1.4. Outcomes of radical creativity

In this chapter, we present some real-lifes stories of creative work

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‘How can we researchers give back to society?’
(Toward Radical Creativity Report, p. 9.) 

People who work at universities often cite social contribution as a strong motivation for their work. Researchers carry a responsibility to contribute to society with creative solutions that enable meaningful change.

Researchers accomplish radically creative outcomes when their findings are validated as powerful contributions to specific areas of society, such as the economy, education, government and politics, healthcare, social services, culture and arts, science, or technology. In this sub-chapter, we will tell stories of some creative science-based outcomes from Aalto University.  In this setting, creativity — or hopefully radically creativity — nearly always results from team work, enabled by individuals and through collaborations between different disciplines and cooperation with partner universities.

Satellite start-up

Finland’s first-ever satellite was developed by Aalto students in a course on space technology way back in 2010. Their work resulted in a start-up, ICEYE, that is now a pioneer in Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) technology for microsatellites, with offices in Finland, Poland, Luxembourg, Spain and the UK. Jaan Praks taught the course on space technology, and Rafal Modrzewski, currently the CEO of ICEYE, was one of the first students.

‘I must admit I was scared at times. After all, I was risking my own career in the process,’ Jaan says, reflecting back on when he and his students started building the first satellite and everyone around doubted them.

By January 2022, ICEYE had successfully launched its 16th SAR satellite into orbit, including the first satellite built, licensed and operated by ICEYE US. Watch an excerpt of the Radical Creatives movie and listen to Jaan and Rafal reflect on their radical creativity.

HERE THE PART IN THE RC MOVIE?????

First images of a black hole and its jet

Our second example of an outcome of radical creativity at Aalto involves peering deep into space.

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Cooperation between Aalto University and other observatories around the world, like the Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Max Planck Institute for Radio Observatory and Shanghai Astronomical Observatory resulted in a breakthrough — the first images of a black hole together with its jet.

Previously, astronomers had seen the black hole and the jet in separate images. The 14-meter dish at  Aalto’s Metsähovi Radio Observatory was one of five European stations collecting data for the new image.

‘There are not so many antennas capable of doing measurements at 3.5 mm wavelength, which makes the data gathered at Metsähovi valuable,’ said Senior Scientist Tuomas Savolainen, one of the co-authors of the resulting article, ‘A ring-like accretion structure in M87 connecting its black hole and jet’, published in Nature on April 27, 2023.

The image represents a significant leap in our understanding of black holes and their jets, showcasing the power of international collaboration and the creativity behind advanced astronomical techniques. It provides a more complete picture of the physical processes occurring near black holes and sets a new standard for observations in astrophysics.

Radical ceramics

Let’s come back from deep space and look at a radical effort to protect the Earth.

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Cconcrete is one of the biggest causes of pollution in the world. The Radical Ceramics Research Group, established at Aalto University in 2022, is trying to find new materials to replace traditional concrete.

Ville Repo is a doctoral researcher in the Radical Ceramics Research Group. In early 2023, he explored the potential of clay from Kainuu, eastern Finland, as a substitute for the cement used in concrete. He discovered that after heating the clay to 750° C and treating it with an alkaline solution, it could be used to make concrete with a strength of up to 74 megapascals, significantly stronger than regular concrete. To make traditional cement, limestone is heated to nearly twice the temperature, making the industry a major source of carbon emissions. Repo’s work is part of a broader effort to find less energy-intensive and more locally sourced alternatives to traditional cement.

The Radical Ceramic Research Group is combining diverse disciplines like arts, materials science, design, and civil engineering to find innovative solutions to this problem. They’re focusing on using natural materials like clay as geopolymers and alkali-activated materials, which can be a greener alternative to limestone-based types of cement. These geopolymers not only require less heat to produce but can also be made from local materials, reducing transportation emissions. The group’s research has shown promising results in creating geopolymers that don’t require high temperatures, using materials like raw Finnish clay and even recycled porcelain. This approach also opens possibilities for reusing waste materials, further reducing environmental impact. The group’s vision is a future where materials excavated at construction sites, like clay, are treated on-site and used in buildings, dramatically reducing waste and energy use.

A new way to think about economic models

What if companies measured their success not in short-term profit but in sustainability and resilience?

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Professor of Sustainability Management Minna Halme is taking another approach to protecting our planet. She’s spent most of her career thinking about why the focus in business is on maximizing shareholder profits and economic growth and how traditional indicators like GDP don’t capture information about people’s wellbeing. She asks:

‘What are we trying to do here? Are we trying to create a better economy for all — or most — people? Whose lives are we trying to improve when we sell more differently-packaged types of yoghurt or clothes that quickly become obsolete?’

Halme argues for a paradigm shift in the adoption of models that are based on less consumption, local production, and sustainable practices. This would ensure long-term ecological and societal resilience, she says. For instance, in the fashion industry, she recommends practices like durable clothing design.

The fast fashion industry has a huge impact on the environment due to its water consumption and high rates of consumption. Niinimäki et al. (2020) found that the fashion industry produces over 92 million tonnes of landfill waste per year. By 2030, that figure is expected to rise to 134 million tonnes.

Through her research, Halme is creating changes that the clothing industry could embrace, like the Shades of Green (SoG) instrument. SoG is designed to give consumers information to help them evaluate how sustainable a product is. How durable? How easily recyclable? What hazardous chemicals were used in its production?

Another pioneering approach to reduce fashion’s environmental cost is the  Ioncell-F technology developed by engineers, designers and textile professionals at Aalto University and the University of Helsinki. Aalto sees Ioncell as the textile of the future. Ioncell uses wood, recycled newspaper, cardboard and old cotton to make textiles, producing garments with less impact on the environment than cotton and viscose.

Jenni Haukio, then Finland’s First Lady, wore a student-designed Ioncell gown at the country’s Independence Day Gala in 2018. The gown was designed by fashion design student Emma Saarnio and textile design student Helmi Liikanen and produced with Ioncell technology. Professor Pirjo Kääriäinen supervised the design and production of the dress. Helmi explained to Yle:

‘I wanted to use Ioncell material in an elegant and festive way. I designed the weave to have a structural, living surface, which highlights the unique material. This project really brings tradition and innovation together.’

Fixing the human brain

The next discovery takes us further inward, with techniques to study and take care of the human brain.

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In the photo below, Professor Risto Ilmoniemi, Research Fellow Victor Souza and Doctoral Researcher Ana Maria Soto de la Cruz showcase their new transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) device. They work at the Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering at Aalto University.

Treating brain issues like depression and chronic pain is challenging with existing technologies. TMS technology shows promise, but it’s still in the early stage of development. At the moment, using the technique requires expert human operators and takes lots of time, which makes it expensive — and only relatively simple stimulation patterns are possible.

Ilmoniemi and his team are working on advanced devices that can stimulate different parts of the brain simultaneously or in rapid sequence. These devices use smart algorithms that adapt to the brain’s activity in real time. This technology could make TMS treatments more effective and perhaps even useful for a variety of other conditions. They also make the devices easy enough to use that they don’t always need to be operated by a specialist, so the treatments could be available more widely and affordably.

Ilmoniemi dreams that one day TMS could be used worldwide and even in people’s homes.

Where do you feel love?

How many types of love have you experienced so far? Where in your body did you feel each type?

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The fifth example of an outcome of creativity in this sub-chapter is research about where we feel love.

This questions intrigued a group of researchers. Philosopher-researcher and scriptwriter-author Pärttyli Rinne and Professor Mikko Sams co-initiated a research project in which they traced a map of love on the human body. Doctoral Researcher Mikke Tavast analyzed the data. Researcher Enrico Glerean developed the research methods.

What came out of this teamwork? You might be surprised to hear that they found 27 types of love, described in their paper, “Body maps of love”, published in Philosophical Psychology (Rinne et al., 2023). Yes, 27 types of love!

‘I don’t think there is a single definition of love,’ said Pärttyli in an interview. ‘But love, for example, enables and creates new connections.’

Why is this research an instance of radical creativity? Previous experimental research on emotions studied love as a singular emotion. But this research shows that the concept of love is a continuum from weaker (e.g., love for a stranger) to a stronger (e.g., parental love, romantic love, love for life). According to the paper, all of the types of love were felt strongly in the head, while compassionate types of love spread to the chest, and the strongest types of love were felt all over.

To sum up, Rinne et al. (2023) provide a nuanced view of love, challenging the notion of love as a singular emotion and highlighting its multi-faceted nature.

In this sub-chapter, we introduced six outcomes of radical creativity achieved at Aalto University.

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Let’s list them once more:

1. A microsatellite built by Aalto students during a course on space technology in 2010, employing SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) technology.
2. Capturing an image of a black hole and its jet, thanks to measurement data gathered by the 14-meter dish of the Aalto University Metsähovi Radio Observatory.
3. Professor Minna Halme’s argument for a paradigm shift towards thinking of success in terms of long-term resilience and sustainability.
4. The focus of the Radical Ceramics Research Group on using natural materials like clay as a greener alternative to limestone-based types of cement.
5. The efforts of Professor Risto Ilmoniemi’s research team to develop transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) devices that could one day be used not only in hospitals but also in people’s homes.
6. Mapping different types of love in the body and showing the multi-faceted nature of love as a continuum of feelings and sensations, challenging the notion that it’s a singular emotion.

For this case study, reflect on these six outcomes of creativity we’ve read about. Please use the figure below as a guide.

References

Björklund, T.,Eriksson, V., Feng, X., Klenner, Niko, Kuukka, A., & van der Marel, F., (2022). Toward Radical Creativity Report Available at: https://designfactory.aalto.fi/creatnet/ 

Lu, RS., Asada, K., Krichbaum, T.P. et al., (2023). A ring-like accretion structure in M87 connecting its black hole and jet. Nature 616, 686–690. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-05843-w

Niinimäki, K., Peters, G., Dahlbo, H. et al., (2020). The environmental price of fast fashion. Nat Rev Earth Environ 1, 189–200 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-020-0039-9

Pärttyli Rinne, Mikke Tavast, Enrico Glerean & Mikko Sams, (2023). Body maps of loves, Philosophical Psychology, DOI: 10.1080/09515089.2023.2252464