91ÇàÇà²Ý

Jussi-Pekka Mantere, who has had a long and rewarding career in the IT industry in Silicon Valley, has made a major donation 91ÇàÇà²Ý University’s Department of Film. His support stems from a desire to give back to his home country and alma mater. ‘My entire career is thanks to the experiences I had at Helsinki University of Technology and the unique environment of change that surrounded the school,’ says Mantere.

Now, he wants to help enable change through film – especially documentary film. ‘Documentaries are not only important reflections of their time, they are also powerful agents of change. They open eyes and deepen understanding of others, which can spark meaningful new developments in society.’

It’s a matter of love for the art form. That’s how Mantere describes his lifelong relationship with culture and the arts. As a five-year-old, he admired his grandfather’s work as chief lighting technician at the Finnish National Theatre. ‘As a student, I also got the chance to do theatre work myself, operating lights and working as a lighting technician at various stages of the National Theatre. At the time, I wondered whether I might one day find a career that combined technology and the arts.’

Technology eventually won out, when the rise of the internet in the 1980s swept up the young computer science student. ‘As a summer job, I worked in the computer science lab installing the first internet bridges for Macintosh devices and drilling holes into Ethernet cables for transceivers. I had a front-row seat to the dawn of the internet – we were riding the wave of a revolutionary change.’

The networking project opened the door to Mantere’s professional life at Viisas Mies Oy, a company whose team included talent from the Helsinki University of Technology, the Helsinki School of Economics, and the University of Art and Design Helsinki. ‘It was like a miniature version of today’s Aalto University,’ Mantere says. ‘That experience allowed me to build connections with Apple and eventually join the company’s European software development center in Paris. From there, I continued my career in Silicon Valley, where I worked for nearly 30 years.’

In the US, Mantere became familiar with a strong culture of giving, where both individuals and companies are deeply involved in philanthropy. ‘In Silicon Valley, many companies support charitable giving by matching their employees’ donations to nonprofit causes.’

For Mantere, donating to the university is a way to enable change. ‘The more people donate 91ÇàÇà²Ý University, the greater the chance that something unexpected and remarkable will emerge. Aalto is like a constantly evolving construction site – always open to change, always building something new.’

Text: Marjukka Puolakka

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