The innovation project portfolio currently consists of 17 projects within the four programme themes.
The spearhead of the project is to develop urban and built environments that encourage movement and support health and well-being, in collaboration with industry companies.
As part of the project, experimental platforms will be established in various city districts to develop innovative solutions that promote well-being, health, and mobility. In Helsinki, the project trials will be conducted in urban renewal areas (Malmi, Malminkartano, Kannelmäki, Mellunkylä), while in Espoo, the new campus of Laurea University of Applied Sciences in Kivenlahti will serve as a pilot area.
The goal is to create innovative solutions that open new markets for companies and strengthen their competitiveness. In the long term, these solutions will support the well-being of city residents.
Partners
City of Helsinki
Forum Virium Helsinki
Laurea University of Applied Sciences
The project strengthens business opportunities for companies in the education services sector. Development work is carried out within an ecosystem that produces services, products, and technologies for shared physical and virtual innovation and learning environments.
The sharing economy and smart use of resources support goals related to responsibility and sustainable development.
The project enables the development of shared learning and RDI (Research, Development, and Innovation) environments by combining the expertise of multiple stakeholders. The project includes four sub-projects.
Partners
University of Helsinki
City of Helsinki
Aalto University
Aalto University Campus & Real Estate (ACRE)
The project provides a platform to strengthen collaboration and co-creation in the digital and creative industries. Additionally, the project offers concrete support and guidance measures to enhance the business operations and increase the production of startup companies and those aiming for international growth in the digital creative sectors (AV, XR, audio, gaming).
The project supports the sustainable business, growth, and skills development of creative industry players by promoting the development, application, and implementation of new practices and solutions within companies.
Partners
Metropolia University of Applied Sciences
City of Helsinki
Aalto University
Partners
City of Espoo
The project’s goal is to transform the Helsinki metropolitan area into a world-class knowledge hub by supporting the relocation and establishment of foreign growth companies in the region. The presence of these companies will strengthen existing expertise and knowledge clusters with new innovations.
The project creates a new approach to help international growth companies integrate into the local innovation and business ecosystem, enabling them to grow and operate in the Helsinki metropolitan area.
The project is implemented in collaboration with a broad network of partners, including organizations that serve Finland’s vitality and growth, as well as entities that promote entrepreneurship in the Helsinki metropolitan area.
Partners
City of Helsinki
City of Espoo
City of Vantaa
The project aims to develop new collaboration opportunities between ecosystem stakeholders to enhance the vitality of cities and strengthen the operating conditions and growth potential of businesses.
The goal is to create business clusters and innovation ecosystems where the cities in the Helsinki metropolitan area broadly develop activities in cooperation to address challenges.
Partners
City of Vantaa
The Food Waste Ecosystem creates a new, network-based approach in the Helsinki metropolitan area to reduce food waste and utilize it more efficiently. The project brings together food and circular economy companies, educational and research institutions, and food aid organizations. Collaborative development creates opportunities for new business ideas.
The project investigates companies’ opportunities to build and develop business from inedible food waste and food waste. As part of the project, the quantity and quality of food waste will be measured. The results will enhance understanding of how food waste can be further processed for commercial use.
This work supports the sustainable development and carbon neutrality goals of the municipalities in the Helsinki metropolitan area, as well as the EU’s sustainable development goals.
Partners
City of Vantaa
Laurea University of Applied Sciences
City of Helsinki
Natural Resources Institute Finland
The Food SystemiCity program develops systemically sustainable food innovations in urban and built environments. Food production, distribution, consumption, and nutrient recycling are connected to city life: housing, construction, transportation, logistics, and energy production and distribution.
The program builds a regional food system that supports the development of innovations and businesses. Both large and small operators receive support for forming collaborations, developing innovations, and piloting them.
As a result of this work, new sustainable businesses and collaborative offerings will emerge, along with teams that develop and commercialize systemic product and service solutions for global markets.
Partners
University of Helsinki
Metropolia University of Applied Sciences
Natural Resources Institute Finland
Aalto University
VTT
In the future, major cities will face complex and cross-sectoral challenges. The cities of Espoo and Vantaa are addressing these challenges with the Metropolitan Area Challenge Engine project. This project develops solutions to sustainable urban development and social sustainability challenges in collaboration with various city sectors. A model is being developed to collect, design, and prioritize urban development challenges. The process is carried out openly with businesses, RDI actors, and universities.
The goal is to define challenges in a more holistic manner, transcending departmental boundaries to enable new and innovative solutions. Simultaneously, an agile co-creation model is established, allowing companies and other stakeholders to participate in defining, designing, and solving the challenges across different city sectors, while also developing their own businesses.
Partners
City of Espoo
City of Vantaa
Partners
City of Helsinki
Metropolia University of Applied Sciences
City of Espoo
City of Vantaa
The Sustainable Future Neighborhoods project creates solutions to address societal challenges, particularly through green transition initiatives.
The project will establish experimental environments to develop built environment solutions based on localism, self-sufficiency, and fossil-free practices.
The City of Espoo is implementing the project in collaboration with pioneering companies. The solutions primarily focus on neighborhoods in Espoo, but the goal is for these solutions to be applicable elsewhere in Finland and globally in the future.
Partners
City of Espoo
The project supports the Helsinki metropolitan area in becoming the world’s best environment for experimentation and innovation. The aim is to turn innovations into practices and promote open innovations in the built environment.
The project establishes a model for systematic experimental collaboration, where the built environment serves as a testing platform. On this platform, an innovative procurement model is implemented to enhance knowledge sharing and the scaling of innovations between cities.
Partners
City of Vantaa