Neste donates to Aalto University

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of Finland's independence, Neste will donate a total of EUR 1.5 million to Finnish universities. The donation will be split between Aalto University, Åbo Akademi, Lappeenranta University of Technology, and the University of Helsinki.

In selecting the donation recipients, particular attention was paid to the extent of cooperation with Neste, share of graduates from these universities of all Neste recruits and the university's academic success in international reviews.  

With the donations, Neste wants to underline its commitment to the future of Finnish young people and its appreciation of the contribution of the Finnish educational system to our 100-year-old country.

'The absolute strengths of Finland in international comparison are education accessible to everyone and highly educated people. This expertise also underlies Neste's success. With the donation, Neste wants to contribute to ensuring that there will be competent and diverse expertise in Finland for  competitiveness and new innovations in the future as well,' says Matti Lievonen, CEO of Neste.

‘A warm thank you for this donation. The long-term collaboration between Aalto University and Neste has been diverse and fruitful. Especially the products of chemical industries, phenomena in chemical processes, renewable traffic fuels, biotechnical solutions and biopolymers have been the leading areas of our research and development collaboration,’ says Tuula Teeri, President of Aalto University.

Knowhow benefits everyone

Besides the donation, Neste has had a high profile in supporting Finnish education in other ways as well. The company took part in the Tempaus2016 event organized by the Student Union of Aalto University as the main partner. Over a thousand Aalto students visited Finnish primary schools and inspired schoolchildren to learn by using an everyday life problem toolbox, among other things. In addition, the students took photographs of their school visits, and a mosaic compiled from the photos was handed over to Olli-Pekka Heinonen, Director General of the Board of Education.