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Final projects for the innovation course presented at Design Factory

17.12.2010

On Tuesday 7th December 2010 at the Design Factory, the chief innovation activist, Research Manager Anssi Tuulenmäki, introduced the audience to the world of the final projects for the innovation course. The objectives of the course were to find new questions as well as to provide abilities to dream and build new meanings for various things. Spotting new questions provides one with a competitive advantage in the world where there is too much of everything. The foundation for new thinking is laid by the understanding that different lines of activities and practices are based, above all, on mental structures. These structures can be challenged in many different ways. Moreover, one requires an ability to apply theories to practice without any delay.

On innovation tour

All eight presentations of the inspiring seminar were very different from each other. The point of departure for the innovation tour was the topic of TIME. The time was revamped and projected to the future, to dreams and to coming across with fantasies of various kinds. The end result produced was Carpe Diem – at the right place and right time. The resulting seize-the-day, web-based future meeting place will be the instrument for concreting potential dreams.

The innovation tour continued with the topic of SHAPE, which sought for a new way to perceive organizations. The challenge is the slow change in thinking and attitudes and the costliness of these processes. DreamBoarding was created: the values and dreams of an enterprise can be found through shared experiences.

Charity from the knapsack of Father Xmas

One of the most interesting innovations was created around FATHER CHRISTMAS. The Mind 2010 group considered the matter in the way that was comprehensive and funny. The target group of this final project were 500 million people, all of whom believe in Father Christmas. The origins of Father Christmas are still unmistakably Finnish, and he is a tourist attraction. The knapsack of Father Christmas is the central factor in converting Father Christmas into a figure that connects nations and protects people and the world's forests. A story about Korvatunturi and forests of Lapland is created and taken in the knapsack around the world. The idea behind the Pay for Hope final project is to collect funds for development work.

Solution for entrepreneur's problems

HUMANTOOL seat is a new innovation, which the seminar group launched, at one go, to its orbit as a novel eradicator of back problems. The highflying presentation described back problems and absenteeism due to them as problems of unlucky entrepreneurs. Humantool, however, does away with all troubles and entrepreneur's problems. The presentation was an excellent launch for a new business. Also the designer of the Humantool seat thought that the presentation did justice to this work seat.

PuuFilosofia (Tree philosophy) and Tarinatalo (Story house) approached the "new business from trees to indoor spaces" (UPM by its Finnish initials) theme. PuuFilosofia brought up emotions, environment and recycling. The tree of future is a supermarket that sells, exchanges, rents and repairs. OmaPuu (Own tree) uses garden trees to produce articles desired. With new innovations, UPM gains prominence among customers. One of the representatives of the audience commented that the presentation made tree "robustly recognized".

Seminars to be reworked

The task of the SEMINAR group was to figure out how to make seminars more effective. The members of the seminar group were also involved with the planning of the innovation seminar. The participants had been provided with trailers and social networking beforehand. The event itself was interactive and made good use of dedicated spaces. Once the seminar was over, the recordings of its presentations were made available to all. In addition, there is a discussion forum on the topics of the seminar and a databank. In between the presentations, people got acquainted with their next seat neighbours with warm embraces at times.

The conclusions about the seminar were that strategic innovations are created by experimentation and by committing of errors as well as by learning of them. Apart from a good idea, many innovative implementation experiments, a lot of enthusiasm and daring are needed.

Text: Terhi Arvela
Photos: Stefania Passera

Further information about MIND:

Anu Heikkilä, +358 (0)505984962, anu.heikkila [at] tkk [dot] fi
Anssi Tuulenmäki, +358 (0)503819772, anssi.tuulenmaki [at] tkk [dot] fi

MIND is a cross-disciplinary research group at the Aalto University School of Science and Technology. It has strong links to the activities of Aalto's Design Factory. The innovation presentations of the groups will be published during week 49 at: www.mindspace.fi

The innovation course is a study course at Aalto University, and its presentations are from the course's closing seminar. Students from all Aalto University schools participated on the course. The students worked for one period, i.e., approximately five weeks, with a case given to them.