Design Factory values and practices in creating ecosystems

In the EMVITET project, when developing Education 4.0 and education - the industry/business collaboration HAMK Design Factory  (HAMK DF) has played an important role in sharing knowledge and practices.

In one sentence HAMK DF is “an interdisciplinary product and service design and learning platform uniting students, teachers, researchers, and industry”.  It provides authentic physical, digital, and social learning environments for students, teachers, researchers and work-life partners aimed at solving real-life business challenges.

Both EMVITET managers and teachers visited the HAMK Design Factory in 2021. They learned about values and practices applied in the Design Factory for creating ecosystems.

The values guiding HAMK Design Factory are equality, inclusiveness and passion.

Equality is about equal treatment of people, no matter their rank, position or role in the organisation. Each person involved in the ecosystem should have equal opportunity to participate and interact with people. Inclusiveness takes a positive approach to differences between people and supports bringing all stakeholders together on a common digital platform for example. Inclusiveness also supports better visibility and transparency of activities, where no one is left out. Finally, passion for doing highlights the Can-Do attitude, where people take initiative and are passionate about doing things together.

Good practices for creating an ecosystem include:

* Talking to strangers

* Having an open mind and an open heart

* Being helpful

* Cultivating psychological safety

* Having an entrepreneurial mindset

As a teacher and a facilitator, how can you make these things to happen? What does they mean in practice with students and with work life partners?