The University of Turku and Wärtsilä Finland Oy have signed a strategic partnership agreement with the objective of advancing the diverse and sustained collaboration between the parties to strengthen sustainable well-being, competitiveness, and vitality through research, education, and societal interaction.
The signed agreement will create closer co-operation both in research and education between the University of Turku and Wärtsilä Finland Oy in the coming years.
– The University’s strategic partners are organisations with whom we have committed to sustained and forward-looking, multidisciplinary collaboration. We rejoice Wärtsilä’s commitment to university collaboration and our opportunity to engage in regional, national, and global collaboration with impact, says Rector of the University of Turku Jukka Kola.
– Wärtsilä wants to act as a trailblazer in low-carbon maritime and energy technology. Leading ecosystems that are in compliance with sustainable development requires collaboration with different stakeholders. Partnerships have a key role in the development of new innovations and business models. Collaboration with the University of Turku opens up new opportunities through traditional engineering sciences, but moreover, the University’s interdisciplinary nature brings us significant additional value in solving the challenges of future, says Managing Director of Wärtsilä Finland Hannu Mäntymaa.
Along with the partnership agreement, the partners are planning to launch joint research projects which aim to utilise the University’s multidisciplinary expertise as well as possible. The goal is to also increase the students’ professional life contacts through e.g. projects, visits, and internships.
– The shared objective of Wärtsilä and our University is to partner in sustained, multidisciplinary and multifaceted collaboration both in research and the education of future experts. The strategic partnership with a globally operating company also supports the internationality of our University, says Vice Rector Mika Hannula from the University of Turku.
The University of Turku has previously signed strategic partnership agreements with Meyer Turku shipyard, pharmaceutical company Bayer, and the City of Turku.