
Smart & Lean
Our work helps build capacity and enhance sustainable Operational Excellence in organisations, networks and systems via practice-oriented and technology-based experiments toward innovation
Experiments Toward Capacity Development and Innovation
Innovation
Smart & Lean creates innovative solutions for practice-oriented challenges that improve real-life processes and value chains. We apply research and innovation methodologies that are based in data and evidence, are practical and are rooted in Lean and Lean Six Sigma principles.
Capacity Development
Based on Continuous Improvement (CI), Lean, Lean Six Sigma and Harada methods, Smart & Lean aims to bring together people with different backgrounds and from a range of disciplines to form teams around a problem or an idea to collaboratively learn, solve problems and develop ideas.
“If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”
Current projects

Horizon 2020 – PoliRural
The PoliRural project aims to explore and pilot text mining, innovation hub and system dynamics that make rural areas more attractive living and working environments by supporting political decision-making in 12 pilot areas that includes the Häme area in Finland, covering both Kanta- and Päijät-Häme regions.
Project timeframe; June, 2019 – September, 2022.

Horizon 2020 – CITIES2030
The CITIES2030 vision is to connect short food supply chains to bring together partners representing consumers, strategic/complementary industries, the civil society, promising start-ups and enterprises, innovators and visionary thinkers and leading universities and research across the vast diversity of disciplines addressing CRFS, including food science, social science and big data.

SmartAfriHub & INSPIRE Hackathons
- OpenSpring INSPIRE Hackathon 2021
- COVID-19 INSPIRE Hackathon 2020
- Kampala INSPIRE Hackathon 2019
- Nairobi INSPIRE Hackathon 2019

Blue Wings Composting
Blue Wing composting project tests larvae composting and explores possibilities of green industry by combining insect economy and recycling. The Blue Wing Composting project is part of Lahti European Green Capital 2021 and the project is carried out in co-operation with several stakeholders.
Project timeframe: June, 2020 – November, 2020.

Senior Citizen Healthcare Service Quality
The purpose is to create a free and easily-used online learning environment for caseworkers in elderly homes, to increase their proficiency, expertise and customer satisfaction in services
Project timeframe: June, 2019 – December 2021