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The purpose of the Boot Camp was to develop new offerings, business models and service design for bio-based chemical industry. During the last few years Aalto University has organized similar challenge-based courses with several companies.   

Jari Rosendal, CEO of Kemira said: ‘Sustainability has always been a part of Kemira’s DNA. The call to develop sustainable business comes from our customers, their customers and us, the consumers. Kemira is working hard to achieve the ambitious sustainability targets and we raise the bar as we go forward. To make a real change happen, we need cooperation and innovation – we need you, fresh thinkers!’  

At the Boot Camp challenge, the bio-based products and services needed to fulfill certain fundamental criteria - they needed to be sustainable, scalable and cost competitive. New products also need to be a technical fit with applications as well as fit the market situation and regulative requirements. The students participating the two-day Boot Camp worked in teams together with the industry top professionals from Kemira.  

The world is seeking new ways to replace fossil-based raw materials with bio-based ones, and the chemical industry plays a key role in this change. Aalto University educates specialists for the future needs of sustainable, fossil-free economy. The cooperation between Kemira and The School the Chemical Engineering has a long history. The cooperation is wide around research, teaching, lecture sharing and student recruitment. Many Master’s students have also made their final theses in cooperation with Kemira.  

‘I would like to thank the team of Kemira for their commitment in organising this course together with us. The Boot Camp did not only let the students dive into the real business but also experience the necessity for seamless collaboration between people from different disciplines. For me, the benefit of combining the skills of business, design and engineering students was the most striking observation from the team work,’ said Tapani Vuorinen, Professor of Wood Chemistry, Aalto University.   

‘It was inspiring to work with Aalto University multidisciplinary student teams,’ said Reetta Strengell R&D and Technology Director of Kemira. ‘We were impressed by innovative and professional solutions and presentations that teams were able to prepare in such a short time. All proposals addressed well Kemira’s strategic targets. The whole Kemira team enjoyed the Boot Camp, and we will definitely take some learnings for our daily work’. 

Further information: 

Tapani Vuorinen, Professor, Aalto University, tapani.vuorinen@aalto.fi

Reetta Strengell, Director, R&D and Technology, Kemira Oyj, reetta.strengell@kemira.com 

Jani Saarinen, Senior Manager, R&D and Technology, Kemira Oyj, jani.saarinen@kemira.com