Innovation

NAAVA’s founder and CEO, Aki Soudunsaari, was born in Lapland. He spent most of his childhood playing outside and breathing clean air. When Soudunsaari was a school teacher in his twenties, he got sick because of the bad indoor air quality in the school. That was the moment when he realized that many people suffer due to this issue and he wanted to change things. He noticed that bad indoor air quality is one of the largest environmental health risks nowadays as reported by the World Health Organization. Soudunsaari decided to bring natural air inside buildings because people spend most of their time inside. He wanted to create healthier and more inspirational workplaces where people can be happier.

According to Soudunsaari, NAAVA Green Walls acts on behalf of nature. The innovation is named after a particular lichen, which can survive only in the ground where is the cleanest air in the world. NAAVA’s mission is to bring nature inside and get humans in contact with the nature again. The vision is to have a billion people able to choose to breathe natural air with NAAVA every day, anywhere by 2025.

There are many things that NAAVA Green Walls improves to make a better world. The innovation promotes quality education as well as good health and well-being. Pure inside air helps individuals to focus on their work and studies better and increase their performance. Furthermore, happier and more creative work places lead to economic growth.

Inspiration

NAAVA’s founder and CEO, Aki Soudunsaari, was born in Lapland. He spent most of his childhood playing outside and breathing clean air. When Soudunsaari was a school teacher in his twenties, he got sick because of the bad indoor air quality in the school. That was the moment when he realized that many people suffer due to this issue and he wanted to change things. He noticed that bad indoor air quality is one of the largest environmental health risks nowadays as reported by the World Health Organization. Soudunsaari decided to bring natural air inside buildings because people spend most of their time inside. He wanted to create healthier and more inspirational workplaces where people can be happier.

Overall impact

NAAVA Green Walls have made indoor air quality better in many work places and universities. Indoor air quality is a problem for many companies and NAAVA Green Walls offers a solution for naturalizing indoor air. Short term effects of NAAVA include better cognitive performance during work days and better learning capacity for students. NAAVA has also long-term health effect, since long periods of exposure to impurities can cause variety of health issues.

Air purification power of NAAVA Green Walls have been established in scientific tests. VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland researched NAAVA with two volatile organic compounds (VOC) common in indoor air. NAAVA filtered 65% of VOCs with single pass. Other test using EU standard test environment showed 57% filtration capacity on average. Methyl ethyl ketone (MEK) used in both tests is a common impurity in indoor air that in small quantities causes respiratory and eye irritation. Both tests concluded that NAAVA’s biofiltration capacity is excellent.

Many architects also find NAAVA Green Walls to be excellent décor elements. With clever design NAAVA can be used in variety of spaces without expensive installations or remodeling of spaces. Unique design and technology have differentiated NAAVA from traditional indoor plants and air purifiers and therefore it could be seen as a trend setter in the biofiltration of indoor air.

Business benefit

The whole company was based around this innovation and it has employed over 40 people in three countries since its launch. NaturVention Oy is still in startup phase, but rapidly growing thanks to their successful innovation. Last year NaturVention Oy was also acknowledged as Great Place to Work.

NAAVA has raised attention of investors interested in sustainable businesses. When the importance of indoor air quality is truly recognized and the market of biofiltration expands, the real profits will be realized. Company has recently renewed their pricing model to leasing which lowers the volatility of cash flow and makes reusing NAAVA Green Walls easier after contract period ends.

At the moment, over 1000 NAAVA Green Walls are used in business and educational facilities. Because of NAAVA, many companies have increased their productivity and of course many university students have enjoyed the benefits of biofiltered indoor air. Use of artificial intelligence have made NAAVA almost self-sufficient and physical maintenance is rarely needed, which reduces operational costs. Advanced technology has been an important selling point, and many technology-minded companies have found NAAVA Green Walls particularly interesting.

Social and environmental benefit

NAAVA’s mission is to reconnect humanity with nature. Most people spend their days inside four walls, isolated from nature. People breath sterilized, and machine handled air which is, according to the World Health Organisation, our generations biggest health risks. According to Siniharju nowadays healthy lifestyle is a global trend and NAAVA believes high air quality is a big part of being healthy.

Studies have shown how clean air affect people’s health. Clean, healthy air affect positively for instance people’s brain performance and cognitive performance. Chemical free air helps people to performance better, longer and with higher results. For instance, NAAVA can help educational institutions, teachers and students, to stay healthy and achieve better results through higher cognitive performances. Based on these factors, NAAVA contributes at least SDG 3- Good health and well-being, SDG 4-Quality education and SDG 8-Decent work and economic growth.

Interview

Martti Siniharju, VP, Head of Global Operations