| 17.01.2017

The semifinalists of Helsinki Challenge selected

Twenty teams have been chosen to solve the grand challenges of our time in Helsinki Challenge, the science-based idea competition. Hanken is represented by the HUMLOG-institute Professor Gyöngyi Kovács and Doctoral Candidate Minchul Sohn.

Kovács and Sohn are part of Team Reconfigure Mobility who is working with the project “A network that makes traffic sustainable”. The other team members come from Aalto university.

This year Helsinki Challenge has three main themes based on the UN’s sustainable development goals that the teams took into consideration while coming up with their solution proposals. A total of 110 teams applied for the competition, including 340 experts from Finnish universities and over 160 other organizations. Out of these proposals the pre-qualification stage jury chose 20 semi-finalist teams for the accelerator programme. The teams will create solutions for, among other things, the loneliness of young urban people, aging, malaria and cancer treatment.

– The jury’s task was challenging. We are looking forward to seeing how the solutions will develop in the future. The competition proposals are founded in research and strong scientific expertise. The accelerator process might give rise to business, a new scientific field, a commercialisable idea, entrepreneurship or perhaps a scientific breakthrough. The direction is chosen by the team, the jury’s chairman Pekka Haavisto reminds us.

The accelerator collides experts of the scientific community and society

The semi-finalist teams include over 150 researchers and experts from Finnish universities, companies, organizations and public sector organizations. In addition to the scientific community, among others involved are the nanotechnology company Canatu, the City of Helsinki, the Chemical Industry Federation of Finland, the Natural Resources Institute Finland and Marimekko.

The semi-finalist teams participate in the accelerator programme that begins in January 2017. During the year-long programme the teams will develop their solutions, build networks, receive communication support and get the chance to collaborate.

– Today researchers are expected to engage in multidisciplinary collaboration that benefits society broadly. Helsinki Challenge is a platform for active interaction, cooperation and dialogue between different actors of the scientific community and society. This helps raise the impact of research, explains Helsinki Challenge project manager Ira Leväaho.

Helsinki Challenge is a collaborative effort of Finnish universities and is part of the Finland 100 jubilee year’s programme. The University of Helsinki organizes the competition together with the following universities: Aalto University, Hanken School of Economics, the University of Eastern Finland, the University of Jyväskylä, the University of Oulu, the University of the Arts Helsinki, the University of Turku, the University of Vaasa and Åbo Akademi University.

Get to know Helsinki Challenge’s semi-finalist teams:

challenge.helsinki.fi

Helsinki Challenge semi-finalists images and contact information for media:

http://bit.ly/helsinkichallenge2017

More information:

Ira Leväaho
Helsinki Challenge Project Manager
University of Helsinki ‪
ira.levaaho@helsinki.fi
050 5058152