Heikki Ihasalo will become a part-time Professor of Practice at Aalto University, focusing on the area of ”Smart building technologies and services”. Mika Virkki will take over Ihasalo’s current duties as group manager as of 1 August and Heikki will continue to work for Granlund as a senior consultant, focusing on Big Data and smart solutions for properties.
Ihasalo’s new duties as a university professor are considered to promote collaboration between the university and businesses. Ihasalo’s future tasks will include both theory and practice, as his duties as an Aalto professor will involve analysing development trends in the technology and property sectors over the long term. He will also retain a strong connection with practical matters thanks to his duties at Granlund. Ihasalo will provide the university with a network to companies and modern design challenges. Collaboration with universities via employees is nothing new for Granlund Oy – we employ several doctoral students and holders of doctoral degrees.
”There has been a very positive approach to this, right up to senior management. It is great to work for a company that invests in research and development and to see that business and research can be combined,” says Ihasalo.
