Ilkka Paananen and Niklas Zennström join the jury for The Bank of Åland’s Baltic Sea Project

Press release 
9.12.2016

Ilkka Paananen and Niklas Zennström join the jury for The Bank of Åland’s Baltic Sea Project

Ilkka Paananen, CEO for the gaming company Supercell, joins the Baltic Sea Project’s jury for digital innovations. Skype co-founder Niklas Zennström joined the jury earlier this autumn. This year, the Baltic Sea Project provides a total of 400.000 euros in funding for projects that help the Baltic Sea. The project also launches a new category for digital innovations.

Ilkka Paananen joins the expert jury for The Bank of Åland’s Baltic Sea Project. The Bank of Åland has funded projects that support a cleaner Baltic Sea since 1997, and the Baltic Sea Project now challenges the public for the first time to participate in the environmental efforts through digital innovations. The Bank of Åland recently launched the Åland Index, a digital tool that measures the environmental impact of one’s purchases.

- Environmental protection is so much more than just regulation and technical solutions. Anyone can use their own expertise to share ideas to protect the Baltic Sea. Only the sky is the limit when it comes to digital innovations, and it is an honour to have such a pioneers as Ilkka Paananen and Niklas Zennström with us, Anne-Maria Salonius, Director for The Bank of Åland, Finland and chair for the Baltic Sea Project jury says.

Ilkka Paananen will evaluate project ideas with other jury members, such as Skype co-founder Niklas Zennström. Paananen grew up by the coast, and a cleaner Baltic Sea is a dear issue for him.

- The Baltic Sea is in critical condition, but there is always hope. We need new ideas for environmental protection, and grand visions can bring great results, Ilkka Paananensays.

- Today, we have tremendous opportunities to use technology to solve many of the problems that we have long known. This region has the capacity to be world leader in responsible, innovative solutions to challenges in water quality. For that to happen, we need to join forces with others, and this award is a great platform to do that, Niklas Zennström says.

Video interview with Niklas Zennström

For further information, please contact:

Anne-Maria Salonius, director, The Bank of Åland, Finland. Phone +358 40 733 1106

Barbara Jacksson, director, Race for the Baltic, Phone + 46 73 850 3358 barbara@raceforthebaltic.com

About The Baltic Sea Project Since 1997 the Bank of Åland has enabled their customers to contribute to a more sustainable world through their savings. By placing your savings in the bank’s environmental account, the bank donates the equivalent of 0.2 percent of the deposits of its own funds. Since its inception, more than €1 300 000 has been donated to promote environmental activities and projects. The Baltic Sea Project works to help create a healthier Baltic Sea, both by funding good ideas and by raising public awareness about the state of the Baltic Sea. http://www.balticseaproject.org/en

About Bank of Åland The Bank of Åland is a bank with strong customer relationships and personal service. The Bank has extensive financial investment expertise and at the same time can offer good financing services. The commercial bank was founded in 1919 and has been listed on the Nasdaq Helsinki Oy (Helsinki Stock Exchange) since 1942. The Bank of Åland’s Head Office is in Mariehamn. The Bank has five offices in the Åland Islands, five offices elsewhere in Finland and three offices in Sweden. A total of three subsidiaries, whose operations are connected in various ways to banking, belong to the Bank of Åland Group. https://www.alandsbanken.com/