Helsinki is a city-sized testbed for new innovations

“The testbed supports businesses’ product development and the creation of new business. At the same time, the city’s residents also benefit from the new innovations,” comments Team Manager Kimmo Heinonen from Business Helsinki.

“Our goal is to support growth that makes the world a better place: we focus on innovation activities, particularly on the development of smart and sustainable solutions in the fields of learning technology, smart traffic, the built environment, circular economy, and health and wellbeing,” Heinonen continues.

Business Helsinki coordinates and implements the City’s development and testbed activities in close cooperation with the City’s divisions, as well as companies and enterprises belonging to the City Group. A key partner in implementing the practical testbed activities is the City’s own innovation company Forum Virium Helsinki.

Local weather forecasts to support energy conservation

A significant part of the energy consumed in Helsinki is used on heating and cooling buildings. In turn, the weather directly affects the need for heating and cooling. If the operation of the technology in buildings could be controlled in real time, using weather forecast models, this would facilitate using the exact amount of energy needed.

Business Helsinki and Vaisala Xweather joined forces for testbed activities. From autumn 2023 to the end of 2024, the companies researched how much a hyperlocal, i.e. highly geographically limited, weather forecast could facilitate savings in the energy consumption of a building. The Myllypuro campus of Metropolia University of Applied Sciences, which has also been actively involved in other innovation activities, served as the testbed.

“The pilot gave us important experience with a building automation application that can be used in the further development of the service. In the future, the impact of wind and solar radiation could also be taken into account when optimising energy consumption,” muses Mikko Laakso from Vaisala Xweather.
The hyperlocal weather forecast trial, which aims at saving energy in buildings, will continue to be used in areas such as East Helsinki to estimate district heating needs.

The hyperlocal weather forecast pilot boldly combined innovative technologies(Link leads to external service)

Education technology testbed inspiring operators around the globe

The City of Helsinki’s EdTech Testbed is known worldwide as a proven concept that offers businesses an opportunity to test and develop innovative learning-related products and services with teachers and learners. The testbed enables businesses and schools to work together for mutual benefit.

An internationally unique example of such trials is the TEKLA test container, which was used for testing learning innovations. The container, a mobile testbed, can be easily moved from one school or daycare centre to another, enabling businesses to test and develop their innovations efficiently with multiple end users. The test container was developed as part of Helsinki’s Resourceful Sharing: Innovative and co-usable learning environments (JAVIST) sub-project. JAVIST is a project co-funded by the European Union.

“Sometimes you think that you’ve come up with a really good idea, but when you test it, you realise that it just doesn’t work like you’d thought it would. You can only come to such a realisation if you carry out trials with real end users,” says Jukka Louhivuori from Care Us Oy, who participated in the EdTech trials.

In addition to the testbed, the competitiveness of companies in the education technology sector is being strengthened through operations such as the Helsinki Education Hub, which is co-implemented by the City of Helsinki.

Helsinki’s EdTech Testbed inspires globally(Link leads to external service)

Helsinki’s first circular economy building to be built from reusable parts in Mustikkamaa

The Closing Loops warehouse is a pilot for circular economy in construction that involves building a warehouse in Mustikkamaa, Helsinki. All the building materials are recycled, except for the foundation. The project is based on a student competition organised by the City of Helsinki’s Circular Economy Cluster Programme and Aalto University for the design of a new building from recycled building components.

The construction sector and the manufacture of building materials consume a significant share of the world’s natural resources and generate a lot of carbon dioxide emissions. Because of this, it is important to increase the reuse of building parts. The project will provide concrete information on the potential of circular economy in construction and promote the reuse of building parts. 

“Circular economy is a megatrend and circular economy construction is a major theme in research operations such as ours at the Department of Architecture. But the fact is that research needs much more empirical evidence and concrete examples of circular economy construction,” says Assistant Professor Antti Lehto from Aalto University.

Japanese innovation producing energy at Maria 01 – Helsinki as a pilot environment generates interest among international businesses

Helsinki and Tokyo are jointly promoting startup cooperation between the cities. Representatives of the City of Tokyo and a group of Japanese businesses visited Helsinki in August 2024 to learn about the City’s innovation and testbed activities.

Five Japanese businesses applied to participate in the Testbed Helsinki trials, of which inQs, a company that develops and manufactures window panes that collect energy from light, was selected for the trial period. The company’s innovative window panes were installed at the Maria 01 startup cluster.

Japanese innovation generates energy at Maria01 – Helsinki as a testbed attracts international companies(Link leads to external service)
 

Year-round summer and light installation activating elderly residents in the winter of Malmi

Active lifestyles slow down ageing and improve people’s quality of life. The winning companies in the City’s innovation challenge tested new ways to encourage elderly residents to be physically active.

An experimental light installation at Malmitalo brings sunshine to the dark season and invites people to get together. Interactive and playing with light, the work features gymnastic equipment and also provides a glowing setting for getting together for a chat with friends. 

At the Milja service home in Malmi, a ‘Summer Beach’ was created to provide a place for elderly residents to enjoy and exercise in. The stone pathway in the sunnily lit summer room, decorated with elements such as reeds, stimulates the soles of the feet, while the soothing soundscape of the room draws on the sounds of nature. The space also features a set of virtual recreation trails, providing a variety of virtual nature or urban hikes in a safe environment with a walking mat or peddler.

The trials are part of the KauKo project co-funded by the European Union.