The University of Helsinki is Finland’s largest and oldest university and an innovative centre of science and thinking. It is one of the best multidisciplinary HEI in the world, consistently ranking within the top 30 universities in Europe, and 82nd globally (2021 Shanghai list). The University consists of 11 Faculties located in 4 campuses, each constituting a major hub for science and innovation and gathering in total 40,000 students and 8,100 employees. The Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry and the Faculty of Pharmacy take part in 4InnoPipe pilot project.

The University is a member of UNA Europa and is supported by diverse innovation and entrepreneurship units and teams, through its newly established InnoTeam and Helsinki Innovation Services for technology transfer activities. The University has recently received over 1M euro in funding from the City of Helsinki to establish a campus based incubator, as well as the development of an innovation platform. Furthermore, the regional innovation ecosystem is made-up of various key players, that include Terkko Health Hub, SPARK Finland and Health Incubator Helsinki. The newly established national centre for drug discovery and development as well as the recently launched Innovestor Finnish venture capitalist firm will provide new actors to interact within the regional innovation ecosystem. The University of Helsinki is a highly capable coordinator of this project, with extensive experience of EU and EIT funded projects coordination. It has been a partner in several EIT KICs since the launch of the program: EIT Climate (2018-2021), EIT Food since 2018 and EIT Digital since 2011. Its researchers have been granted more than 80 ERC grants, which demonstrates its scientific excellence and the quality of its support services. It will be leading WP1, 2 and 8.