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The Fennia Prize Grand Prix totalling €10 000 was awarded to Merivaara Oy, which has for years made use of design systematically in its product development. Seos Design, the company responsible for the industrial design of the light that won the main prize, has been based at Aalto Design Factory since it was first founded. Seos Design is a design agency headed by Pekka Kumpula, an alumnus of the university.

‘The light that won the Grand Prix is a good example of how investing in the design of products and services pays off,’ says Pekka Kumpula, Creative Director at Seos Design.

Consair, another company based at Design Factory, was also awarded. The start-up company Consair received the Fennia Prize Winner award totalling €5 000 for its CAMU workstation for dust control.

‘With this solution, it is possible to move large masses of air and recover all sizes of breathable dust particles as soon as they form. Our aim is to enable all construction workers to retire healthy,’ explained Consair’s Frank Russi, also a student at Aalto University.

Aalto Design Factory is an open research and learning environment for product development, and supports interdisciplinary and problem-oriented learning and research.

Other companies that received the Fennia Prize Winner award were Genelec Oy, awarded for its new smart active monitor model, Naava, awarded for its smart green wall, the design agency Pentagon Design Oy, awarded for a liquorice concept designed for Fazer, and Planmed Oy, which was awarded for its Planmed Clarity mammography imaging device.

Use of design an additional benefit regarding success and strengths

The competition is organised by Design Forum Finland, Fennia Group, Elo and the Finnish Patent and Registration Office. It awards companies and organisations for exemplary use of design in the planning and implementation of both products and services, business processes and concepts.

The Fennia Prize design competition is organised every two years and is aimed at promoting the utilisation of design in businesses and society in order to increase competitiveness, internationalisation and growth. At the same time, the use and importance of design as well as companies that take advantage of design are given publicity. This was the 13th time the competition was organised.
 
The jury of the 2017 competition consisted of Antti Kuljukka from Fennia as the chair, and members Ramia ²Ñ²¹³úé from Aalto University, Anna Lauttamus Kauppila from the Finnish Patent and Registration Office, Sami Niemelä from Nordkapp, Jani Niipola from Kauppalehti, Antti Salminen from the Finnish Funding Agency for Innovation Tekes, Piritta Winqvist from LINK Design and Development, and Petteri Kolinen from Design Forum Finland.

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Seos Design is a design agency specialising in product and service design. Founded in 2007, the company is based in Finland, but offers its services globally. Seos Design has extensive expertise ranging from user-oriented design to productisation and commercialisation of products and services. The customers of Seos Design include e.g. Merivaara, Nokia, NSN, Martela, Comptel and Sanitec.

Contact information: Pekka Kumpula, Creative Director, tel. +358 44 0800 383, pekka.kumpula@seos.fi

Consair Oy has designed CAMU 1200, a work station developed for dust control. CAMU 1200 improves working conditions immediately. The work station is easy to use and move during the different stages of the building process.

Contact information: Frank Russi, +358 44 050 1035, frank.russi@consair.fi