In the famed THE and QS University rankings, Eindhoven is still ahead of Aalto, but figures don't tell the full story. Last week members of the innoSpace team flew to Helsinki to take a look at what our Finnish friends are doing. And it's pretty impressive.

First off, Aalto University is the founder of the renowned Design Factory. This is the place on campus where interdisciplinary teams of students work on solutions to real-life challenges (sounds familiar, right?). What's amazing about this design factory is that the successful groups (comprising students of technology, design and business) are totally encouraged to take their idea further in a startup.

Taking your startup to the sauna

The place they do this is a sauna. By which we mean a Startup Sauna . Here, students receive guidance as well as a slice of funding so that they can develop their idea into a business venture. And all this happens without anyone else getting a stake in the company, which tends to happen when accelerators or incubators get involved.

When the need for more financing arises, the startups don't need to look far for it. Last week Helsinki hosted Slush, the world's largest startup event, geared entirely to connecting 2,600 startups with more than 1,500 investors. How's that for good organization?

Another thing those Finns have got sorted is that it's not only the students who are embracing multidisciplinary working. Researchers, too, are in touch with one another. Take this example, an artist and a chemistry hit it off and went on to launch ChemArts. Making use of the properties of cellulose (in lay terms: wood) a diverse range of applications is being developed. All with the aim of taking a responsible approach to consumption and production, and ceasing our dependence on plastics.

Things occasionally go wrong in Finland, of course they do. Lots of students don't show up at the Design Factory and many initiatives run on separate tracks, unaware of each other's existence. There are more than enough lessons for us to learn for our own innoSpace. Speaking of which, there's been plenty going on here this past week.

New teams, new opportunities

Two new teams have taken up residence! Ares Analytics will be applying a non-invasive approach to predict the buildup of lactic acid in athletes' muscles. And GoPublic will be using sensors to chart all the public spaces and workplaces in Eindhoven in an effort to entice people out of their homes and into the public space.

Are you feeling utterly inspired and ready to develop a cool product together with students from other departments? Then get in touch with Jeroen Bleker. He is currently busy setting up Challenge-Driven Bachelor Final Projects in multidisciplinary teams. And to everyone else who wants to do cool stuff but isn't a third-year student: welcome! Who knows, perhaps we'll see you soon in innoSpace!

Students Tom Selten (Innovation Sciences) and Bas Verkaik (Mechanical Engineering) are very much involved with the TU/e innovation Space. They will be blogging about what's really going on within the four walls of the Gaslab, where the hotspot of innovation is located.