November 09, 2009
First prize in Cleantech Finland's story competition goes to Uusikaupunki
The top two finishers - Novida Vocational Institute from Uusikaupunki and Aalto Entrepreneurship Society, a group of students from the future Aalto University - stood out from the crowd with their fresh ideas and bold stories.
The story competition challenged Finns to reflect on Finnish environmental excellence and the kind of stories that can promote the Finnish environmental business. The competition received an enthusiastic reception from companies, private persons and student groups alike.
"The competition entry submitted by Vocational Institute Novida, which is based in Uusikaupunki, combines local research and development activity with a pioneering attitude, which is a very important factor in sustainable development. On the other hand, Aalto Entrepreneurship Society is an excellent model of how to turn the innovations resulting from research into products," explains Member of the European Parliament Heidi Hautala, as she describes the winning entries.
The other members of the jury were Director Tellervo Kylä-Harakka-Ruonala from Confederation of Finnish Industries EK, Communications Consultant Kirsi Piha from Ellun Kanat, Editor-in-chief Timo Tolsa from Tekniikka&Talous magazine, Professor Pekka Aula from the University of Helsinki and Corporate Vice President Carola Teir-Lehtinen from Fortum.
From poems and animations to direct marketing plans and event ideas
Vocational Institute Novida won the Grand Prize with its entry "Ajan tuulien myötä" (The winds of time), which included a poster entitled "Puhdasta jälkeä Uudestakaupungista" (A clean footprint from Uusikaupunki). The story was characterized by the co-existence of time passing and technological development. The project was made more tangible by its environmental expertise-related goal of making Uusikaupunki a carbon-neutral community.
Second prize went to AES, otherwise known as Aalto Entrepreneurship Society, for its entry entitled "Opiskelijat kaupallistavat puhdasta teknologiaa" (Students turn clean technology into products). One concrete example of AES operations is the Cleantech Safari organized in co-operation with VTT, in which VTT researchers present the end products resulting from their research on environmental technology. AES then puts together a student team to turn this clean technology into products.
Third prize in the competition was shared by two completely different entries. Elina Saarinen's "Insinööri ihmislapsi" (Child engineer) is a story of the founding of an ethanol plant and Finnish engineering skill that has been written in style of Kalevala verse, the famous Finnish saga. Third place was shared by a story called "New Energy, Energiaomavarainen asuinalue" (New Energy, an energy self-sufficient neighbourhood), which was the result of a joint project involving Wärtsilä, Mateve and Sarlin. This is a concrete example of the Finnish expertise that has already gained international recognition and attention.
"The competition entries were very different in nature: some were technical explanations and case examples, while others were pure stories. The stories fit in well with the modern-day tradition of story-telling, which involves justifying matters by means of good stories together with indices and graphics. People can identify with the stories and they create genuine interaction between the storyteller and the listener," says Aula as he comments on the outcome of the competition.
Pictures of the award presentation at ftp://kuvat.pohjoisranta.fi/cleantech/storycompetion.zip
