One of the main shareholders of Laurea and the second-largest city in Finland, Espoo has won the international Intelligent Community Awards 2018. The theme of the contest was ‘humanizing data’. This refers to the use of data for people-oriented service development. City of Espoo open innovation ecosystem co-creates with citizens, firms and universities. Services are developed in a truly collaboratively approach with the involvement of the quadruple helix – residents, companies, educational institutions, universities, communities and other cities.

In 2016, Espoo launched a collaborative project called KYKY Accelerated Co-Creation. It turns schools into Living Labs that support students’ learning and growth while giving educational technology companies a platform to develop products and services for learning. ENoLL member Laurea contributed heavily to the development and experimentation of the model.

“Co-creating the model with the city of Espoo colleagues and stakeholders was demanding and at the same time one of the most exciting and rewarding times in my Living Lab history. It was fantastic to celebrate the victory in London with ENoLL members from the City of Eindhoven, which was earlier honored with the Intelligent Community Award”, says ENoLL president Dr Tuija Hirvikoski.

ENoLL member Laurea was with Espoo City Mayor Jukka Mäkelä and his team celebrating the victory in London.

“We want to remain the most sustainable city in Europe also in the future. By cooperating with our innovation networks, we will ensure high-quality services for our residents and guarantee that our growth is economically, ecologically, socially and culturally sustainable also in the future,” says Jukka Mäkelä, Mayor of Espoo.