Welcoming all trailblazers

The foundation will help develop 20-30 projects within its operation time of 5 years.

-We have built a globally unique collaboration together with the cities, companies, universities, research institutions, Sitra and the Government of Finland here in Finland. The new foundation enables us to take a new holistic viewpoint and speed up the execution larger-scale pilot projects, says Tiina Kähö, the Executive Director of the new foundation.

-When we add the people of the region to this mix we end up with a dynamic test bed for Smart & Clean products and services. We invite  both Finnish and international players to test and develop their products and business here in the Helsinki region, she encourages.

Key areas of development include transport and mobility, built environment, energy, waste and water and consumer cleantech with digitalisation and circular economy as common dominators.

– As a relatively small player globally, we all need to be aiming towards the same goal and use our resources wisely in order to focus on projects with remarkable global impact. Together, the cities of Helsinki, Espoo, Kauniainen, Vantaa and Lahti form a major test bed for new solutions and services. The foundation will be a platform that enables us all to set up projects and open up business and export possibilities which none of us could achieve alone, Kähö describes.

Does Helsinki Region need a foundation to do this?

-Finland already has a lot of readily available cleantech and ICT solutions and projects in Finland. Local innovations and knowhow on these fields are also globally recognised with a well-educated workforce. Still we could do better with transforming this all into products and services which would boost our growth. Together we can turn Helsinki region into a place where business accelerates climate change mitigation, envisages Kähö.

The foundation will gather existing projects under one umbrella and build strong international partnerships.

-The collaboration so far has been inspiring, and now the real work begins! At the moment we are inviting all Finnish and international companies and institutions who want to build this collaboration, projects and business to become part of the Smart & Clean -community, invites Kähö.

The foundation will have widespread benefits. For example, the Kilpilahti industrial area in Porvoo and many companies around the Helsinki Region are already closely involved in the activities, says Ossi Savolainen, Regional Mayor, Helsinki–Uusimaa Regional Council.

Helsinki Metropolitan Smart & Clean Foundation was established by Sitra, The Finnish Innovation Fund in June 2016. The founding partners are the cities of Espoo, Kauniainen, Vantaa, Lahti, the Helsinki-Uusimaa Regional Council, the Government of Finland, companies Caverion, Fortum, Gasum, Helen, KONE, Neste, St1, Vaisala, YIT  the universities Aalto, Helsinki, Lappeenranta University of Technology and the Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT).