Creaternity awarded three well-earned winners

During the Creaternity Gala dinner 18 March at Vetenskapens hus in Luleå, The Creaternity Award was awarded in three different categories: student, doctoral student and business. The awards went to Maria Holmström, Emelie Berglund and CEO Karin Bodin at Polarbrödsgruppen.

The Creaternity Award is awarded for contributions to an ecological, economic, and socially sustainable future. The recipient should be a student or a doctoral student at Luleå University or an enterprise in Northern Sweden. The award is a collaboration between the university and Hitachi Energy, Asea Brown Boveri (ABB) and IMI Supply chain solutions. This is the first time that it is awarded.

The Hitachi Energy Student Award

went to Maria Holmström, student at the Material Science & Engineering, project course:

“During the Autumn of 2022 (September – December) Maria worked on a project ‘Efficient design of sustainable glass fiber composite for advanced applications’, which is related to the GRADIENT project (project funded by VINNOVA within the M-ERA.Net program). Maria showed interest and motivation in the subject of development of new, advanced materials for next generation insulation materials. She was able to learn new material characterisation methods and performed series of experiments which delivered very useful results. Her initiative taking and dedication to work allowed her to generate results that are challenging to achieve and are very complementary for the research activities carried out within the group of Polymeric Composite Materials at Luleå University of Technology. These results are also highly valuable for Hitachi Energy – the industrial partner within the project.”

Maria Holmström says:

“The most important thing I learned in this project is the importance of being determined. Things may feel impossible in the moment but still you will do your very best because you are so fascinated by the issue you are working with."

The ABB Doctoral Student Award

went to Emilie Berglund, doctoral student in Electronic systems at Luleå University of Technology:

“ABB highly value the impact of the “Creaternity” initiative in the emerging transition to a sustainable industry in Sweden. We believe that research and innovation are the key for success in this journey. Electromagnetic interference, EMI, and electromagnetic compatibility, EMC, is extremely important and relevant in a society where the energy demand is increasing, and more and more power is delivered through power electronic devices. EMI/EMC plays a key role in ensuring high reliability, compliance with regulations, prevention of interference and protection from external interference.Hereof, The ABB Award is granted to a doctoral student who has conducted significant research in a critical area.”

Emelie Berglund says:

“Collaborating with ABB in this project gave me the oppurtunity to apply theory and to relate theory to real life problems. Collaboration creates an explosion of ideas.”

The IMI Supply Chain Solutions Business Award

goes to Polarbröd represented by Karin Bodin, CEO Polarbrödsgruppen:

“The winner of the IMI Supply Chain Solutions Business, for creating the most resilient supply chains, contributes to increase our degree of self-sufficiency both regionally and nationally and thus strengthen the society. With a demonstrated ability to act quickly and wisely in a crisis they are a role model for resilient and sustainable food production and distribution. They are also one of Sweden's most well-known brands and loved by millions of people.”

Karin Bodin says about her experiences with rebuilding Polarbröd:

“The most important thing I learned from this is how much we can achieve together if we only try. A crisis releases a lot of creativity and courage to try things we did not think possible."

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