HAMK Smart had a pleasure of meeting up with Dr. André Conti Silva from Feevale University during his visit in Finland this week. We had a great discussion with him when he popped in to check out our research unit.
Feevale University in Brazil is a strategic partner with HAMK. Dr. Silva works as a lecturer and a researcher of creative economy. He is visiting Finland to participate in IP Smart System -project which is a collaboration between Finland, Germany and Brazil and has been ongoing for five years. This year the main objective of IP Smart is designing robots for an upcoming robotics competition held in Finland next November. Feevale has participated in IP Smart System-projects every year by sending a lecturer to advise in the projects. Dr. Silva is here to support the project in terms of design thinking by emphasizing the user experience. He is visiting Finland for the first time. While the 60 degree temperature change came in shocking for him, he is amazed of how everything is so well organized in terms of Finnish social economy.
When Dr. Silva learned about his upcoming visit to Finland, one of his first things was contacting HAMK Smart and suggesting a meeting. HAMK Smart’s director Vesa Salminen and Research Manager Joni Kukkamäki visited Feevale last October, which left both ends curious about the possibilities of us working together. While Feevale focuses more on theoretical and scientific research, HAMK leans more towards applied research. Even so, we found that these two together can open up more broad opportunities – in the end, goals are the same.
– With these 2000 new ideas created in one afternoon, the impact of this meeting will probably be huge when I get back. Even though our cultures and societies are completely different, somehow the concerns are pretty much the same, says Dr. Silva.
Dr. Silva got a tour around campus and the research unit. One of the highlights was a meeting with HAMK Lead -team, where the digitalization and re-organizing education was discussed. In addition he got introductions about our cSchool-education in marketing for real-life companies, our upcoming Design Factory -concept and our AR/VR-solutions. The first step to continue with the new ideas is to start a communication platform in Slack, getting the new acquaintances connected and continue working together and starting first concrete projects as soon as possible!
– Our meeting in Brazil was fruitful and it was wonderful that a new meeting was arranged so soon. There is a real possibility for cooperation which supports the ambitions of both universities, says Kukkamäki.
