Aalto University: Entrepreneurial buzz, just a click away – virtual tour and other top picks from the Aalto startup community

Aalto University launched the Virtual Campus Experience in February 2021. It quickly became popular not only with the primary target audience (prospective students, exchange students and faculty who are considering where to study or work) but also with our partners, alumni, and new students and staff.

The first thematic addition to the original tour is now live. The entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystem tour allows users to experience our university’s entrepreneurial buzz from anywhere.

One of the busiest entrepreneurial hubs in Europe
Aalto University is home to a thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem and culture, powered by our self-starting students and the university’s research and innovation hubs. Research ideas are commercialised in Aalto’s incubators and accelerators; students find unforeseeable pathways towards entrepreneurship.

‘Entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystem is one of the most popular themes that many university visitors are asking to be introduced to,’ says Anastasia McAvennie, Visitor Experience Specialist at Aalto University.

‘Producing the tour was truly a co-creative process – the highlight of the production was 360-photo shoots where we engaged a diverse bunch of our students, staff, and other community members.’

The tour can be viewed on a desktop or mobile device, and it can also be experienced via a VR headset. The virtual reality version of the tour is more straightforward than the other versions since the emphasis has been put on creating a truly immersive visual and aural experience.

The tour includes Startup Sauna (home to Kiuas, Aaltoes, Junction and Startuplifers), Design Factory, Aalto Ventures Program, A Grid and Aalto Startup Center. It is narrated by Aalto student Johannes Tervo, who is an active Jack-of-all-trades of all things entrepreneurial in the Aalto ecosystem.