Aalto organized team-building activities in Nuuksio National Park. Journey 10 participants and coaches enjoyed a nice vegetarian dinner and the beautiful view.
This summer was filled with joys, excitements and inspirations because of the five-week summer journey organized by EIT Climate-Kic. I met students and experts who share the same passion to mitigate climate change, the biggest challenge we face nowadays.
What is EIT Climate-KIC?
“EIT Climate-KIC is a European knowledge and innovation community, working to accelerate the transition to a zero-carbon economy. Supported by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology, we identify and support innovation that helps society mitigate and adapt to climate change.” – EIT Climate-KIC website
There are several journeys in the summer. Each journey took place in three different destinations around the Europe. I was enlisted in the Journey 10, which brought me to Hamburg, Helsinki and Malta. I was the only student from Aalto University among 40 participants. We were from 19 different countries and studying in different universities across the Europe. The diversity sparkled through the whole journey. We exchanged in-depth conversations about the culture difference, discussed the problems and possible solutions of climate change, and cooked international food to share together.
International Culture Fair in Aalto Design Factory when participants from the same country teamed up to cook national signature dishes, we enjoyed an international buffet and a lovely dance night.
The two-week trainings in Helsinki were organized by Aalto Ventures Program. We had lectures and workshops to learn about startup financial, entrepreneurship and how to deliver a good pitch. Coaches, local managers and professors in Aalto helped us develop our business plans to fight climate change. My team was working on small-scale electrification solution to turn mixed wastes into energy to fight energy poverty in India. We gained great advices from Dr. Peter Kelly to integrate social impact into our business plan, which made our plan stand out in the final pitch competition. We made the second best pitch. Other teams worked on solutions on coastline invasion, GHG emissions from vehicles in the city, replace shaving blades with ceramics (Sustain-A-Blade won The Best Pitch), utilizing seaweed for sustainable flip-flops and so on.
Of course, Aalto University organized activities outside of classrooms for the participants to experience the authentic Finnish culture and beautiful nature.
The Welcome Party in Aalto. We enjoyed the sauna, hot tub and swimming in the bay. A typical Finnish summer fun.
After the sauna or hot-tub, we jumped into the water to cool down.
All my fellow journey participants spoke highly of their experience in Aalto University. Our minds and bodies were nourished and inspired by the amazing adventure that Aalto and Finland offered.
more about Aalto has to offer to support the summer journey:
Aalto Ventures Program
“Aalto Ventures Program provides students with inspiration, capability and network necessary to build new scalable businesses as startups or in established organisations.”
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Wp_LuCWQVE[/embedyt]
Creative Sustainability Master Program – An international Joint Program:
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0stn6LoVp4I[/embedyt]
Greetings,
Hsiao-Pei from Creative Sustainability Master Program