The Lab

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267992

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NEW EUROPEAN BAUHAUS RISING STARS : concepts or ideas submitted by young talents (aged 30 or less)

Project title

The Lab

Full concept/idea title

Description

Science, engineering, design and culture. The Lab aims to teach students, the future leaders of our world, the importance of incorporating sustainability to all aspects of innovation. It also provides a real platform to do so, in the form of organizing truly impactful projects with European companies. The first pilot includes participants from 14 different nationalities investigating the food industry by 2030. 

Where is your concept/idea being developed or intended to be implemented in the EU?

Please provide a summary of your concept/ idea

It all starts with a challenge. Any company that has a need for innovation, development or problem solving can submit their challenge to The Lab.   The Lab is an innovation cycle program which enables students and professionals to conduct research work and innovate together with a client company. The first pilot project (See figure 2.) is going to be conducted and launched during the fall of 2021 together in collaboration with one of the biggest, global, and ambitious Finnish companies - Neste.   The Lab offers an interesting innovation methodology with the opportunity to work with people from different backgrounds and nationalities, and to gain inspiring and important project working experience while solving meaningful challenges. The Lab is managed by project managers, but the actual innovation work is carried out by students and professionals who are recruited or selected to take part in the project cycles.   The first The Lab pilot is carried out in three cycles, where the first one consists of information collection and research - recruited researchers will attend remote events around the pilot theme, dig through various data bases of previous research material, and interview activists and companies about the future of food. The second cycle is the solution phase where the conclusion will be formed – understanding the challenge in the research cycle creates a base for a realistic solution models evaluated by professionals. In the last phase, potential solutions are reviewed and analyzed - cultural aspects are taken into consideration, so that the solution may be applied not only in theory but in real life. The Lab project ends with a comprehensive report presented to the client. In the end, the company will get a comprehensive analysis of the problem in addition to truly impactful solution models.

Please give information about the key objectives of your concept/idea in terms of sustainability and how these would be met

The Lab aims to teach students, the future leaders of our world, the importance of incorporating sustainability to all aspects of innovation and provides a real platform to do so, in the form of organizing truly impactful projects with European companies. The first pilot program is going to be carried out with multinational biofuel company (Neste), wanting to expand and regenerate their business in various industries with a sustainable focus. One of them being food production, which is the topic of the pilot.  Interdisciplinary groups of students and professionals are guided throughout the creative innovation process “The Lab Cycle” (Figure 3.). Vision of green, positive and sustainable life in the future works as a fuel throughout the whole learning process. The goal of The Lab is not only to innovate and develop sustainable solutions but to specifically design them to fit the company’s needs in order for them to be adopted instead of remaining at the idea level, which is known to be the unfortunate outcome of many innovation projects.   As an end result of The Lab, these solution models, together with sustainability goals are written to the final report together with implementation steps and cultural aspects for the client company to use. The real added value that is produced with The Lab method consists of innovative contemporary solutions and perspectives on the way towards functioning, sustainable business models. 

Please give information about the key objectives of your concept/idea in terms of aesthetics and quality of experience beyond functionality and how these would be met

All stakeholders in The Lab, including students, professionals and client company step into a figurative laboratory, put their lab coats on and enter into a space of collaborative innovation.   A company in need for new innovations, visions, and ideas comes to the Lab for revolutionary solutions. While working collaboratively with The Lab Core Team, a challenge is created. The needs of the company are met by proposing the challenge to the Labs network of future leaders and researchers who have the core values of growing a more sustainable and inclusive driven future.   By strategically capitalizing on the existing wealth of knowledge, experience and capacities of the company, the Core and Project Team works in adherence to grow the practices and values of the client to provide solutions based on the Green Transition. The Client company is continuously kept up to date throughout the four-stage cycle and consulted about the solutions progress and adaptability.  The Project teams, the most value asset of the project, are recruited by The Lab Core Team from surrounding communities and a diverse range of degree programs and fields to work on the challenge. After assessing the team, they are split into three categories based on their interests and best qualities: researchers, management and innovation teams. The Lab’s objective is to provide the Project Team real life experience working on innovative projects for real clients, while focusing on and making decisions that will impact the future. The Project team workers have an opportunity to gain study credits from their university courses in accordance with their curricula or through extra-curricular innovation projects.   Core team (see figure 4.),bridges the gap between the Company and the Project Team. The goals include; coordinating, consulting and mentoring with the Client Company and Project Team.

Please give information about the key objectives of your concept/idea in terms of inclusion and how these would be been met

The Lab’s innovation cycle has welcomed all people regardless of their abilities or disabilities, nationality, location, minorities, and they have all had the same right to be respected as valuable team members. As an example of the successful recruiting process for the research and project management teams, The Lab has 14 different nationalities currently participating in the pilot run. 14 out of 17 people in The Lab pilot team are women.  The Lab enables university students, professionals and companies from different backgrounds, study or professional fields and nationalities to unite as one team and collaborate in innovative working practices.   All coordinating, management and project working is communicated in English. For this reason, the project creates several opportunities for foreign students and professionals to gain experience in project working in Nordic manners and values. This experience is anticipated to open doors for any participants and project workers for sustainable employment status in the Nordic countries with, for example, experience, diplomas and scholarships.  The Lab also introduces freelancer-working across industries by educating about the local and supporting values for entrepreneurship.   The Lab is coordinated from Finland but joining the project does not require living in Finland, since remote working tools and manners allow new projects of The Lab to expand to other countries and continents. Partnerships, universities and collaborations from clients to project working teams and professionals have direct access for joining and recruiting each cycle online. The pilot team (currently 17 people) and weekly meetings are fully managed online with weekly checklists and briefs.  

Please explain the innovative character of your concept/ idea

The unique feature of The Lab is the ability to unite fresh and innovative perspectives from young professionals with corporations' existing wealth of knowledge, experience and capacities to move towards a more sustainable Europe. The Lab Innovation Cycle consists of 4 phases containing highly productive innovation tools combined with modern interdisciplinary co-working methods, such as incorporating the art of expression into the design of a product or service.  The Lab concept for creative innovation was developed over the last two years to fill the existing void of co-development between creative innovators, professionals, students and companies with a challenge or need to shift towards more sustainable operation.  When developing a solution to the client company’s challenges, it can be assured that all aspects of the creative process have been covered. This way participants in The Lab, such as circular business students, designers, artists or college professors have the opportunity to not only learn and share their knowledge, but to learn truly useful working methods that produce outcomes that meet the customer's sustainability goals, and it has been formulated to maximize the success of the implementation from the beginning.  Any company facing a challenge, need for innovation or development can submit their challenge to The Lab. Once accepted, a structured pathway for co-working is developed and participants are recruited through The Labs integrated network within universities. Participants and community members are brought together and orientated about the challenge. The challenge is then broken into particles consumed by four cycles: science, engineering, design and culture. Each cycle produces an end result, which works as a catalyst for the next phase. It starts with understanding the challenge and ends with implementation of the solution.   Please see the four phases of The Lab (Figure 3.) 

Please detail the plans you have for the further development, promotion and/or implementation of your concept/idea, with a particular attention to the initiatives to be taken before May 2022

First pilot project of The Lab will be carried out during the summer and fall of 2021. After the pilot, The Lab will seek new ways for client funnel solutions for reaching concrete and highest possible impact for sustainable actions. The Lab is looking for challenges and projects which offer diverse and interesting possibilities for sustainable growth, ways to research, learn and use creativity for The Lab Project Teams. The innovative working method can be applied for companies which have not yet activated in terms of all sustainable frameworks and therefore, used as a stepping stone towards these values.   Before May 2022 the Lab will be developed into a full networking community between industries, companies, professionals and students. The sustainable goals are applied further, executing the innovation cycles to a more diverse range of industries, such as health tech, marketing, logistics, energy and architecture, working alongside and outside of Finland.  The Lab will begin to seek possibilities for gaining broader exposure by attending business and university fairs, and pitching competitions. As the Lab expands and seeks for funding, the different innovation cycles (science and research, engineering, design, and culture) are divided into branches enabling the program to take on several projects at the same time.   During the next year, a roadmap and a business plan will be developed to scale and franchise The Lab concept into new environments, countries and universities. 

By ticking this box, you declare that all the information provided in this form is factually correct, that the proposed concept/idea has not been proposed for the New European Bauhaus Rising Stars Awards more than once in the same category.