Entrepreneurship education takes a leap forward - Lauri Järvilehto appointed as Professor of Practice

Dr. Lauri Järvilehto has been appointed as Professor of Practice for Aalto Ventures Program (AVP). Järvilehto will contribute to AVP as a program co-director responsible for the further development of the AVP Startup Minor and entrepreneurship education. Järvilehto has previously acted as a CEO and co-founder of Lightneer, CEO and founder of Filosofian Akatemia and as a board member of Unicef Finland since 2017.

The Aalto Ventures Program is an entrepreneurship education initiative of Aalto University. It was developed in collaboration with Stanford Technology Ventures Program but has since become a global role model in entrepreneurial education in its own right.

AVP teaches entrepreneurship as a practical tool. It provides students with inspiration, capabilities and networks necessary to build new scalable businesses, either as startup companies or in established organizations. Since 2012, around 3500 students have received credits from the program.

The activity of Aalto University in the area of entrepreneurship has already been recognized worldwide. MIT rated Aalto’s entrepreneurship ecosystem among the top-5 rising stars in the world.

“Looking at the superb quality of work at AVP and at the unique strengths of the Finnish startup scene, we have the potential to grow to be the world leader in entrepreneurial education”, Lauri Järvilehto says.

Going forward, as Finland competes with other entrepreneurial ecosystems around the world, continued efforts are needed to renew our knowledge base and to inspire and educate entrepreneurs to build new ventures. AVP invests heavily in the pedagogical approach that facilitates entrepreneurially-minded students’ learning of the essentials of entrepreneurship in practice.

Companies founded by former AVP students include a mental health startup Meru Health and a successful satellite company Iceye, whose founder Rafal Modrzewski even states that the company would not exist without Aalto Ventures Program.

More information:

Aalto Ventures Program

Lauri Järvilehto
Program co-director, Professor of Practice
Aalto University
[email protected]
tel. +358 40 7709771

Kalle Airo
Program co-director
Aalto University
[email protected]
tel. +358 50 4096241