Events

Our third innovation camp was held in Tornio. The theme was sustainable tourism and the students had the opportunity to visit local tourism organisations and, in small groups, develop new sustainable tourism experiences. Teachers also participated in the same programme and had the chance to innovate their own solutions to the challenge “Create a sustainable tourism experience.” During the event, we also organised a principals’ seminar for the northern region titled “Keeping the Future in the North.”

We would like to extend our sincere thanks to our partner organisations: Hotelli Mustaparta, Experience 365, Old Pine Husky Farm, Sataman Krouvi ja Jähti, Farm Escape, Kukkolaforsen, and Luppio.

At our final event, we explored sustainable food production at the Rural Entrepreneurship Competence Centre of Vocational College Lappia and enjoyed delicious local food at a gala dinner held at Hotel Mustaparta. Students and teachers deepened their knowledge of sustainable food culture through small-group work and lectures. Our final event culminated in the signing of a framework agreement ensuring the continuity of cooperation between upper secondary institutions in the Tornio–Haparanda region.

Warm thanks to all our event partners and partner institutions!

Cross-border cooperation brought together 100 upper secondary students and teachers. Through a combination of lectures, workshops and company visits, students and teachers explored cross-border collaboration, with entrepreneurship and sustainable development as key themes.

Participants visited, among others, KaMa-palvelut in Tornio, Pipelife Finland in Haparanda, Haparanda Adult Education Centre, the Rajalla på Gränsen shopping centre, Business Tornio and IKEA Haparanda. Warm thanks to our cooperation partners!

The Un/Sustainable Fashion event was organised in Luleå, bringing together over 100 upper secondary students and teachers from Norrbotten and Northern Finland. During the two-day cross-border visit, participants collaboratively developed innovative solutions for the future of fashion.

The highlight of the event was an energetic fashion show where students presented garments created from recycled materials and textile waste, bringing their ideas to life on the catwalk.

The collaboration would not have been possible without our partner, the Lumiere organisation, which enabled hands-on work with textile waste and recycled clothing during the event. We also had the opportunity to visit various organisations, including the Red Cross in Luleå and the Slöjd och Formcentrum. Warm thanks to all our partners for the collaboration!

Approximately 100 upper secondary students and teachers from Finland and Sweden gathered at the University of Oulu for the STEAM Into Entrepreneurship innovation camp, which combined STEAM pedagogy and entrepreneurship education in a practical and hands-on way. Students learned to collaboratively and creatively solve a pre-selected challenge and to put their ideas into practice.

While students from Oulu, the Torne River Valley, and the Norrbotten region worked in international teams, their teachers had the opportunity to work in the Super Fab Lab and in the university’s educational sciences Makerspace environment. As part of the event, a joint principals’ seminar for Aurora Entrepreneurialis institutions and schools from the Oulu region was also organised.

Warm thanks to all cooperation partners from the University of Oulu, the University of Applied Sciences, and the City of Oulu for organising the workshops and site visits, and special thanks to all speakers who contributed to our event!

The 2-day event in Oulu gathered nearly 90 participants, both students and teaching staff, from the Bothnian Arc and Torne Valley regions. We were honored to have Perttu Pölönen, a futurist, inventor and author, as the keynote speaker for the event. Participants visited local companies and organisations to learn about working life, sustainability and the future.

A warm thank you to our company visit hosts:

Probot Oy
NOKIA
Oulun OP
Centre of Sustainable Development
Oulu University of Applied Sciences (Nuve Lab)
University of Oulu (Virtual reality Lab)
City of Oulu (Urban Environmental Services)

Nearly 100 upper secondary students and teachers from northern Sweden and northern Finland met on 27–28 February to collaborate, learn more about sustainable entrepreneurship, and take part in this year’s UF Fair (JA programme).

The programme included, among other things, a workshop on the circular economy with actors from Teknikens Hus, collaboration challenges, an interactive sustainability-themed competition for teachers and students, as well as a visit to the UF Fair, where some Finnish students also presented companies and products they had developed during the Year as an Entrepreneur course.

Warm thanks to all our partners!

Nearly 100 teachers and students from northern Sweden and northern Finland worked together for three days on themes related to the green transition and societal change in Luleå. Both teachers and students worked in mixed groups, with English used as the common working language.

The event began with a lecture by researcher of historical transformation processes, Dag Avango (Luleå University of Technology), who took the participants on a journey through regional development and the events that have driven the development seen in the region today.

Northern Sweden is currently undergoing a historical transformation process that is expected to bring 100,000 new inhabitants to the region as the number of jobs related to the green transition increases rapidly. The changes affect every sector of society, and the region needs development ideas to address the challenges brought about by this transformation. The participants of the Innovation Camp also had the opportunity to contribute to this work.

Warm thanks to our event partners!

At the Innovation Camp = learning, developing and competing

The Innovation Camp had three main goals:

1. Participants learn about the extensive changes affecting the area and understand the complex sustainability issues involved.
2. Participants use creative problem-solving skills to develop ideas and solutions to address the challenges facing the area.
3. Teams practice and execute their own short film presenting their solution ideas.

On the third and final day, small groups condensed their ideas into a short film, from which the jury (Maja Alasalmi - Region Norrbotten, Jenny Lindberg - Luleå Municipality, Helena Sundberg - HYBRIT, and Roine Viklund - Luleå University of Technology) chose the winner of the entire innovation competition. The jury's choice fell on the proposal "Learn and React," developed by the student team: Vilma Pesonen, Sonja Ikonen, and Pauliina Myllymäki (Haukiputaan lukio, Oulu) and Felicia Sannerborg and Ana Paula Duda (Tornedalsskolan, Haparanda). The team's solution to the challenge was to create a course targeted at young people, in which participants would learn first aid, promote physical and mental health, and learn various ways to help their fellow human beings. The course could also give participants confidence in crisis situations and promote safety in everyday life. 

Check out the winning video below!

City of Oulu, Ung Företagsamhet Norrbotten, and Vocational College Lappia invited the participant schools of the project to the Kickoff event in Oulu. Nearly 80 participants, both students and teachers, joined from Northern Finland and Sweden. We warmly thank the organisations and companies which contributed to the event by hosting company visits to our participants:

Kiertokaari Oy
Nallikari Seaside Oy
VTT
Fingersoft Oy