inspiration ignited early and carried throughout life
- Research built on a solid foundation
- Collaboration between experts in different fields
- An ambitious aim, even if success is uncertain
- A passionate desire to change the world.
See what we've accomplished at Aalto over the past 15 years – and join us in changing the world!
Forging a quantum supreme future
In the first half of the 20th century, physicists were just starting to understand how to manipulate and control individual quantum objects and materials. Those early efforts eventually led to the scanning, sensing and information processing technologies that underpin our digital age.
The second quantum revolution is now underway. Scientists are creating devices that control individual quantum states, along with the algorithms and software to take advantage of that ability. The technologies built on this will soon outperform classical technologies for computing, communication and sensing.
Aalto University has a rich history in quantum research, spanning a range of topics over many decades. In the 1960s, Olli V. Lounasmaa did pioneering work in low-temperature physics, laying the groundwork for key quantum technologies. Today, the Aalto-spinoff Bluefors is the world’s leading manufacturer of the ultra-low temperature refrigerators used in researching and developing quantum technology.
The global quantum tech giants are now racing to achieve quantum supremacy, building on decades of advances in fundamental research. Finland has positioned itself as a leader in quantum science and technology, boasting over 1,000 personnel working across research institutions, universities, and industry.
‘Finland is one of the forerunners in quantum technologies. There’s fierce global competition, but the strong and agile collaboration between Finnish universities, research institutions, government agencies and industrial partners enables us to have a significant impact,’ says Peter Liljeroth, a professor of physics at Aalto and the director of the Finnish Quantum Flagship.
*Quantum Garden has been realised by the artist Robin Baumgarten, supported by a team of quantum physicists for the conceptualisation and the coding side: Prof. Sabrina Maniscalco, Dr. Matteo Rossi, Dr. Guillermo García-Pérez, Dr. Walter Talarico, Dr. Boris Sokolov, Dr. Cecilia Chiaracane, Dr. Nicola Lo Gullo, Dr. Francesco Cosco and Laura Piispanen.
Food for one billion more people
People are familiar with the idea of a carbon footprint or a water footprint, but what about a handprint? ‘The point is to turn the focus from problems towards opportunities and encourage actions that have positive impacts,’ explains Professor Matti Kummu, who specialises in global food and water issues.
Food production uses nearly half of the world's habitable land. It also accounts for about 70% of freshwater consumption and nearly 60% of terrestrial biodiversity loss. To avoid water scarcity and the conflicts it will fuel, we need to make food production – and consumption – more sustainable and develop regional frameworks for water and land management.
Alongside systemic changes, each of us can make a difference through everyday choices, such as preferring plant-based protein sources and not wasting food. People commonly brew a pot of coffee just in case someone wants a cup, but then they throw it away if it’s not needed – but growing, harvesting, processing and transporting the beans for a single cup of coffee takes about 140 litres of water.
Handprint thinking can also be used to drive the big changes we need. Kummu’s team is exploring how different approaches can enable us to increase food supply while staying within our planet’s carrying capacity.
They’ve shown that recycling agricultural by-products more efficiently into feed for livestock would free up food for about one billion people. Another billion people could be fed just by halving food waste throughout the food chain. In other words, tweaking our current production systems to be less wasteful and more efficient would provide food for about one-quarter of the world’s population without needing to use more natural resources.
A sustainable fashion revolution
Global clothing production has doubled in fifteen years, and Europe now consumes 6.4 million tonnes of clothing each year, much of it low-quality fast fashion. The fashion industry is responsible for a large fraction of global greenhouse gas emissions, as well as using lots of water, land and chemicals. Human rights abuses are also commonplace in its supply chains.
’Recycling textiles alone isn’t enough to solve the problem,’ says Minna Halme, a professor of sustainable business at Aalto University. ‘The whole system should be transformed to follow the principles of consuming just what we need and creating a circular economy to use garments and fabrics for as long as possible.’
Halme leads the multidisciplinary Finix project, which is working to develop more sustainable solutions for fashion. ‘Our goal is to make sustainable fashion a significant business in Finland and Europe. We need new models for design, materials and businesses, as well developing consumer markets and legislation,’ says Halme.
Finix brings together experts in business, materials science, textile design, sustainability, digital innovation and legislation. The project works closely with businesses and policy makers.
Finix created the #durableclothing list, which helps consumers choose circular, sustainable, locally produced clothing. The project also worked with Martat organisation to launch the Repair Challenge, which tries to inspire people to maintain and repair their clothes so they last longer. Finix also gave a boost to the eco-friendly fibre Ioncell through podcasts and webinars. In 2022, Finix was invited to the EU Parliament to present a vision for making the clothing industry sustainable by 2030.
A university for all of Finland’s children
How can one university reach school children in over 200 municipalities across Finland? How can it help nurture the joy of learning in students from first grade to high school? Veli-Matti Ikävalko, the head of Aalto University Junior, says it takes a combination of professional skills and a firm belief that every child has a right to curiosity and exploration.
‘Promoting equality of opportunity is incredibly important to us. We want to show that university students are ordinary people and that anyone can study here,’ says Ikävalko.
Since 2018, Aalto University Junior has offered children and young people a peek into everything Aalto: science, art, business and technology. At the heart of Junior are on-campus and remote workshops and researcher visits, which are free of charge for schools. Junior also offers events, camps, courses, lectures and other activities for children, teachers and anyone else with a curious attitude.
Over the past six years, the number of participants has increased eightfold. In 2023, Junior reached more than 30,000 children and young people, half of whom participated on-site.
Over the years, students have built mobile sculptures and wonderful gadgets, explored future cities and energy solutions, and become inspired about entrepreneurship. Thousands of lines of code have been written and thousands of test tubes have been washed. There are no right answers or solutions in the program -- children are encouraged to experiment and question.
To connect with children and youths of different backgrounds, Junior has worked with organisations like SOS Children's Villages, libraries, regional cultural centres, universities and the Girls' House. By inspiring kids with different backgrounds to get into science and technology, Junior helps lower barriers to these fields and bring in a variety of viewpoints and ideas. Nurturing this diversity is important for tackling Europe’s coming skills shortage.
Wonder materials from nature
Chemarts brings together students from design and materials science to discover an incredible variety of uses for bio-based materials, from creating art out of nanocellulose to recycling flower waste.
Chemarts is a renowned summer school, study curriculum and experimental platform at Aalto University. It started in 2011, when a chemical engineering professor and a textiles professor met and decided to bring together students and researchers from the School of Chemical Engineering and the School of Arts, Architecture and Design. Professor Tapani Vuorinen and Professor Pirjo Kääriäinen hoped that would spark new ideas and new forms of collaboration.
From the start, the collaboration has had a clear purpose: developing new materials from cellulose through a culture of experimentation. Students work freely within that framework. Instead of setting out to solve specific problems, they’re encouraged to think about what they find interesting and important.
Science thrives on in-depth, detailed knowledge, while designers build solutions by identifying and understanding people's needs. Chemarts combines these strengths by bringing together students from both disciplines to collaborate and share their knowledge.
In the years since Chemarts started, a business-oriented mindset has also proven important. The textile industry desperately needs green alternatives to oil-based synthetics and irrigation-dependent cotton. This need offers a chance for smaller, local players to emerge and compete with large companies.
’The world isn’t going to become completely digital – we’ll use clothes, homes and products in the future like we do now. Where and how those are made, and how they’re used and recycled, will become increasingly critical. We really need to make the circular economy work,’ says Kääriäinen
Going boldly into space
Did you know that there are dozens of Finnish satellites orbiting Earth? And each year, more go up into orbit.
At the turn of the millennium, nobody expected a major Finnish presence in space. The change started in 2010, when Professor Jaan Praks, then a teacher of space technology, was looking for an exciting project for a course. He decided to work with his students to build Finland's first satellite. Aalto-1 was launched on midsummer’s day in 2017.
Satellites used to be so large and expensive that only the great powers could afford to build and launch them. As electronic components shrank and became more efficient, satellites could get smaller. The student-built satellite Aalto-1 was only the size of a milk carton and weighed about four kilograms. Despite its small size, it carried three different experiments on board, which had been developed together with VTT, FMI and the University of Turku.
‘Our first satellite mission was propelled by enthusiastic students, who built most of its subsystems,’ says Praks. ‘From the beginning, we operated with a passionate start-up spirit and reformed how space technology was traditionally done, laying a strong foundation for further developments.’
As the sector grows and its importance increases, more research and education are needed to provide the experts to keep it going. Satellites are needed for environmental monitoring, navigation, accurate timekeeping, communications and exploration. More and more infrastructure will be located in space in the future, and more space specialists are needed to build this future.
In the years since the first project, the students have grown into space professionals and visionary satellite entrepreneurs. They’ve founded several space technology companies in Finland. Today, their services are trusted by the private sector and governments around the world. Finland has become a space nation with its own satellites and space regulations, and Otaniemi has become a bustling space campus, home to companies, research institutes and the European Space Agency's business accelerator.
A new era of entrepreneurship
About 5,000 startup representatives and 3,000 investors with combined investments of over €3 trillion convened in Helsinki’s Messukeskus for Slush 2023. The tech and startup event – Europe’s largest – grew out of a small student gathering started a decade earlier by the Aalto Entrepreneurship Society, or Aaltoes.
Slush's growth has been meteoric, but its soul hasn’t changed: student-driven and ambitious, with a passion for working together without hierarchy. Each year, a small core team and over one thousand volunteers put together an event that’s consistently praised for its organisation, atmosphere and the value it offers to investors and startups.
As Slush has grown, entrepreneurship has also become a key pillar at Aalto. Around 100 new companies spin off from the university each year. So far, four Aalto companies – IQM, ICEYE, Relex and Wolt – have become unicorns, worth over €1 billion.
The Aaltoes Board stresses the importance of entrepreneurship for our future, saying that ‘now is the time to think big and do big things. For our society to thrive and prosper, an entrepreneurial mindset should be everyone’s business.’
Over 80% of Aalto students see entrepreneurship as an attractive career option. This interest isn’t mainly driven by a desire for money – most students say that making a difference in the world is more important.
Marsio
Marsio, the campus open-to-all meeting place, will open its doors in September 2024.
- Published:
- Updated: