Learning about yourself is not often prioritized in a school project. In Aalto LAB, the team has seen a possibility to grow. The LABbers have stated that they had learned about themselves, about their own background and values. As Henna said "One's own professionalism and personality becomes clearer when his field and know-how are viewed from another angle". They have learned to overcome their own challenges and experienced a different way of working. Some of the team members had more experience in working in teams, some had less, but the whole group learned about group dynamics during Aalto LAB. As the team was working without a clear guide (i.e. teacher) it demanded a different approach from each individual.

Many recognized the language barrier as a problem but learned ways to go around it. As Chen said visualizing the ideas makes them understandable for both the Finns and the Chinese. Finns are often seen as somewhat dull and boring but according to Chen this is not true at all: "I was quite impressed by the passion of my Finnish teammates and I got a lot inspiration from them".

When talked about goals for the LAB, the answers had three different aspects. One was, in Ryu's words "Learning how to learn". Another theme was making it real and concrete. Great ideas are just great ideas, but Aalto LAB wants to accomplish a concrete improvement in the world. The third aspect can easily be seen in the teams messages: getting to know amazing individuals from different backgrounds! Because of the people, Aalto LAB has truly been a "priceless experience"...

The whole Aalto LAB team believes that these weeks have given the members more than it is possible to understand at the moment. The team worked on the discovered challenges of Chongming Island by thorough and thoughtful observation. The end result was a bunch of creative ideas on how to make Chongming Island outside Shanghai a better place to live that ranged from a kids' park to the island's own brewery. In the vivid end presentation, the premises of ATDF were transformed into a simulation of Chongming Island. Very impressive indeed!

The first Aalto LAB completed with the collaboration of  Tongji University students and IDEO has set the standards quite high high. It will be interesting to see how the ideas presented by the team will develop in the future. The whole team can certainly be proud of the results of the project as well as themselves!

During 2011, IDBM (International Design Business Management) Double-Degree Master’s Programme will commence between Aalto University and Tongji University. IDBM programme has been ranked by BusinessWeek among the Top9 Best Design Programs in the world. A IDBM pilot will run in autumn 2010. Simultaneously first joint courses are planned to begin.

These few examples only show the beginning of what can be done together. Aalto-Tongji Design Factory is constantly looking for people, universities and companies interested in interdisciplinary cooperation. And furthermore, no idea is too far-flung for ATDF.  This is the perfect environment to try out ideas that cannot be tested anywhere else.

 ATDF team has been happy and proud to welcome among others Dr Pentti Arajärvi, the husband of President of the Republic of Finland and his delegation, Deputy Minister of Education Heljä Misukka, CEO of Kone Dr Matti Alahuhta, Finnish Business Council in Shanghai, Consul General of Finland Matti Heimonen and many other VIPs. Also students from both Aalto and Tongji have actively used the space. Aalto LAB projects which brought together students from both Aalto and Tongji to work on a mission to make the world a better place to live transformed ATDF to Chongming island in one day.

Aalto-Tongji Design Factory was opened on Thursday 25th. The ceremony was a great demonstration of the ATDF spirit that has just in few months time been created. Not only did both president Teeri and president Pei give a strong speech but they also assembled a table, painted a wall, gave a group hug etc. It was very evident that a life-long friendship between Aalto and Tongji and every person involved with the project has born.

In the evening of the opening day a World Design Capital 2012 party was organized at ATDF in collaboration with the Finnish Consulate in Shanghai, Finland at Expo and Music Export Finland.

During Wednesday and Thursday, Aalto LAB took over the inner courtyard of the Finland Pavilion Kirnu. After a weekend spent on the Chongming Island outside of Shanghai, the Labbers were loaded with data, ideas, inspiration and excitement. Thousands of people passed by the Labbers while they were writing ideas on post-it notes and placing them on the walls of Kirnu, discussing possibilities, analyzing findings and presenting ideas to each other. The five IDEO team members kept the phase on, guided the process and gave encouragement when needed. The unique IDEO design process has truly been introduced to the Labbers! The momentum in the whole Aalto LAB team was immense and it is just going on…now the Labbers are prototyping their ideas and getting ready for Mondays presentations! Check out what’s going at Lab at: http://shanghai.aalto.fi/blogging/ .

Aalto on Tracks arrived in Shanghai on Sunday morning. After a week’s trip through Russia and Mongolia, the 82 people participants in this student-based project were tired yet happy and above all SMILING! The group was greeted at ATDF by president Teeri with cheer after their trip. The Tracks team was excited to see how ATDF looks and feels like and it did seem like they liked what they saw. Aalto on Tracks members have been actively taking part in different events around Shanghai and the Expo and a number of excursions to companies such as Nokia Siemens Networks, Dumpling Restaurant Bike Tour, KONE and McKinsey have also been also on the agenda. The adventures of Aalto on Tracks can be followed at: http://aaltoontracks.com/

On Friday Aalto University and University of Helsinki hosted together as part of the Helsinki Higher Education Days a multidisciplinary seminar with a variety of themes all relating to the dream of Better City and Better World. The presentations one after the other were extremely interesting, the atmosphere was warm and friendly – new connections were born and not only between Chinese and Finnish Universities but also within the organizing Universities. Sometimes it is necessary to travel 9000 km to meet a colleague from your own institution! A thorough report of the seminar is up soon to the shanghai.aalto.fi –site.


 
Aalto in Shanghai team thanks everyone for their support and participation during this amazing week!


best,
Tuuli + team

 
More info and press images:

Aalto in Shanghai:
Tuuli Sotamaa, tuuli.sotamaa@aaltouniversity.fi, +358 50 3316727 , +86 18701935931

Aalto-Tongji Design Factory:
Viljami Lyytikäinen, viljami.lyytikainen@tkk.fi, +358 44 5724467,  +86 15021888672

The Aalto LAB team spent two days at the Finland Pavilion Kirnu. The days were spent both brainstorming and presenting ideas and concepts to the visitors of the Pavilion. The The ideas included such things as organic food, an activity park for kids, a tennis court and all kinds of activities to attract the people and activate the locals as well. An important factor in making the island more vivid the group recognized was creating an identity to the islanders. The ideas got positive response from Expo visitors and the respondents also brought some interesting new insights to the project! It was also said that the most interesting part of visiting the whole pavilion was the possibility to follow the works of Labbers'… not bad PR for Aalto, Tongji and IDEO either…

Currently, the team is taking over the space of ATDF. It is time for finalizing proposals, suggestions, presentation and documents. It is very exciting to see the group in action: lively discussions and exchange of ideas, collaborative teamwork and laughter are filling the space of ATDF. The group’s working methods follow the ideas presented by IDEO. The challenges in the island’s development into a sustainable, thriving community are discussed and tentative solutions for each challenge are presented. Another topic that the group discusses currently is the format of the final project documents. Quite many different viewpoints have been discussed and things have started falling into place.

The results of Aalto LAB Shanghai’s phase 1 will be presented on Monday, May 31st at 2-5 pm in the premises of ATDF. At the moment is seems like the format of the Labbers' presentation is going to be a very exciting and holistic experience that takes the ATDF space to use in a very efficient and innovative way. It is not going to be only another Powerpoint presentation…

The phase 2 of Aalto LAB Shanghai takes place in the turn of August and September.

Check out the latest Lab blogs!

Among the speakers is the chief designer of Shanghai World Expo WU Siegfried.  WU is one of the leading urban designer in China and has been involved in more than 30 major urban development and architectural projects such as Shangyang development strategy plan; Zhengzhou tourism strategy plan; Sunqiao modern agriculture zone plan; and the Yili city urban design plan; Chang Chun garden in Qingdao; Accor Hotel in Li Jiang;, Xingmin building, Shanghai; Ji Mo congress center in Qingdao; and the Shao Xing Si Qiao quarter. At the moment he leads the process of planning the No1 Field of Design and Innovation at the Yangpu District in Shanghai. Siegfried Wu is also Co-Chair of the International Steering Committee of World Planning Schools Congress (WPSC), permanent member of the UNESCO-UIA World Architectural Education Council, and former president of the Asia Planning schools Association (APSA) from 2003-2007.
Through the seminar both Aalto University and University of Helsinki wish to deepen the collaboration between strategic partners in China – with universities, companies and with the Chinese society.

The seminar is followed by a cocktail event.

List of speakers:
Vice Dean, Professor, Deyin GUO, Biotechnology, Wuhan University
Senior Researcher, D.A. Tuuli Mattelmäki, Design, Aalto University School of Art and Design
Professor, Director, Tomi Mäkelä, Medicine, Institute of Biotechnology, University of Helsinki
Professor, Reijo Sulonen, Transportation, Aalto University School of Science and Technology
Professor, Marko Turpeinen, Information Technology, Helsinki Institute for Information Technology
Vice Dean, Professor, Juha Voipio, Physiology, Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki
Dean, Professor, Siegfried WU, Urban Planning, Tongji University, College of Design & Innovation

More information of the speakers.

Yesterday, Aalto LAB entered the Finland’s Pavillion Kirnu armored with flap boards, pens and post-its and divided into smaller subteams. The theme of the day was to define what the biggest problems on the Chongming island were as perceived by the people that were under observation during weekend. The form of brainstorming in the given task was to define what are the factors the inhabitants of the island find concerning, what brings them joy and what are their general attitudes towards life through a free-form conversation within the small groups. IDEO gave the team a few rules to follow in the brainstorming process: only one conversation at the topic was allowed at a time, focus should remain the same throughout the conversation, judgment was deferred, generating wild ideas and building on others’ ideas was encouraged. Another aspect to be taken into account was being visual in the demos of end results.

The group was very successful in fulfilling these parameters! The brainstorming session was quite successful and many unforeseen ideas were generated to make Chongming island an even more comfortable place to live in. The problems that were recognized included, for example, the increasing average age of inhabitants, lack of job opportunities, the unused community center, lack of public transport, and various issues related to health. Divided in small groups, Aalto LAB came up with many creative solutions for these problems. One of the most interesting ones was to brand the island by its strengths such as calmness, clean food and fresh air and to generate pride in the inhabitants that way. Another very exciting idea was to bring more tourists as well as young inhabitants to the island by transforming the island into a so-called “love hub” that would combine eco-tourism as a way to make a living and a sustainable way of life that the inhabitants of the island would pursue. One group even invented the wild idea that the island could start brewing its own beer and start competing with the famous Chinese beer brand Tsingtao!

After a few hours of intensive brainstorming, the group called it a day. A photo shoot was organized to document the marvelous output the team had created during the day. The team was ready for another day in Kirnu to crystallize their ideas and test them on people!

The president of Aalto University, Tuula Teeri was also one of the speakers. In her speech, Teeri emphasized the importance and power of creativity and collaboration. She also stated that sharing information on cultures is as important as sharing knowledge, when it comes to international collaboration. She also briefly told the story of Aalto University to the audience and nicely introduced innovation for the first time during the event by mentioning it as a driving force within the whole society. In her speech, Teeri also recognized the inauguration of ATDF as an immensely significant event in the history of Sino-Finnish collaboration. Teeri closed her speech by stating that it is the peopleand their exchange of ideas that finally make the space. All in all, the speech was a very pleasant demonstration of Aalto University’s values and various functions and gave many insights for further discussion.

As the audience consisting of various stakeholders of ATDF gathered together in the premises of ATDF, Professor Yrjö Sotamaa and Dean Wu Siegfried welcomed all the guests to the event. The first surprise of the event followed. The president of Aalto University, Tuula Teeri and the president of Tongji University, Gang Pei were asked to compile a table for signing the collaboration contract between the universities. The task was almost as quickly completed as the implementation of the idea of ATDF!
 
After this, the formal signing of the contract followed and the collaboration between the two universities was sealed with great applause from the audience. In her speech President Teeri emphasized the importance of collaboration in making ATDF a success story and also underlined the importance of ATDF as the first collaboration contract of Aalto University. President Teeri also gave recognition to the hard-working Aalto in Shanghai team and their smiles that had lasted throughout the project. The whole Aalto in Shanghai team was invited on stage and their group hug portrayed the team’s warm, friendly spirit very well!

President Pei also mentioned collaboration as a key factor of success in today’s world. President Pei also encouraged the Chinese students to take a train to Helsinki in response to the Aalto on Tracks project that brought around 80 Finnish students to Shanghai to celebrate the opening of ATDF and to take part in the Shanghai Word Expo.

After President Pei, Consul General of Finland in Shanghai Matti Heimonen gave a speech about China’s importance to Finland as a business partner. The same theme was emphasized also by Pekka Korhonen of Kone Corporation in his speech. Korhonen also expressed his joy of all the possibilities the opening of ATDF creates for business, industry and science. Finally, the Programme Manager at Fudan Nordic Center Martin Bech welcomed ATDF to the Nordic community of Shanghai.

During the ceremony two first honorary membership certificates were handed out. The other of was given to Shi Yin, also know as the incredible Sam for his great work in doing the interior design of ATDF. The other certificate was handed for Professor Lou Yongji who has played a key-role through the whole ATDF process.
The official part of the celebrations were brought to end as the ATDF space was finalized by painting the last unpainted part of the ATDF wall. As “All You Need Is Love” by Beatles started playing, ATDF was officially ready for the various functions it was planned for. In the afternoon, an open doors event was organized in the facility and the evening continued with an opening party.
 
In addition to official celebrations the opening day also demonstrated the new ways of working and learning that are adapted to the Sino-Finnish Design Factory. In the Design Factory spirit, the aim is also to get people active and interested about the environment and what can be done there. The future is open for cooperation possibilities.

The evening party organized together with the World Design Capital 2012, Music Export Finland, Finpro and Finnish Consulate is just now about to start – some 300 people have so far gatherer together, the music is playing, food and drinks are served. The Aalto in Shanghai team calls the day off, takes a glass of sparkling and joins the party!

Aalto on Tracks is literally on tracks and moves steadily towards China. Yesterday the train stopped at Ulan Bataar, picked a new member up and is now continuing towards Beijing and arriving to Shanghai on Sunday morning. The first activity the travelers will face in Shanghai is a China-Finland (Tongji-Aalto) football match…let’s just hope the one-week-long train-ride hasn’t worn the Aalto team down… Something special will also be planned for the group for the Expo Finland Day held May 27th. The trip of Aalto on Tracks can be followed at: http://aaltoontracks.com/

The Aalto LAB started yesterday. The teams from Tongji and Aalto met each other for the first time and an immediate connection between the members was born, everyone eagerly waiting for the exploration of a new culture. The world famous deign and innovation company IDEO has set five amazing professionals from the fields of communication design, storytelling, human factor and interaction design to facilitate the project. The first encounter between the students and IDEO members was amazing; the intensity, commitment, passion and interest was really something unique. Today the students have started their trip to Chongming island to experience the rural life and stay with farmers for two days. The actual workshop starts on May 26th at the Finland Pavilion. Follow the labbers thoughts on http://shanghai.aalto.fi/blogging/

The Aalto-Tongji Design Factory ATDF is about to get ready to host the opening ceremony May 25th. The speed of the renovation has been mind blowing. A wall might change color while having quick lunch, the 5 cm dust layer on floor has vanished and instead there is a shining clean surface to walk on, TV-screens, PA-sets, screen and projectors seem to jump on the walls and ceilings just by themselves and the rooms that still few days ago were echoing of emptiness are now fully furnished…and the rooftop Sauna has already a frame and is now waiting for the absolute-sauna-professional Kalevi Ekman to arrive and finish the job… To get a hint of what’s going on at ATDF at the moment please flip through George’s fantastic images at Flickr


Next week will be filled with action and events. President Tuula Teeri arrives early Sunday morning and the rest of Aalto’s delegation will follow during the next few days. There are altogether 12 events during 7 days that Aalto is responsible of. We’ll be busy, but this is what we’ve been preparing for the last four months.



More info: 

Aalto in Shanghai:
Tuuli Sotamaa, tuuli.sotamaa@aaltouniversity.fi, +358 50 3316727 , +86 18701935931

Aalto-Tongji Design Factory:
Viljami Lyytikäinen, viljami.lyytikainen@tkk.fi, +358 44 5724467,  +86 15021888672
Aalto on Tracks:
Mikko Ikola, mikko.ikola@aaltoontracks.com +358 50 411 7282


The programme for the Opening Day is following:

11-13 Open Doors

14-15 Official Opening & Signing Ceremony (R.S.V.P needed)

15-18 Open Doors

18-19 Workshop presentations

During the morning and afternoon Open Doors, ATDF is open for public to come and experience the place first hand, according to your own schedule. During the afternoon Open Doors you can also observe ongoing workshop according to the ATDF principles of doing and having fun. The workshop presentations are also open for public.

The Official Opening and Signing Ceremony will be during 14:00-15:00, in which the agreement between the two universities will be signed of establishing the Sino-Finnish Centre.

For the Official Opening & Signing Ceremony, R.S.V.P is needed:

R.S.V.P by May 21st to viljami.lyytikainen@tkk.fi 

President Pei Gang of Tongji University and President Tuula Teeri of Aalto University will honor the Opening Ceremony with their presence.

Address:
Zhangwu Road 100, Yangpu District, Yangpu

If you like, you can find our position on a map though a stand-alone GPS transponder. That’s basically a small, orange box taped on a window facing south. It receives our location and sends it back through a communications satellite, and the locations are then plotted on Google Maps.

We also use a new “voice microblogging” service called Talky, which allows us to post short messages on the website with a phone call – it doesn’t require data network. Talky helps us to be more connected, but still requires us to have GSM connection, which is not available everywhere along the tracks, although a satellite phone would solve that as well. However, using Talky is a fun experiment, and everyone in the world can actually hear voices from the train in real time (good and bad).

You can find both the location map and the latest Talkys at www.aaltoontracks.com/talky

The trip starts with a light tour around Shanghai. The guides being the ever-so-great Emily Yang from Tongji and the almost-already-shanghaiese Anni Hapuoja from Aalto.

The team heads towards the island of Chongming on Thrusday morning and returns to Shai on Sunday. Workshop with IDEO officially starts the 26th at the Finland Pavilion and continues in different locations until the 31st.

Follow the Labbers at Blogging pages and find more information on Aalto LAB from the event pages

The progress of Aalto on Tracks can be followed on the project's website http://aaltoontracks.com . During the trip, the participants try to update blog texts, short status updates and pictures on the website. The multidisciplinary group of travelers take part in various workshops and cases. In Shanghai, Aalto on Tracks will be present in, for example, Aalto-Tongji Design Factory opening.

Aalto on Tracks is a project of the student union of Aalto University, Aalto-Tongji Design Factory and Aalto Entrepreneurship Society. The project is completed by volunteer work. The aim of Aalto on Tracks is to take Aalto-University, Finland and Finnish education out to the world and to provide multidisciplinary learning experiences to its participants. Above all, Aalto on Tracks is a showcase by students, their ideas, inspiration, motivation and capability to be active initiators in making the impossible possible.

The group will work hard to make the opening as successful as their nights out. The group is formed from the elite members, Viljami Lyytikäinen (Viltsu), Esa Santamäki (Esmi), Ville Taajamaa (Ville vaan) and George Atanassov (too many to put here).

Flickr gallery will be updated daily if internet restrictions don't work.

Link to gallery

Last week, Tuuli Sotamaa, Viljami Lyytikäinen & Esmi Santamäki from Aalto in Shanghai- team returned in subtropical China. They've had a hectic week; in addition to finalizing the renovation plans, hosting a number of visits and running around the city, a delegation of Finnish City Mayors held an important meeting with the leaders of Tongji University and visited the ATDF construction site. Also a construction site party was organized by Tongji students last Friday - some 200 flyers were distributed on along the roads towards the site, bringing a great number of smiling students as well assome ATDF Finnish friends to enjoy the evening. What a great start for the project!

More forces will be landing just in a few days: Ville Taajamaa & George Atanassov land to Shanghai on Wednesday morning and are followed by some girl power on Thursday when Anni Hapuoja and Mirtta Salonen will join the team.

In addition to the confirmed participants, some 15 companies have confirmed to participate in the event.

There are many groups of participants that are already working on the program of the trip, like TEDx, company case team, publications team, sports team and culture team. In addition to the program arranged by participants, there will also be an eReader research case, workshop cases by Espoo city (social media and online services, company workshop cases and a lot more on the train.

If you are still interested in participating in Aalto on Tracks, please contact Mikko Ikola (tel: +358 50 411 7182) for cancellation places. This trip is going to be awesome!

Participant list of Aalto on Tracks

Companies participating in Aalto on Tracks

During the past two weeks, the Aalto LAB Shanghai team has discussed a topic that is very contemporary: curbing consumption. During discussions on the topic, the team has realized that the task is quite a multifaceted one. To support the discussion the team has decided to do some exercises related to the subject.

When it comes to curbing consumption, the team discussion showed that limiting one's consumption is very subjective. To measure this, the members of the team agreed to test themselves by measuring food consumption, transportation methods and amount of generated waste for a few days and compare the results with their Chinese peers. The team also plans to use and refill big water tanks instead of small ones and measure, how many small water bottles need not be used.  These exercises are in accordance with reusing, recycling, renewing and reducing, which all are essential factors in sustainable development.

With the exercises the team aims for focusing on mapping personal strengths, different starting points and motives of its each member on a more personal level. It is definitely going to be an interesting journey into the team members’ differing principles and philosophies related to consumption and sustainability.

Markku Salimäki, Director of International Design Business Management-programme (IDBM, ranked among top9 design programmes in the world by businessweek, will present the programme and some case projects conducted with industry.

The lecture is open, and this invitation can be forwarded to interested parties. No R.S.V.P is needed.


Topics:
- IDBM-programme presentation
- the importance of design in business and management
- case projects done with industry


Speaker: Mr. Markku Salimäki
- Director of IDBM-programme in Aalto University
- Professor in Aalto University School of Economics

Time:
Tuesday 13.4.2010 14:00 - 16.00


Place:
Tongji University, Siping Road 1239
Multifunction building, class room 1603

This time we have an honored guest speaker from Finland. The Director of Aalto Design Factory & former Vice President of Helsinki University of Technology, Professor Kalevi Ekman, will bring the latest news from what is happening in Finland.

So, join us to:
- hear the latest news & greetings from Aalto Design Factory in Finland
- get up-date about the Aalto-Tongji Design Factory project status
- hear more about the Opening Ceremony on May 25th
- have fun, interact, enjoy food & drinks and join the first karaoke battle of Aalto-Tongji Design Factory

Place: Tongji University Main Campus, Siping Road 1239, Yifu-building, 2nd floor

Date: Wednesday 7th April 2010

Schedule:

17:30 - 18:00 Welcoming, mingling, drinks
18:00 - 18:15 Greetings from Aalto Design Factory in Helsinki: by Kalevi Ekman, Professor, Director of Aalto Design Factory in Helsinki, Former Vice President of Helsinki University of Technology
18:15 - 18:30 Up-date about Aalto-Tongji Design Factory: Viljami Lyytikäinen
18:30 -> Food, drinks, having fun, interacting and of course; karaoke

The evening was filled with fun, excitement and passion for developing something unique together. Interested visitors were also given the opportunity to try out famous Finnish chocolate and Salmiakki and comfortable Reino-shoes. Also, the battle of ping-pong on Nintendo Wii still remains undecided. Representatives from both countries gave their very best.

Check out pictures from the Opening Ceremony at:

Flickr Photo Stream

The opening event will consist of open doors, hands-on workshoping, official ceremonies and of course a party.

More info coming up!

During our visit in Shanghai so far, we have now confirmed the space where Aalto-Tongji Design Factory Shanghai will be established. The space we can use for the pilot phase has grown from 300m2 to 700m2. Tongji University has agreed to carry out a renovation in the building, which has commenced today.

During next week, we will work together in more detail about the spatial & interaction design of the forthcoming Aalto-Tongji Design Factory Shanghai

Remember to also check out pictures from Shanghai at:

Flickr Photo Stream

Yesterday we met with the Tongji University people involved in the project, and we are sure this will be a fruitful project for both parties.


Also, our visit can be followed through Flickr, check out: http://www.flickr.com/photos/48028395@N05/