Aalto University

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Aalto University is a multidisciplinary community where science and art meet technology and business. We are committed to identifying and solving grand societal challenges and building an innovative future.
Aalto University has six schools with nearly 20 000 students and 4 500 employees, over 400 professors. There is a wide variety of Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees awarded at Aalto University, and we also offer doctoral programs in all the fields of study.
Aalto University was founded in 2010 as Helsinki University of Technology, the Helsinki School of Economics, and the University of Art and Design Helsinki were merged. The main campus is located in Otaniemi in Espoo, Finland. The other campuses are in Töölö and Arabia in Helsinki.
Ville Kukkonen, Amin Modabberian, Pietu-Pekka Roisko, Pyry Viita-ago, and Ilmari Vikström first met in January 2017. Their task was the further development of a teaching and research platform for autonomous vehicles. “It was an exciting project; we were lucky to get it. This is a fascinating field, with self-driving cars and everything”, says Ilmari.
Another team had begun developing the platform before them, and figuring out the complex system was no easy feat. In the beginning, it was quite a challenge for the students to understand what needed to be done and how long it would take. Ilmari reflects, “I think those types of challenges are quite normal for larger projects. It forces you to come together and get on the same page. You need to absorb much information in a short time and then start steering the project towards the goal.”
The group pulled together in no time at all. Everybody was very involved, which did not mean there were no hiccups. Ville expands: “We were not afraid of crashing the vehicle and having it go up in flames. It was more this worry that we would flip the switch, and it simply would not work.”
Sure enough, different elements of the code did not add up, and by the midway point, the project was headed towards disaster. To solve it, it was not enough for one member to grind endlessly alone. “I think we solved the hardest problems when all five of us were together, looking at the code,” says Ilmari. “The best moments are when something that did not work before starts to work when you bring the pieces together,” adds Ville.
Attending Aalto University was an easy choice for each student. Ville had played around with software since he was a child, and studies in automation and systems technology felt like a natural way forward. Ilmari did not have a clear idea of which faculty or significant to choose. Automation and systems technology drew his attention when examining the study offering online. “It felt so interesting; I almost fell in love with it,” he laughs.
Now the students are crafting things that do not even exist yet. They are busy designing technology that might help our daily lives in the future, shedding new light on the world and potentially changing history. Their future is looking bright, too. “Our employment rate is quite high. All my friends from here are working in a field related to their studies”, says Ilmari. “I think if you come to study information technology here, you will have many different possibilities in work life,” continues Ville.
Whatever the students end up doing, they are already sure of one thing. They find it essential that work itself is interesting, but the environment has to be challenging. “I value some level of autonomy in what you do and how you do things at work. That the employer lets you set your own goals,” Ville explains. “The work environment is quite important. I want to work in a place that feels like our project did, where people are driven — where we are all having fun solving problems and building something new”, Ilmari sums up.
One of Europe’s coolest music festivals in the heart of the city with a star-studded international line-up and over 75 000 visitors. No wonder students Armi Teva, Miila Westin, and Robert Lönnqvist were excited about the prospect of creating the main mural for the annual Flow Festival in Helsinki’s bustling Kallio neighborhood.
“Our school had arranged the technical side, and there was a huge blank canvas, a 100-meter wall waiting for us”, says Armi. “None of us knew exactly how much work it would be. We just sat down and tried to make sense of it all.”
It was not easy or obvious, as the students worked between classes to try and get organized: deciding on what colors to use, who would design what, and even something as necessary as the concept itself.
The students eventually found themes for their murals from songs of the artists performing at the festival. The final piece would be called Jukeboksi or Jukebox, allowing each of the students to decide which tracks to use as sources of inspiration. “This way, each of us could work on a section of the mural while still being part of the larger theme or idea,” describes Armi.
In upper secondary school, all three were undecided on what to study later on, but they shared a passion for art. Robert explains: “I have always been drawing and created graffiti as a teenager, so I wanted to find out how to keep on doing it. I knew I was drawn to it but was not sure how to take the next step. I found that Aalto had this program that would let me continue to do this type of project-based work.”
Armi has initially been studying to become a ceramic artist at Aalto’s Department of Design but pursued studies in Visual Communication Design. “We have lots of support around us to try new things. In our department, nobody says this is the path you must take.”
Since then, all three students have carried out significant projects for the City of Helsinki and Helsinki-Vantaa Airport. They have created illustrations for magazines, public spaces, walls, and posters. “It is important to have the freedom to try and explore different projects. To get your hands on something,” Robert says.
Although projects are varied and exciting, sometimes inspiration is hard to find. You have to find your way. “I usually get the best ideas when I am very sleepy. So, I wait until I am tired at 4 am or so”, Miila laughs.
According to Armi, there is a fine line between feeling you do not have any ideas or cannot do anything at all – and doing it. “In the end, you need to give time and make room for ideas to come. Pick up a pen and try and do something – maybe hate it – and they happen to do something you like. Trust yourself.”
Support from others has proven invaluable during studies and work projects. “You do not even realize how much support you need from others until you get it! Luckily, we get it a lot. From professors, classmates, and everybody,”, Miila praises.
By the end of the mural project, each of the students had a newfound appreciation for each other and their process. The wall got soaked by the rain many times, spilling the paint, which would dry on the concrete around. But in the end, the students pulled it all off, and the mural attracted plenty of praise, thousands of visitors, and hundreds of selfies.

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