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More than 100 international participants tackled the challenges of urbanisation at the Sino Finnish Challenge Summer Camp held at Otaniemi on 31 July–11 August. The summer camp is part of the Sino Finnish Challenge event, which invited Chinese universities to work with Finnish partners and develop solutions for an urban future: living, learning and ageing together.

The summer camp students came from Asia while the instructors were from Aalto and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Stanford University in the United States. The students worked in teams to develop the ideas for an interactive environment and sustainable development using Aalto’s Otaniemi campus as a test platform and a 3D model as a tool.

The challenge began with an idea competition that received 661 proposals. More than 3 000 people from over 30 institutes in Finland and China worked on these ideas. The prizes for the first phase of the challenge were awarded on Wednesday 2 August.

Teams developed ideas for an interactive environment and sustainable development using Aalto’s Otaniemi campus as a test platform. The City of Espoo Mayor Jukka Mäkelä (centre) was among the invitees to hear the students' presentations. To Jukka Mäkelä's right, Ariel Noyman from MIT, and to his left Jarmo Suominen from Aalto, and Luis Alonso from MIT.

The summer school results provide perspectives on campus development and, in a broader sense, also on urban development. The results were presented at the end of the summer camp on Friday 11 August, and will be used as the basis for creating development themes for the Sino Finnish Challenge this autumn.

The third and final phase of the Challenge will be held as an invitational competition in China. This is where the winning teams will be asked to roll up their sleeves and develop the ideas into solutions in cooperation with Finns.

More information:

Sino Finnish Challenge
- Project Director Jarmo Suominen +358 44 304 9465
- Summer Camp Director Timo Nyberg +358 50 560 4438