18.5.2020

ÅAU launches podcast

What does Åbo Akademi University’s alumni, students, teachers and researchers think about being entrepreneurial? The first season of Åbo Akademi University’s new podcast is called “ASAcast”, and focuses on entrepreneurship and work life competences. The podcast is launched on 18 May 2020.

ASAcast was produced in the ASA building, which is now the home of the Faculty of Social Sciences, Business and Economics. Previously, a company active in the radio and TV industry, ASA radio Oy, had its factory in the same building.

“When we planned the podcast and chose its name, we wanted to highlight the history of the building”, says Johan Ekblom, who is hosting the majority of the podcasts.

Ekblom is also working as project assistant at the School of Business & Economics, especially in the StartupÅbo team. The team supports entrepreneurship among students and aids teachers in integrating entrepreneurship in their courses and teaching.

“We met with people close to ÅAU in the eight podcast episodes. We’ve talked to alumni who have established their own businesses, undergraduates working entrepreneurially already while studying, teachers and university management”, says Anna-Greta Nyström, team leader of StartupÅbo and senior lecturer in international marketing.

“The team wanted to bring forth alumni, students, teachers and researchers and what they think about being entrepreneurial, what it means, how it is visible. Foremost, we wanted to hear their story on how they went about and how they reached the point in life where they are right now. We also asked their thoughts on work life competences and what our students should invest in, in order to continue being attractive on the job market”.

The podcast is launched during the webinar “Entrepreneurship at the university”, a co-operation between ÅAU, University of Turku, the Study in Turku network, and Turku Science Park. The webinar (in Finnish) can be found here. It includes keynotes by Mia Kemppaala (Uleåborgs universitet) on the development of the Polar Bear Pitching concept into an international event, and Mikko Järvilehto (Ultrahack) on hackathons as learning and innovation platforms.

The ASAcast is accessible through the most common podcast platforms, for instance Spotify, as soon as it has been processed. You can listen to it right away on Anchor.fm.

Additional information:
Johan Ekblom
Project assistant at StartupÅbo
E-mail: johan.ekblom@abo.fi