Gasum joins Helsinki capital region’s Smart & Clean Foundation

Benefits from the urbanization of the world are now being sought through cooperation between cities, central government and enterprises. Established by Sitra, the Finnish Innovation Fund, the Smart & Clean Foundation is turning the Helsinki capital region and Lahti into a world-class test bed for clean and smart solutions that are needed by our urbanizing world in order to reduce dependence on fossil energy.

The aim is for the Helsinki capital region and Lahti to offer the best solutions to the challenges faced by the world’s cities as well as to serve as a showcase for Finnish and international companies. Gasum is joining the foundation as a partner with several other companies.

The partners in the new foundation are the cities of Helsinki, Espoo, Kauniainen, Vantaa and Lahti, the company partners Caverion, Fortum, Gasum, Helen, Kone, Neste, St1, Vaisala and YIT, the research and education organizations Aalto University, Helsinki University, Lappeenranta University of Technology and VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, as well as Sitra, the Finnish state and the Helsinki-Uusimaa Regional Council. The foundation has an operating period of five years.

The foundation will compile and produce projects that will create business opportunities in the region based on clean and smart solutions relating to fields such as transport, food, housing and energy.

”The foundation is developing new forms of collaboration that will bring new innovations, growth and jobs to the region. The projects will produce solutions that companies can offer in order to deal with the problems of an urbanizing world. These are the kinds of collaboration models that have to be at the forefront of Finnish innovation activities so we can respond to changing global challenges,” says Mikko Kosonen, President of Sitra.

Rather than being a traditional foundation providing funding, the Smart & Clean Foundation will bring together private- and public-sector players – cities, companies, residents as well as the scientific community. The foundation will work with them to produce project entities resulting in new solutions, products and services for sectors such as transport and housing.

The activities of the Smart & Clean Foundation will strengthen the capital region’s position as a region responding to the needs of the future. The joint development of internationally significant solutions combining intelligence and environmental expertise will be based on more open utilization of the cities’ information resources and infrastructures. The foundation’s first targets for the region include taking carbon dioxide emissions from public transport down to zero as well as achieving zero waste generation.

For more information please contact:

Olga Väisänen, Vice President, Communications, Gasum
firstname.surname(a)gasum.fi Phone: +358 20 44 78 628

For basic information about the foundation see: https://www.sitra.fi/en/julkaisu/2016/helsinki-metropolitan-smart-clean-foundation