By Tiina Sikanen, Group leader, Faculty of Pharmacy, UH
As the Helsinki Challenge idea accelerator program is soon approaching to its end, it is time to take the next and important step and proceed, literally, from Challenge to Implementation.
The idea accelerator program provided an excellent opportunity to cultivate the aims of the Generation Green initiative by facilitating multidisciplinary communication across the different sectors. The team also enjoyed insightful mentoring throughout the program, which helped us deepen the goals and collaborations nationally and internationally. We remain grateful for all supporters and everyone involved so far!
But this is just the beginning.
The Generation Green team is already a bit stronger thanks to our new mentors and new volunteers. But in order to reach a true system level change toward more sustainable development, everyone’s contribution is needed and significant! The team’s heart’s desire is to look into the future of “Generation Green” as a joint effort of local and global (pharmaceutical) communities. Who could take a better care of pharmaceuticals’ environmental responsibility, if not a pharmacy professional.
During the idea accelerator program the team gladly noted that all national stakeholders and interest groups do share the vision of the system change needed to implement green pharmacy acts to the full. It became very clear that even if the team’s primary goal is to update the pharmacy curricula in terms of environmental aspects (teaching and learning practices), it is equally important to actively promote discussion and new green practices among research and policymaking.
For the time being, the coordinating team prepares for the next steps by launching a regular series of meetings, called Generation Green club, taking place every first Thursday of the month, with varying theme, on Viikki campus. More information under the Upcoming events. These club meetings are open for anyone to attend and are intended as an open discussion forum for the Faculty personnel and students, collaborators and other parties involved. Welcome!
The team is also arranging a Green Pharmacy seminar on 1 February 2016 (main campus, UH) in order to promote interaction and discussion between the teachers, researchers and students of the Faculty and the different stakeholders of the pharmaceutical and environmental sectors. Save the date and stay tuned for more information!
But again, these are only the beginning.
As the team leader, I have been fortunate to meet a great number of people during the past ten months, who all have had the most brilliant ideas on how to improve the world from a pharmaceutical point of view, starting from improved wastewater treatment at local hotspots of pharmaceutical waste (hospitals, retirement homes etc.) and until design of new, biodegradable drugs and drug packaging. If all these individuals’ dreams become true, much is to happen in the coming years. The Generation Green team wholeheartedly wishes to support realization of such efforts!
And much has already been done! It is also time to thank the team members, who have not only contributed to the idea accelerator program, but also advanced the green pharmacy acts in their own fields and worked hard figuring out new ways how to promote environmentally friendly practices: The Generation Green symbol is already in use in part of the study materials at UH reminding the students that environmental responsibility should not be forgotten. Thanks to the FIP vice president Eeva Teräsalmi, the team has also enjoyed of a close cooperation with the International Pharmaceutical Federation and thus had a chance to interact in an international framework as well. It has been inspiring to learn that the global pharmaceutical community also shares the vision of the system change. We only need to find the ways to combine forces.
This is a good start!