Highlights from Slush in Finland 2022: Green Industry Prominent
Hildur Elín Vignir, Managing Director of Iðan Education Centre, and Kristjana Guðbrandsdóttir, Head of Print and Media Studies, recently attended SLUSH in Finland, the largest innovation conference in the Nordic countries. Innovation is one of the main pillars of Iðan Education Centre's new strategy.
The SLUSH innovation conference took place from 16-18 November in Finland at the Messukeskus conference centre in Pasila, just outside Helsinki.
The theme of the conference was diversity and purposeful change for the better, and many of the conference speakers mentioned that the innovations of the coming years will need to tackle climate change and the world's changing social structure to an even greater extent than before.
Innovation woven into Iðan's operations
Innovation is one of the main pillars of Iðan Education Centre's new strategy, and we have set ourselves the goal of weaving innovation into our operations, education, and services. Iðan Education Centre's participation in the conference is part of strengthening our members on the journey that both business and industry need to take part in to solve the challenges we face, which can only be solved with new approaches.
Diversity creates more
65 Icelandic companies were present at SLUSH this year, the highest number ever, and around 110 Icelanders participated in various ways. There were about 12,000 visitors from all over the world. The conference was mainly attended by start-ups, larger innovation and technology companies, institutions that support innovation, educational institutions, universities, and representatives of the governments of various countries.
New solutions in the green industry were prominent at this year's conference. It was a pleasure to see start-ups in the automotive and transport sectors working on new solutions for the transport of mail, waste, and food.
In the printing, media, and food industries, new solutions in packaging production could be mentioned, where food safety and wholesomeness are considered, but also production methods and the calculation of the carbon footprint of packaging. As before, various new programs to simplify design work were prominent, for example in cartoon and/or script writing.
New ways of preparing vegan dishes were presented and guests got to taste a new egg white raw material. From Iceland, food companies at the experimental stage presented their ideas to investors with an emphasis on biotechnology. It is interesting to perceive the importance of connecting different industries in innovation and the collaboration of science and industry in innovation. Diversity creates more!
Innovation is diverse
In the construction and civil engineering sectors, a very prominent mainstream was the sustainable use of resources and solutions for companies to create new processes and efficiently measure the carbon footprint of projects.
Emphasis was also placed on smart solutions that increase our quality of life. A good example of such a solution is the Icelandic innovation company Treble Technologies, which has developed software for sound design and collaborates with many of the world's leading companies in the construction and automotive industries. Iðan Education Centre interviewed Finn Pind, the company's founder and CEO, during the year and learned about this solution.
The emphasis on innovation in Iðan's educational work will become more prominent in the new year. It is important to realise the importance of promoting innovation in industry and not be misled by the strong emphasis on high technology when talking about innovation. Innovation is diverse and is fundamentally about solving the problems and challenges we face. Industry Days 2023 will be dedicated to innovation, and many of the companies that presented their operations and ideas at SLUSH will be featured.
