“A million drops make an ocean”

An intensive study week on Sustainable Entrepreneurship took place in Rovaniemi, Finland Between 27th February and 3rd March 2023. More than 50 students and 10 teachers from Lapland UAS, Finland, Turiba University, Latvia, FH Aachen, Germany and Fontys UAS, the Netherlands participated in the learning activities of the week.

The event was organized as part of the SECA project – Sustainable Entrepreneurship for Climate Action, with the aim of promoting sustainable entrepreneurship and climate action initiatives, as well as piloting digital handbook methodologies that have been developed as part of SECA project.

On the first day of the event, the participants were introduced to Lapland UAS, FH Aachen, Fontys UAS, and Turiba University, and the SECA project initiatives. The sustainable entrepreneurship theme, an overview of SDGs and climate change were presented, and the participants were then tasked with teamwork in media production to raise SE awareness. This was followed by a Design thinking workshop used in the SECA handbook and hosted by FH Aachen experts.

The participants had a workshop on Sustainable Entrepreneurship with Design thinking, which aimed to define sustainable customer value, and it involved the case study of Santa Claus village in Rovaniemi, Finland. Later that day, they visited the Arctic Circle, met Santa Claus, visited the Santa Post office, and conducted additional tasks of the design thinking workshop on the spot.

On the second day, the students continued the workshop on Sustainable Entrepreneurship, which was followed by a business case workshop with Lappset Group Fantasiawork company. On the third day, there was an SDG challenge assignment involving the application of the method Problem to Solution tree – a method from the SECA handbook, hosted by Lapland UAS. This was followed by an introduction to the Pattern Energy from the Netherlands case study and their story on green energy solutions.

On the fourth day, the participants went on a day trip that involved a visit to Ranua Resort (wildlife Zoo), a stop at Kemi Digipolis – Circular Economy center, and a short stop at Sea Lapland resort. They also visited Tornio-Haaparanda border town and crossed to Sweden.

On the final day of the event, the follow-up assignment involving the Pattern Energy case was initiated. The participants continued to discuss international collaboration and team building principles. The event concluded with awards being given to the most innovative teams with the best start-up ideas for Climate Change solutions.

In the final discussion, students shared their findings regarding the intensive week of learning, confirming the importance of the event and its real impact on their development. One student noted

“I now understand how all small solutions combined together can make a great impact on the climate. A million drops make an ocean. A million small actions make change.”

Some of the students already have an idea of how to bear sustainability in mind when building a business:

“I am more aware now, so when I build my own company, I will be sustainable”.

The week can be considered a success, particularly given that students already consider actions to be taken for the next steps in this field:

“My next step before making a working plan for the next event is to start with environmental facts on how it is going to affect our world and climate.”

Authors:
Anzelika Krastina, MEd., MBA, senior lecturer, Lapland UAS
Anete Hänninen, BA, SECA project media assistant, Lapland UAS

Photos:

Santa Claus Office
Anete Hänninen