Spacent can help universities and colleges with:
1. Monetizing the unused or under-utilized campus space
Even before the pandemic, the global utilization rates of academic institutions had been less than 30%, which indicates that the full potential of these spaces is yet to be obtained. Meanwhile, there are more and more enterprises hoping for more flexible ways to work in addition to their homes and headquarters. Spacent can help universities bring vacant spaces available to corporate partners, and even employees of academic institutions, flexibly. Universities can benefit with external income for their otherwise under-performing facilities. Meanwhile, enterprise partners benefit from having access to the spaces as satellite workspaces, especially for campuses and employees located in commuting communities outside the traditional city centers.
2. Strengthening the engagement of corporate partners
Enabling corporate partners’ use part of the campus facilities means stronger partnerships without the effort of making long-term lease agreements and tenant improvements. The model also enables more enterprise-student interactions, which can lead to meaningful connections including employment leads. This can further improve the students’ campus experience, as they have more networking opportunities.
3. Reducing CO2 emissions per user
Real estate operations and construction account for the largest sector in global CO2 emissions, 38% in total (UN Environment Programme 2020). With increased utilization rates from enterprise partners workspace usage, it is possible to lower the environmental effects per user in the campuses and make the best from existing buildings. In the long run, utilizing existing spaces for office use can reduce the need for new construction, which prevents extra CO2 emissions from being formed in advance. Should the available campus spaces be closer than the enterprise employees’ offices, there is a cut in CO2 emissions due to shorter commutes the workers have to take to their workstations.
4. Combining learning environments
Spacent also has a unique algorithm for structuring school units (e.g. high schools) combining fixed location and space capacity for learning within campus areas. Spacent has been advising cities and universities in 10 high school projects how to efficiently combine learning environments of multiple organisations. Results have been 35 % operational cost savings, 60 % less investments and 40 lower CO2 emissions per student.
Campus spaces have the possibility of bringing academia and enterprises together, while making a meaningful contribution to addressing climate change challenges. We at Spacent can help universities to find their potential in new ways of thinking space usage and collaboration.
Spacent is partnering with a growing number of academic institutions with their space sharing and post-pandemic campus planning. Starting in 2015 at Finland’s Aalto University, the co-founders of Spacent developed a platform to help monetize under-utilized campus facilities, generating significant recurring income for the institution by engaging its corporate partners’ employees to occasionally use this space and positively interact with students. Spacent spun-off from the university as a global property technology company providing dynamic workspace solutions and has applied its successful model in several university campuses across the globe.