21 Apr 2010, Posted by Harvey Cheng in Guests from China, Innovations, 0 Comments

Design Factory

In the morning of March 8th, accompanied by Mr. Kimmo Heinonen, Innovation Development Manager of Culminatum Ltd Co., I visited and learned about the innovation centre of Aalto University called Design Factory. Director of the Design Factory Mr. Veijo Ilmavirta and Mr. Kalevi Ekman not only gave us a very thorough presentation, but also guided us on a tour through the whole design factory.

Aalto University was officially established on January 1, 2010, and it is a combination of three Finnish universities after their merger – Helsinki School of Economics, Helsinki University of Technology, and The University of Art and Design Helsinki.  The ambitious goal of the new university is to become one of the leading institutions in the world regarding research and innovation in its own specialized disciplines.

Design Factory is an interactive platform of product design and learning hub, which brings students, teachers, researchers and business people together.  Design Factory is an experimental platform of Aalto University, started in October 2008.  Another Design Factory, Aalto Tongji Design Factory is under establishment within the cooperation between Aalto University and Tongji University in China, and is planned to be started in March 2010.

An innovative city like Shenzhen should also strengthen cooperation with Aalto University in order to create a better innovation environment for innovators, providing concept generation and sharing the inspiration for innovative ideas.