Are you an organized person who likes to get things done? Would you like to develop your skills and use them to tackle the greatest challenges of our time? VTT might be just the place for you – apply now for VTT Summer of Changemakers 2025 traineeships!

VTT is one of the leading applied research organisations in Europe. What unites us are curiosity, a passion for learning, and a purpose: to solve the biggest challenges of our time and turn them into sustainable growth and well-being. Our cross-disciplinary community of over 2300 brilliant minds from over 55 different nationalities is focused on creating impact through science-based innovation. Now, we are looking for passionate changemakers – you – to join us as summer trainees.

Our last summer's trainees rated their summer job experience at VTT 4.6/5 in Oikotie's Responsible Summer Job survey. Below are some excerpts from their feedback when asked what was the best part of their summer job:

“Great team, interesting tasks, enough responsibility, and opportunities to make an impact.”
“I got to know a lot of professionals from different fields with this summer job. So, networking is the best part.”
“Interesting projects, nice and helpful colleagues, work-life balance, and equal treatment with permanent colleagues.”

Do you want to be our next Accelerator Trainee in our NATO DIANA team, VTT LaunchPad?

As an Accelerator Trainee, in the Autumn of 2025, your key goal is to assist in the planning and coordination of NATO DIANA and related activities. Additionally, you support the broader VTT LaunchPad team in daily operative tasks. In this position, you will have an essential role in ensuring that our operations run smoothly and that our activities are at world class level.

DIANA stands for Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic. It is a support environment for innovative solutions on the civilian market to get implemented in the defence sector. You can read more about DIANA here: https://www.diana.nato.int/

The NATO DIANA team is a part of the VTT LaunchPad team. LaunchPad offers an internal incubation program that helps create ambitions, fundable startups based on VTT technologies. VTT creates a positive impact in society and industries by creating startups that accelerate renewal. VTT’s spinoff companies attract annually close to 10% of all startup funding attracted by Finnish startups. 

Read more here: VTT LaunchPad

What would your responsibilities as a include?

• Event planning and coordination together with VTT LaunchPad team, spin-off teams, other VTT stakeholders, and external service providers.
• Schedule planning, meeting and event arrangements internally.
• Supporting VTT LaunchPad team in daily operative tasks.
• Active marketing and communication on different channels with internal and external stakeholders.

The work demands physical presence at the VTT FutureHub in Espoo weekly. Some days per week can be done remotely. Please note the traineeship takes place from mid-August to mid-December.

Who we are looking for?

• Event planning and organizing skills.
• Good communication skills.
• Strong soft skills and easily approachable.
• Drive for assisting others at achieving greatness.
• Attention to detail.
• Interest in startups, innovation, accelerators and/or defence is a plus
• Fluent in written and spoken English.

As a person, we hope that you:

• Are a proactive team member and independent self-starter with a can-do and problem-solving attitude.
• Have good documentation and administration skills.
• Are curious and have an open mindset and willingness to try, learn and adapt.
• Are flexible and able to tolerate incompleteness

What would we offer you?

• Impactful work for the future. As a leading applied research organisation, we are on a mission to bring exponential hope to the world by joining together people, businesses, science and technology. We tackle the biggest challenges of our time – from climate change and resource sufficiency to industrial renewal and smart healthcare – and turn them into sustainable growth. Read more about our strategy – the path of exponential hope.
• Career opportunities, top-level mentors. At VTT, your skills are appreciated and supported with the opportunity to learn from the top experts in their field. You’ll get to discover our community of over 2300 experts representing more than 55 nationalities working across cutting-edge fields of science and technology.
• Meaningful projects, real responsibility. With us, you get to take on meaningful projects and create innovative scientific and technical solutions. We treat all employees as equals and give you real responsibility from the start. VTT is a caring employer that supports your growth and work–life balance and offers a range of well-being services.

What is like to work with us solving the biggest challenges of our time? Check from the video what kind of experiences Aymara, Daniil, Eric and Isabella had from their summer traineeships and what kind of change did they drive.

Apply now and join our community of brilliant minds!

Come, curious minds and clever changemakers! Prepare your CV and cover letter, and send in your application with your transcript of records via our recruitment system as soon as possible but at the latest by 2 February 2025. Let’s change the world for the better next summer.

All VTT Summer of Changemakers traineeships are paid, and the salary is determined based on study credits: for Master's students the monthly salary is between 2600€ and 2800€, and for Bachelor's students the monthly salary is between 2100€ and 2400€. The typical duration of traineeships is between 3 and 6 months, with start dates usually falling between March and June, however the length and the exact starting date can be discussed with the hiring team. 

Please read more of VTT Summer of Changemakers from here: https://www.vttresearch.com/en/summer-changemakers

Interested and want to hear more?

For further information, please contact Rasmus Basilier, rasmus.basilier@vtt.fi, +358 0504091504, best available for questions 13.1.2025 13:00-15:00 and 20.1.2025 13:00-15:00.

We will process applications as they come in, and fill in the position as soon as we find the right candidate. We will inform all applicants about the continuation of the process during February 2025. Most of the interview will be held in February-March, however they can be started already during the application period. 

We look forward to hearing from you!