Unfolding Tomorrow — Introduction to Sustainability

Have you ever wondered how to measure sustainability? Do you want to hear what’s happening in different areas of society in terms of sustainability? Do you want to know what you can do to solve the problems that our world is facing?

In a world that’s changing faster than ever, no one can predict the future — but we can affect it.

The big problems facing our planet today — such as climate change, poverty and inequality — are complex and severe, but they’re not unsolvable. To fight them, we need to work together. Business and government, design and research, creativity and common sense; we need it all. Together, we can build a sustainable future.

At Aalto University, we believe in solving problems related to sustainability through entrepreneurship, in facing problems rather than pretending they don’t exist, and in educating ourselves rather than using the lack of knowledge as an excuse. And we believe in you.

Unfolding Tomorrow is an event series that brings the brightest minds in business, academia and government together to talk about what we can do today to make tomorrow better. The event topics come from the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and their targets and indicators.

This very first Unfolding Tomorrow session is about introducing the concept of sustainability. We’re joined by representatives from Aalto University, Upright Project, and the Finnish government for brief introductory talks followed by a panel discussion. You’ll learn about sustainability through SDGs and Net Impact — How can sustainability be measured, what to consider when looking at SDGs or Net Impact, what mistakes we make, and what we can do about them.

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Unfolding Tomorrow is organized together by Aalto Ventures Program and Aalto Entrepreneurship Society.

Meet the speakers

Lauri Järvilehto

Professor of Practice at Aalto University

Lauri Järvilehto is a Professor of Practice at Aalto University and the Co-director of Aalto Ventures Program. At AVP, Lauri has been a driving force behind creating the new, sustainability-focused strategy for entrepreneurship education. He is a passionate researcher and firmly believes in startups’ potential in solving Sustainable Development Goals. Lauri is a board member at UNICEF Finland and has co-founded learning game studio Lightneer and Filosofian Akatemia Oy, a research and training company. Additionally, he is the author of several bestselling books on thinking and creativity.

Kai Mykkänen

Chair of the Parliamentary Group of the National Coalition Party

Kai Mykkänen is a Finnish politician and currently the Chair of the Parliamentary Group of the National Coalition Party (Kokoomus). He has worked as the Minister of Foreign Trade and Development 2016-2018 and as the Minister of Interior 2018-2019. Mykkänen was also in response of National Coalitions’ energy and climate issues during the last government in Finland and he took the initiative when Finland decided to ban the use of coal by 2030. Mykkänen describes himself as a pro-market, pro-environment reformer.

Eero Tuhka

Developer at The Upright Project

Eero Tuhka is leading the algorithm development of the Net Impact Model at The Upright Project — a company that builds a model for calculating businesses’ net impact on the world and aims to incentivize companies to optimize that impact. Before joining Upright, Eero has graduated from Operations Research at Aalto University in 2016, managed a new creative intelligence product at Smartly.io, and consulted at McKinsey & Company.