ECIV Matchmaking

1 May 2025 – 31 Aug 2029

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Laura Forsman

Viikki Food Design Factory (VFDF) Manager

University of Helsinki

Helsinki, Finland

2 profile visitsParticipants

I lead the VFDF at the University of Helsinki, which is an innovation ecosystem for science-based solutions driving the transition to sustainable food systems.

My organisation

University of Helsinki / UH The University of Helsinki is Finland’s largest and oldest academic institution. Since 1640, it has contributed to the establishment of a fair and equal society that is considered the best in the world according to a number of indicators. UH is an international academic community with more than 40,000 students and members of staff. It is a founding member of the League of European Research Universities (LERU) and among the leading multidisciplinary research universities in the world. The Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry is an expert in sustainable use of renewable natural resources both in Finland and worldwide. The faculty research covers agricultural and forest sciences, food and nutrition, microbiology, as well as consumer research, economics and management. Under its current umbrella theme for research – “sustainable bioproduction and food system” – it promotes the systems perspective to sustainability transition with the objective of integrating approaches from the natural sciences, engineering, economics and social sciences. The goal of research is to promote the sustainable production, use, and consumption of renewable natural resources both nationally and globally. UH is a strategic member of EIT-food KIC. The Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry participates, among other things, in HiLIFE and HELSUS -projects. The faculty values its good connections to food industry and has secured research funding from the EU, EIT Food, the Academy of Finland and Business Finland.
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About me

Laura Forsman leads the Viikki Food Design Factory (VFDF) at the University of Helsinki – an innovation ecosystem for science-based solutions driving the transition into sustainable food systems. She is a (food) systems thinker and doer, co-creation facilitator, and a seasoned business developer with experience from the food industry, customer insight consultancy, and RDI management in the university setting. 

VFDF resides at the faculty of agriculture and forestry at University of Helsinki's Viikki campus. It is an innovation ecosystem orchestrator for science-based food system innovations, with a network of over 150 Finnish and international agrifood actors (companies, startups, research institutes, investors, innovation ecosystems, regional actors). VFDF facilitates co-creation and co-design of food system innovations needed for developing and commercializing innovations delivering strong sustainability for food systems. The key themes we work with are circular solutions for food systems, agri data, local and urban food systems, and novel sustainable business models for food systems.

Social media

Skills

  • #BusinessModels #AgriData #UrbanLocalFoodSystems

Interests

  • #BusinessModels #AgriData #UrbanLocalFoodSystems

Additional questions

Areas of activity

Food systemsCircular business modelsIndustrial symbiosisBioeconomy

Region

FI-HELSINKI UUSIMAA

THEMATIC GROUPS INTEREST

TG-Boosting Circular Business ModelsTG-By-products in Circular Food SystemsTG- Product as a Service (PaaS)TG-Design out of wasteTG-Industrial symbiosis