Race4Scale

This report is the summary of the project including objectives, main activities and achievements of the project.

This study is a part of WP5 “Planning and piloting the joint cross-border multi-disciplinary curricula in the automotive and motorsport industry”. The context is European, as it is impossible to plan Finnish-Russian cross-broder curricula due to the current political and academic restrictions. It is done in accordance with the internal and external project instructions, in close cooperation with XAMK project team.

This study is part of “WP2 Benchmark study, motorsport” that was conducted by EduKo.

The main principle of Historic racing is to nurture the cultural heritage of old cars, both history and sports. Historic cars can be enjoyed and competed in many different sports, the most common of which are rally, track driving, rally sprint and hill races. Historic rally sports do not appear as glamorous to the average consumer as, for example, the World Rally Championship run by WRC factory teams.
This thesis mainly focuses on rally competition.

Observations made during the Midnattssolsrally 2022 competition have been used for the analysis and comparison, which have been compared to the corresponding domestic event in the field, the Lahti Historic Rally to the EC competition.

This study is a part of WP2 “Benchmark study in the EU context”. It was made based on the WP2 “Benchmarking of the automotive and motorsport ecosystem in the European context” work trip in Barcelona, Spain in May 2022 together with our Race4Scale project team in XAMK – Mr. Jarmo Kujanpää, Mr. Jan Kettula, Mr. Mikhail Nemilentsev.

Professional training in the world of motorsport and automotives takes place at all levels of education in Spain. Barcelona and the Catalonia region as a whole were chosen as an example. The reasons were the proximity of sports car tracks, the international position of the city of Barcelona, the great influence of border states France, Italy and Portugal, and the accessibility of Barcelona International Airport for international events and competitions.

This report describes the Futures Labs from the project Race4Scale – Development of the Multidisciplinary Educational, Business and RDI Opportunities for the Finnish-Russian Automotive and Motorsport Industry Ecosystem. The primary aim of the work package was to create new cross-border curricula and the Futures Lab is one part of the whole curricula.

The designed and implemented Futures Labs offered a participatory channel for multidisciplinary interaction for tackling future uncertainties and identifying opportunities collaboratively across different fields of study and industries.

The Futures Lab was implemented twice online during the academic term 2021-2022. First during Autumn, and then during Spring.

This trip was related to the Race4Scale project workpackage (WP) number 2. The content of WP2 is defined in the project plan as a trip to a European destination and three separate studies on the delivery of the trip.

• WP2 Bench marking of the automotive and motors port ecosystem in the European context
• WP Benchmark study in the EU context.

Xamk’s project staff took part in this trip: Mikhail Nemilentsev, Jan Kettula, Jarmo Kujanpää. Xamk will conduct related research on the collaboration of educational institutions with the ecosystems of motor sport and the automotive industry. It will be completed in the fall of 2022. EduKo will make a similar trip to Sweden on July 4-9, 2022, with the topic of the automotive industry and motor sports, and two studies on these topics.
The following describes the program and key findings of the Barcelona WP2 trip in chronological order from 18 to 25 May 2022.

Automotive Innovation Camp (AIC) includes the planning and organizing a unique multidisciplinary innovation four-day experience for the student teacher-industry interaction in the cross-border context. Focus is on the weak signals and disruptive technologies in the cross-border automotive and motosport industry. Solving multidisciplinary challenges of the automotive and motorsport industry by the students from the secondary and tertiary partner educational institutions organized in the Finnish-Russian multicultural and multidisciplinary groups. Teachers of the educational partners and members of the Finnish-Russian business community work as coaches and facilitators of the event. Students are expected to generate product/service innovative solutions to respond to the current and future industry needs in the cross-border context.

This study is part of the work package 4 of the project

The aim of this pre-study is to explore the concept of simulation and how simulation-based learning can strengthen the development of the students’ skills and how it can be used in the ensemble of various pedagogical methods in vocational education. It can be said that vocational education is one of the environments that has been most disrupted and changed due to the extraordinary circumstances during the Covid19-pandemic. To the vocational education provider Adult Education Taitaja this challenge was the catalyst for change and strongly boosted the use of digital learning and VR-technology.

This study is part of the work package 2 of the project.

Arola Tuija
PhD., Development Director, Branch Manager, Adult Education Taitaja

Mobility is under transition. We can see much evidence for this in our everyday life and surroundings. Vehicle charging facilities are building up, electric scooter services are popping up in many cities, cycling is becoming a true alternative for many and is being promoted by cities building new and enhanced cycle paths.

In the larger view, we see that sustainability is driving much of the transition. Car manufacturers are facing strict regulation in several markets, which puts stress on achieve low levels of CO2 emissions. Electro-mobility is a relevant option for different types of vehicles and mobility needs, from small and short range (e.g., electric assist bicycles, urban distribution vans and trucks) to larger and longer range (buses, heavy goods vehicles). Reaching road transport with zero exhaust emissions requires a system-level change and renewal of the whole mobility ecosystem. As passenger cars are the dominant mode of transport in many countries, including Finland, the sustainability transition can be considered as a game changer for the industry.

The automotive industries in the Russian Federation and in Finland are experiencing some similar trends such as the demand for innovative solutions, further staff training and lifelong learning, as well as the growing share of local suppliers. Cross-border ecosystems in the European Union can act as a cooperation reference point, which will help to build effective communication and interaction between the members of the automotive cluster. The territorial proximity of Finland and Saint Petersburg, as well as well-developed logistical and information infrastructures of both regions are the precursors for a cross-border ecosystem aimed at best practice exchange and innovative product development. In creating such an ecosystem, regulated travel, labor mobility and other cooperation permeability will be of particular importance.

The purpose of the research is conducting multidisciplinary applied research of the current and future (development) needs and the future professions in the automotive industry to develop educational and innovation opportunities focused on three age categories: children, students and teachers, representatives of the “third” age. Also the identification of weak market signals for a technological breakthrough and expanding the range of opportunities for international cooperation in business and education.

The aim of the thesis was to create the customer profiles of the race track users for KymiRing. The company of KymiRing is a new motorsport and driving training center located in Iitti, in southeastern Finland. KymiRing is the only international level race track in Finland and the leading race track in northern Europe.

The research process of the thesis focused on the collection and analysis of diverse user data. In this thesis were used qualitative research methods. The thesis process is utilized design thinking and service design methods. The benchmarking, observation, semi-structured interviews and an expert interview were selected as research methods. The collected research material was compiled into a matrix, which was analyzed using a similarity diagram into a clearer whole. Based on this, targeted interviews were conducted with targeted customer groups to gather additional information. Based on the research material and targeted customer group interviews, material was compiled, based on which the mapping of customer profiles started.

The thesis is productive and resulted in customer profiles and the visualizations formed from them. Based on the collected research data, five different customer profiles were eventually created. The race track user cards were visualized using a personas tool of the five generated customer profiles of the race track users. The race track user cards summarize the characteristics, needs and motives of all user profiles as well as the needs of the services. This thesis and customer profiles, as well as the race track user cards created as a result, will be handed over to KymiRing Oy to support the development of their customer understanding on the way to a more productive business.

Race4Scale Final Seminal Project will be held on 24th of November, 2022. The day is scheduled around Eastern European Summer Time (EEST).

Race4Scale Final Project Seminar will conclude the period of operation of the project.

Future Workshop, Futures Lab Logistics, Teacher Week and Innocamp that each are a part of project’s 4 work packages were executed during the project will be summarized during the seminar by keynote speakers as well as project personnel.

Teacher Week was held online on Friday 2nd of September, 2022. The day was scheduled around Eastern European Summer Time (EEST).

The Teacher Week is about the good practices in education. During the day you were introduced to different cases in the participant organizations. The goal of the day was to become inspired and pick up the tips on the best practices in education.

The day started with EduKo’s presentations:

9.00-10.30

• A pedagogical perspective on the use of smart glasses

Tuija Arola, Development Director

• Dynabook smart glass technology

David Sims, Dynabook Europe and Petteri Aspelund, Pekava Oy

10.30-10.50

• Break

From this point onward Xamk introduced following presentations:

10.50-11.35

• Future Experience Lab Concept – What is it? How does it work?

Jani Kiviranta, Project Manager and Joel Eronen, Workshop Assistant

Introduction of Fuel Experience Lab (PDF, 106kB)

Future Experience Lab concept – What is it? How does it work? (PDF, 1,50mB)

11.35-11.40

• Break

11.40-12.10

• Business Degree Programs in English at Xamk

Mikhail Nemilentsev, Principal Lecturer

Business Degree Programs in English at Xamk (PDF, 844kB)

12.10-12.15

• Break

12.15-12.45

• Environmental Engineering Degree Program at Xamk

Arto Sormunen, Principal Lecturer

Futures Lab Logistics is a series of online workshops that aimed to identify possible future changes and asses their potential impact on the logistics industry.

• Workshop I 30.3.2022 at 12:00–16:00
• Workshop II 13.4.2022 at 12:00–16:00
• Futures Fair 27.4.2022 at 12:00–16:00

Events for the students attending the related Xamk course:

• Introduction 16.3.2022 at 12:00–15:00
• Support session 6.4.2022 at 14:00-16:00
• Support session 20.4.2022 at 14:00-16:00

In this series of workshops we aimed to identify opportunities for competence development with new and emerging technologies related to virtual, augmented and mixed reality environments, and cross-border collaboration between the Kymi Valley and the Saint Petersburg region.

Everyone is welcome to participate or to just come and listen! Especially students and entrepreneurs can benefit from the workshops. You don’t have to be an expert in the automotive industry to participate!

For more information and the timeline, see the event page: Race4Scale Future Workshop – XAMK

Keynote speakers in the events

More information about the keynote speakers on the event page.

Finnish Teacher Week was held online on Tuesday 20th of April, 2021. The day started at 9:30 EEST and ends around 15:30 EEST. The Teacher Week is about the good practices in education. During the day you were introduced to different cases in the participant organizations, XAMK, Taitaja and KSAO.

Important Themes of the Day:

• continuous learning
• multiculturalism both geographically and in the age structure of students
• working life orientation
• the utilization of modern technologies

The goal of the day was to become inspired and pick up the tips on the best practices in education. Welcome!

Race4Scale – Development of automotive and motorsport -project’s final seminar was held on 24^th of November 2022 at South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences Kotka campus. The seminar was arranged as a hybrid event, meaning that you could attend the seminar on the spot or alternatively you could attend the seminar remotely.

The research which consisted of various workshops and events that were conducted during the project were reviewed during the seminar. The central theme in each workshop and event were inspecting and developing the different point of views and possibilities of automotive industry and the educational institutes of the industry. These procedures were examined by project manager Jarmo Kujanpää, RDI-specialist Jan Kettula and principal lecturer Mikhail Nemilentsev. Separate keynote speakers were invited to the seminar who were professor Heikki Liimatainen and university instructor Erika Kallionpää from Tampere University and doctoral student Nikhil Phadnis from LUT University.

Heikki Liimatainen is a leading scientist in the field of sustainable transport in Finland. He leads Transport Research Centre Verne at Tampere University. He has also been awarded for his merits in science communications in mass media. Erika Kallionpää has experience in several research projects related to transportation, logistics and supply chain management. Her research interests focus particularly on the environmental performance of supply chains, sustainability of logistics and customer value creation in supply chains. Nikhil Phadnis is a doctoral student in innovation management and consultant for fortune 1000 companies specializing in TRIZ methods in multiple domains for ex. energy, automobile, consumer products and Lifesciences and chemicals. He has experience in new product development, new process development, adjacent market identification and technology forecasting in different industries.

THE FINAL SEMINAR BEGINS: THE NEEDS OF TRANSPORT SYSTEM AND FUTURE LOGISTICS

The final seminar began at 10.15 AM with Jarmo Kujanpää giving a speech welcoming everyone, and he gave a brief summary of the program and introduced the keynote speakers. After Jarmo’s speech, professor Heikki Liimatainen from Tampere University was given the spotlight. His topic addressed how the current transport system causes negative environmental and social impacts and governments have set targets to remove these impacts by 2050. The needs and drivers for the transport transformation were discussed in the presentations, including digitalization, electrification and automation and the changes in behavior and decision making.

Click here to view Heikki’s presentation

After Heikki finished his presentation, the turn was given to University Instructor Erika Kallionpää from Tampere University. Her topic addressed how logistics has faced many challenges and distractions during last years. The interesting question is that what is shaping the future logistics. In this presentation, the main future trends and targets affecting logistics were examined. The skills that logistics professionals will need in future were discussed as well.

Click here to view Erika’s presentation

TECHNOLOGY FORECASTING FOR AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY

When Erika was done with her presentation, we had a short break. After the break it was time to continue with interesting topics as the next keynote speaker M.Sc. Nikhil Phadnis, doctoral student from LUT University stepped forward to give his presentation. His topic explored the approach of the VOP (Voice of the Product), a counter-intuitive approach to VOC (Voice of the Customer), that is used to discover the latent needs of the customer, resulting in better technology forecasts and reducing the risk of failed innovations for long-term innovation projects.

Click here to view Nikhil’s presentation

After Nikhil’s presentation, it was time for Jarmo Kujanpää to step in again. He reviewed the research executed during the project that consisted of so-called work packages. There were 6 work packages in total that included 17 tasks.

Teacher’s Week was one of the resulting events of the work packages, which was created in the cooperation with South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences Xamk and Kouvola Vocational Institute Eduko. The theme of the event was good practices in education. Teacher’s Week was arranged twice, both having interesting topics such as utilizing the modern technology in education and continuous learning.

A workshop named Futures Workshop was created during the project that was also arranged twice. The focal points of the workshops were to identify opportunities for competence development with new and emerging technologies related to virtual, augmented and mixed reality environments, and cross-border collaboration between the Kymi Valley and the Saint Petersburg region. Shared curriculum was piloted based on the previously mentioned cooperation.

Futures Lab Logistics was a series of workshops in which the theme was to identify possible future changes and asses their potential impact on the logistics industry.

Innocamp – Automotive Innovation Camp (AIC) was four-day experience for the student teacher-industry interaction in the cross-border context. Focus of the camp was the weak signals and disruptive technologies in the cross-border automotive and motosport industry. Students from the secondary and tertiary partner educational institutions organized in the Finnish-Russian multicultural and multidisciplinary groups solved multidisciplinary challenges of the automotive and motorsport industry. Kymiring customer and service selection profiling was utilized during the event.

RDI-specialist Jan Kettula and principal lecturer and Mikhail Nemilentsev were also presenting the previously mentioned tasks beside Jarmo Kujanpää.

Click here to view Jarmo, Jan and Mikhail’s presentation

Tatiana Talalaeva was also present via Zoom and she gave a short summary of the cooperation between LETI University and Race4Scale-project and presented feedback of the workshops that were performed as a result of the cooperation.

Click here to view Tatiana’s presentation

Last but not the least speaker of the day was Sergei Kadiev, Head of the Kudrovo Children’s Engineering Center. He reviewed the workshops and innovation camps that were created during the project. More information of the said workshops and camps can be found on the project website.

The day was coming to an end, and it was time to close the seminar. Jarmo thanked participants and cooperation partners and encouraged everyone to visit Race4Scale-project’s website since every research and report can be found there along with other essential information.

Rocky but productive road of the project

Race4Scale – Development of automotive and motorsport -project was launched in May of 2020 during the time when covid-19 pandemic was ravaging the world. Two years later, Russia attacked Ukraine. Finnish and Russian partners were never able to meet each other physically due to the reasons mentioned previously and the whole project had to be executed remotely. Despite all the hardships the project was able to wrap things up and produced interesting research results that will be reviewed in the final seminar on 24^th of November.

Race4Scale-project cooperated with Russian project partners (Saint Petersburg Electrotechnical University LETI, union representing automotive industry “Autoprom North-West” and technology center Kudrovo). In Finland the project was administered by Xamk and the project partners were Taitaja and Ksao from Kouvola. Taitaja and Kouvola were joined in 2022 and formed Kouvola Vocational Institute Eduko.

Workshops and events as research methods

Various workshops and events were executed during the project and the central theme in each were inspecting and developing the different point of views and possibilities of automotive industry and the educational institutes of the industry.

One of these events is Teacher’s Week, which was created in the cooperation with South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences Xamk and Kouvola Vocational Institute Eduko. The theme of the event was good practices in education. Teacher’s Week was arranged twice, both having interesting topics such as utilizing the modern technology in education and continuous learning.

A workshop named Futures Workshop was created during the project that was also arranged twice. The focal points of the workshops were to identify opportunities for competence development with new and emerging technologies related to virtual, augmented and mixed reality environments, and cross-border collaboration between the Kymi Valley and the Saint Petersburg region. Shared curriculum was piloted based on the previously mentioned cooperation.

Futures Lab Logistics was a series of workshops in which the theme was to identify possible future changes and asses their potential impact on the logistics industry.

Innocamp – Automotive Innovation Camp (AIC) was four-day experience for the student teacher-industry interaction in the cross-border context. Focus of the camp was the weak signals and disruptive technologies in the cross-border automotive and motosport industry. Students from the secondary and tertiary partner educational institutions organized in the Finnish-Russian multicultural and multidisciplinary groups solved multidisciplinary challenges of the automotive and motorsport industry. Kymiring customer and service selection profiling was utilized during the event.

Topics about future logistics and customer experience of automotive industry

The workshops and events will be discussed in better detail during the seminar. Key-note speakers of the seminar are Heikki Liimatainen and Erika Kallionpää from Tampere University and Nikhil Phadnis from LUT University. Heikki Liimatainen is a leading scientist in the field of sustainable transport in Finland. He leads Transport Research Centre Verne at Tampere University. He has also been awarded for his merits in science communications in mass media. Erika Kallionpää has experience in several research projects related to transportation, logistics and supply chain management. Her research interests focus particularly on the environmental performance of supply chains, sustainability of logistics and customer value creation in supply chains. Nikhil Phadnis is a doctoral student in innovation management and consultant for fortune 1000 companies specializing in TRIZ methods in multiple domains for ex. energy, automobile, consumer products and Lifesciences and chemicals. He has experience in new product development, new process development, adjacent market identification and technology forecasting in different industries.

The topics of key-note speakers will focus on the same themes as previously mentioned workshops and events focused on but there will also be interesting new point of views present, such as how voice of customer and voice of product correlate with each other in the automotive industry.

Race4Scale-final seminar is held on 24^th of November 2022 starting at 10.15 AM in South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences Kotka campus, on the 3^rd floor in the room 4005B (Pääskysentie 1, 48220 Kotka). Seminar is organized as a hybrid event, meaning that you can either attend the seminar by coming to the location or you can attend remotely via Zoom. No pre-registration is required. 

Welcome!

More information:

Jarmo Kujanpää, project manager | jarmo.kujanpaa@xamk.fi 

Finnish Teacher Week Day was held on the 2nd of September 2022 for the second time as a hybrid event at vocational institute Eduko. The event was held in Zoom where participants and presenters could join the event online but they could also join the event live.

Finnish Teacher Week, part of work package 3 (WP3), is an event focusing on the best practices of the presenting institutions in the educational field. The first Teachers Week was held in two parts as an online event on 20th and 27th of April 2021 the central topics beeing continuous learning, multiculturalism, working life orientation and the utilization of modern technologies in education.

This year’s Teacher Week continued with the theme of modern technologies. Vocational institute Eduko gave a presentation on smart glasses and what kind of opportunities the smart glasses could give in the educational field. Xamk presented Fuel Experience Lab-concept, which operates in Kouvola campus, and what kind of solutions the concept offers through technology and service design. Xamk, Kouvola campus also presented the degree program of Business Administration. In addition Xamk, Mikkeli campus presented the degree program of Environmental Engineering. Both campuses focused on what kind of good practices they’ve adopted in their degree programs.

The event begings: Eduko presents the smart glasses

The project manager of Race4Scale Jarmo Kujanpää opened the day by giving a speech welcoming everyone. The first presenter of the day was Tuija Arola, PhD., Development Director at EduKo, and she elaborated on the concept of smart glasses and told about the benefits of the smart glasses from the pedagogical point of view. Tuija told how she wants to offer their students a so-called multichannel experience with the smart glasses, underlining that every student has a different way of learning to which the smart glasses could give a solution.

After Tuija’s presentation, Petteri Aspelund from Pekava Oy and Mika Koivistoinen from Fromidea Oy demonstrated how the smart glasses work in practice. David Sims from Dynabook Europe (Eduko’s smart glass supplier) from London was also present through Zoom. After having explained the philosophy and concept behind their products he answered the questions about the smart glasses.

Smart glasses could completely replace laptops; The smart glasses are connected to the pocket-sized computer to which one can also connect an external display and a keyboard.

Xamk presents: Fuel Experience Lab and the degree program of Business Administration

After EduKo, it was Xamk’s turn to give their first presentation which was about Fuel Experience Lab, FUEL in short. Project manager Jani Kiviranta presented the surroundings of FUEL through Zoom. Next, Jani introduced the principles of FUEL. FUEL is “the clinic of service design” as Jani put it, which aims to offer new perspectives and help reach solutions more easily and efficiently. FUEL offers immersion with Experience Wall manufactured by OiOi with additional help from VR-headsets that are also included in the equipment of FUEL. FUEL also offers an upgraded space for events and for remote working.

After Jani had finished with his presentation, principal lecturer Mikhail Nemilentsev was next in line with presentation about the degree program of Business Administration conducted in Xamk’s Mikkeli campus. The degree program of Business Administration is divided into three fields of specializations: Digital International Business, Well-being Management and International Business Management. Students in each field are given opportunities to work with real companies as well as in projects within Xamk research unit. For example, Active Life Lab which is one of the Xamk research- and developmental units is an essential part of the studies of Well-being Management.

Active Life Lab operates as a learning environment for the Well-being Management students.

Xamk presents:  The degree program of environmental ENGINEERING

After Mikhail, the last but not the least presenter of the day was principal lecturer Arto Sormunen from the degree program of Environmental Engineering also from Xamk Mikkeli campus. Arto showcased the equipment used in environmental technology as well as situations that one gets to experience during the studies.

After Arto was done with his presentation, Jarmo closed the day by giving a summary of the topics of the day and encouraged the audience to explore the options of both EduKo and Xamk.

The Futures Lab Logistics lead up to the Futures Fair event on the 27th of April 2022. Two student groups presented their work done during the course. Their topics were Digitalization of Logistics and Transparent and Resilient Supply Chains. Despite the small audience, the event was successful, and the students got a good experience on presenting their themes. 

Group One: RDIF as a Technology

The first group presented on the topic of RFID (Radio-frequency identification) with especial focus on internal logistics. They discussed the pros and cons of the technology and its variations in addition to their basic working principles. RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) is a remote authentication method to identify people or objects via radio waves.  

RFID technology needs the chip, an antenna, a reader, and a user interface. The antenna sends a signal to the chip to relay the contained information to a reader. RFID is used for example in access control, animal identification, object tracking and logistics. RFID tags can be divided into active and passive tags. 

The group’s presentation gave an overview of the difficulties of usage in RFID, such as performance issues, environmental factors and reading limitations. Security is also a major factor in the technology as there are several possible security threats, such as corporate espionage and unauthorized access to customer’s data. 

RFID is a very agile technology. It can be used to analyze the collected data and modify operations accordingly. The technology can be integrated in different stations of the supply and these intelligent systems protect the whole system from future risks. Another topic of the group’s presentation was the difference between barcodes and RFID. Barcodes are cheaper, but the costs of RFID are coming down thanks to new inventions, making it a more viable option. 

The group naturally discussed the future of RFID. Currently, the technology is not very widely used, but it has a lot of potential. The initial costs of the technology are high. Chipless RFID systems are also in planning. RFID has multiple attributes such as enabling a better communication, making the whole chain visible and making information more easily accessible such as knowing when and where products are stored.

The group’s future wheel presented their topic’s impacts in the future in 2032. RFID technology has interesting possible impacts on, for example, the changes in work tasks which can lead to less manual work and more social exclusion in the long run. The technology aims to overall enhance the logistics chain which may lead to both problems and possibilities, such as incompatible systems and less pointless driving around. However, dependence on the technology can also be interpreted as both good and a bad impact. 

But what would have to change for RFID to be more used? We cannot avoid this new technology and the most major factor for implementing it for wider use, is the fact that the more companies use it, the more will also start using it in the future. This must start somewhere. RFID has the potential to make global logistics and trade easier and more efficient. 

Group Two: Trans-Siberian Railroad

The second group’s presentation was about the possibility of Trans-Siberian railroad and its impact on the logistics chain between Asia and Europe. Unfortunately, due to the current geopolitical situation, the group didn’t share much optimism for the railroad to become reality any time soon. Their presentation gave an overview of the pros and cons of the possibilities, and the group had also pondered on other options for the Trans-Siberian railroad. 

Finland is located between the Western nations and Asia, and since we are mostly surrounded by the Baltic Sea, railway traffic from Finland goes mostly to East. China-trade is one of the current megatrends, offering continuous trade possibilities also for Finland. The Trans-Siberian railway could be a competitor for container ships on goods that require faster delivery times. Railway traffic in comparison is cheaper than airfreight, but faster than container ships. The capacity of each alternative must be considered. 

“The future cannot be predicted, but by reading weak signals we can make estimates and speculations.”

The group had approached their topic with different scenarios. They had three different scenes with different alternative futures. Risk management was a key to analyzing and preparing for these scenarios. The future cannot be predicted, but by reading trends and weak signals we can make estimates and speculations. 

As future alternatives to the Trans-Siberian railroad, the group suggested a Northern Sea route and a Trans-Caspian railroad that includes multi-modal transport. The Northern Sea route, however, contains very difficult questions about the emissions to the Arctic and possible oil leaks. The route is also open only for some months during summertime. 

The first scenario consisted of closer relations with China and Russia, but weaker relations with major Western parties. In this scenario, we don’t need to fear environmental damage to the Artic and the possibility of RFID collaborations is strong. This scenario would include social, economic and political integration of Eurasian nations. 

The second scenario included possible trade blocks between those who have economic superpower. This could lead to the loss of capital for both investors and governments. However, this scenario contained the development of more energy efficient transportation and the development of alternative power sources. 

The group’s third scenario was the most dystopic, including the possibility of military oppression and the nationalization of infrastructure, vessels, and capital. Less traffic would lead to less emissions. Military use would optimize the railway traffic. Also, the melting of the permafrost in Arctic areas could lead to the release of unknown pathogens. 

Political issues influence the outcomes and possibilities in these scenarios. The development of society plays a part in dictating the direction, too. For example, increasing or decreasing labor costs rule out the options for production. This forces us to ponder whether it is more cost efficient to have the production somewhere far away or closer by, and how these costs relate to the costs of transport. Also, climate change must be considered when looking into these scenarios of the future. 

Reflection

Technology allows for an increasing variety of options and futures. For example, there could be no food market in the future, but purchases would be handled antisocially with the help of automated transport robots. How would the isolation of this affect the mental health and sociality of the people, and the elderly in particular? 

The aim of the Futures Lab Logistics course was to learn about foresight and changes affecting the logistics industry in a practical manner through workshops. The attending students gained awareness of factors affecting change in the industry and the importance of foresight in general. After the course, the students can identify possible future changes and assess their potential impact. 

“Futures thinking is a skill that can be learned, practiced and developed continuously.”

The students considered the course very beneficial and believed that the methods used will likely be helpful in their own working life. As a part of risk management, this kind of futures thinking and foresight will be extremely useful. The best giveaways of the course were the skill to question what seems to be self-evident and looking into things from different perspectives. By learning futures thinking and foresight, detecting wild cards and reacting to them is easier. Futures thinking and foresight can be a part of one’s profession as different methods are widely used in different companies and industries.

Jussi Sireeni, a teacher expert of electric cars in Kouvola Vocational Institute Eduko, gave a lecture on electric cars on the 27th of April at 9:00 to 13:00.

The lecture included information on

• safety precautions and legislation concerning electric cars in Finland
• electric car technic and different types of them
• tools for electric cars, hand tools and diagnostic tools
• different kind of batteries and chemistry of them
• qualification requirements for battery repairs
• battery recycling and sustainable development
• business opportunities with used electric cars

The lecture was given in a hybrid model. There were 30 students and 5 teachers following the live lecture and 6 participants followed the lecture online.

The Futures Lab is a series of workshops that aims to identify possible future changes and assess their potential impact on the logistics industry. The students who attend the course, form groups and work with different methods of futures and foresight research on the given topics. The group topics were Transparent and resilient supply chains and the Digitalization of Logistics.

The second implementation of the Futures Lab cross-border curricula was arranged via Zoom on the 30^th of March. The event was open for anyone to join and listen to the keynote speakers. The speakers were professionals in the field of logistics and the future. There were 23 participants online and 24 students joined from an auditorium at Xamk’s Kotka campus.

Read more about the previous implementation and the group working: Futures Lab Workshop Day I and Futures Lab Workshop Day II.

Towards Carbon Neutral Logistics

Professor Heikki Liimatainen, D.Sc., has been managing Tampere University’s Transport Research Center Verne since 2016. He is Finland’s leading expert in the field of transport energy and climate policy. He has extensive experience in leading research projects and publishing results of scientific quality. He has also been awarded the Public Transport Person of the Year and the University Journalist Recognition Award for Active and Effective Communication.

Liimatainen gave a presentation on the topic of Towards Carbon Neutral Logistics. The presentation aimed to provide an overview on aspects of green logistics and guide the audience towards the next steps in our journey towards sustainable logistics.

Maritime Digitalization

Ulla Tapaninen, Adjunct Professor PhD, has 30 years’ experience in logistics and maritime transport research and development work. She has worked in two Finnish shipping companies, Finnlines and ESL Shipping, in three universities Aalto, University of Turku and now in Tallinn University of Technology, focusing on sustainable shipping. In addition, she has worked for City of Helsinki in maritime and cross-border transport development projects. She has written several books on logistics and maritime transport.

Tapaninen gave a presentation on the topic of Maritime Digitalization. The presentation gave an overview on the recent most important issues in maritime digitalization.

The Trends and Technologies in Logistics and Supply Chain Management

Heikki Lahtinen is the Acting Executive Director of LIMOWA Logistics Cluster and the CEO of Ixtriim Oy. The LIMOWA Logistics Cluster is a Finnish network association to develop and support intelligent logistics solutions and boost the competitiveness of Finnish companies. LIMOWA works close to its member organizations supporting their business and export activities. The network has logistics professionals from various sectors. Their common desire is to see logistics as competitive advantage and they have the will to develop Finnish logistics even better. LIMOWA is nationwide, open and impartial.

The topic of the presentation was The Trends and Technologies in Logistics and Supply Chain Management. It gave an overview of how digitalization and automatization change the field of logistics and supply chain management.

The Futures Fair

The Futures Lab Logistics will end with an open event, the Futures Fair on the 27^th of April at 12:00 – 14:30 (UTC+3) via Zoom. Anyone is welcome to join the audience and see the results of the workshop groups. Student groups will present their work to the audience with the chance for open discussion and questions.

Register here to join the Futures Fair

In 2021 the Race4Scale project partners published several studies varying from learning by simulation to the development needs in the automotive industry. In 2021 we also had many different events from cross-border workshops to sharing the best practices in teaching. Here are some highlights of the year.

The topic of the research publication is the current situation of the automotive industry in Finland and its development over the next ten years. The publication also focuses on the development of motorsport in Europe as car technology becomes electrified and emission targets become stricter.

The pre-study explores the concept of simulation and how simulation-based learning can strengthen the development of the students’ skills and how it can be used in the ensemble of various pedagogical methods in vocational education.

Automotive Innovation Camp (AIC) includes the planning and organizing a unique multidisciplinary innovation four-day experience for the student teacher-industry interaction in the cross-border context. Focus is on the weak signals and disruptive technologies in the cross-border automotive and motorsport industry.

The Finnish Teacher Week in April was focused on continuous learning, multiculturalism, working life orientation and the utilization of modern technologies.

The Russian Teacher Week shared ideas and inspiration on the topics of how to prepare for future careers and simple algorithms of complex learning.

In the Futures Lab Workshop, the aim was to identify opportunities for competence development with new and emerging technologies related to virtual, augmented, and mixed reality environments, and cross-border collaboration between the Kymi Valley and the Saint Petersburg region.

Participants of the winter school “Innovation and Quality Management in the Automotive Industry 4.0” will get essentials and tools for steering innovative production and organizing quality management.

From January 24 to February 1, LETI will hold the winter school “Innovation and Quality Management in the Automotive Industry 4.0,” developed by the Institute of Innovative Design and Technological Entrepreneurship (INPROTECH) of LETI and the South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences (XAMK). More than 40 participants from Russia, Finland, India, Vietnam, Africa, and other countries will study innovative management and quality assurance.

The course is designed for students and professionals who want to develop a career in innovative engineering and production. It has two tracks focused on innovations, leadership, and quality management. The first one includes the theory and practice of innovation management and innovative product marketing. In the second track, participants will get basic skills in lean production and quality management and effective leadership in quality assurance of the automotive industry.

“The goal of the Russian-Finnish project is to develop cross-border education, and one of its main tasks is to develop international educational programs. The winter school at LETI is an excellent example of such cooperation, which opens up new opportunities for Russian and Finnish students.

Many students from Russia are already taking a full course at XAMK. I would like to thank students participating in the Winter School at LETI. You are participating in the creation of a new kind of cooperation.” — Jarmo Kujanpää, Race4Scale Project Manager

The winter school “Innovation and Quality Management in the Automotive Industry 4.0” will take place both offline and online. The program includes lectures, case discussions, solving management problems, talks with experts, self-training, and testing. The final evaluation will take into account the results of the tests, case solutions, and active participation in the classes.

Winter school participants will learn modern concepts and practices for managing technological innovation in an R&D-intensive company. This knowledge will launch a value-based management career in high-tech automotive companies. Students who complete the course will be eligible to take the European Organization for Quality (EoQ) Qualification Recognition exam without additional training.

Winter School is an intensive course for future innovators and quality managers from 24.1. to 1.2.2022.

• The theme of Winter school is Innovation and Quality Management in the Automotive Industry 4.0.
• The 4 ECTS course is designed for students and professionals who want to develop a career in innovative engineering and production.
• It has two tracks focused on innovations, leadership and quality management.
• The program is developed by the Inprotekh Institute of St. Petersburg Electrotechnical University (LETI) and Xamk (South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences).

More information, program and registration here.

Experts from five Russian venture capital funds picked the Powerplace project, an intelligent power module for fast-charging stations developed by a team including LETI graduates.

The finals of the EnergyHUB student startup competition, organized with the support of Energotekhnohub Peterburg and the Government of St. Petersburg, took place in St. Petersburg. More than 50 student startups from St. Petersburg, Moscow, and other Russian regions took part in the first season of the competition.

The participants were evaluated by an expert jury consisting of representatives of five funds: Fuel for Growth, New Industry, Orbita Capital Partners, AlmazCapital, and Severstal Ventres.

The EnergyHUB winner was the Powerplace project, an intelligent power module for fast-charging stations for electric cars. It was developed by a team of LETI graduates from the Faculty of Industrial Automation and Electrical Engineering Alexei Kryzhanovsky (2012), Konstantin Matus (2013) and Sergey Morozov (2016), as well as ITMO representatives Olavi Siikki and Evgeny Kolantayev.

“So far, we see mostly international companies as clients. Fast charging stations are one of the fastest-growing segments abroad. Now we are at the stage of finalizing our product, preparing R&D, patenting, and certification. We plan to raise funds in two rounds. At the first stage, we will need about 9.5 million rubles,” says Alexey Kryzhanovsky.

“The advantage of our product is the use of energy-efficient components based on silicon carbide transistors. We develop our own software, so we can control the loads and the charging algorithm, which allows us to increase the life of car batteries. Our modules are also reversible, which means that we can also use the electric car as a kind of power bank.” – Alexey Kryzhanovsky, Powerplace project developer, LETI graduate 2012.

The electric vehicle and charging infrastructure industry is rapidly growing: the global market is already estimated at $12 billion. Every year, it is growing by 33% because it is the fast charging facilities that make electric cars comfortable to drive over long distances, which is especially important for Russia.

“Our module is the main component of fast charging stations and can be used in any powerful complexes used both for charging electric vehicles, running on batteries, and for storage in renewable energy systems,” notes the developer.

“In my opinion, the most important skill acquired at LETI is the continuous search for information, the urge to study global experience and the state of the art, as well as the ability to work in a team and rely on the help of my colleagues. The Faculty of Industrial Automation and Electrical Engineering provided the first invaluable knowledge in power electronics and fundamental knowledge in automatic control systems, which is indispensable for building reliable electrical converters.” – Alexey Kryzhanovsky, Powerplace project developer, LETI graduate 2012.

Now, the startup team consists of a project manager, an embedded systems programmer, a schematic engineer, and a hardware test specialist. The developers plan to attract new specialists to the team to expand the general competencies of the team and strengthen the existing ones.

After the competition, the joint startup of LETI and ITMO developers will receive funding from Gazprom Neft and the community of energy clubs of St. Petersburg universities.

The second workshop day was held on the 13^th of October 2021, from 9:30 to 14:30. A total of 24 student participants gathered in Microsoft Teams for the day. Students working in the teams were present since the morning and other participants were invited to join for the Futures Fair in the afternoon. In the Futures Fair, each team was to present their work from the workshop days’ group working sessions.

Similarly, to Workshop Day I, the second day started with an introduction to the day’s agenda. Workshop manager Tero Villman gave a recap on the work done so far and reminded the teams of the workflow. In the last groupwork part, the teams had to gather their earlier ideas with the most votes from the foresight lense. One idea from each dimension in PESTE was chosen to work on further.

The next phase was to draft a future scenario. A scenario is a potential image of the future set in a specific time with a logical path leading to or from it. In this case, the scenario was to be from the year 2030. The teams had to write down how their ideas would look in the future versus the current moment. It was also important for each team to give their scenario a catchy and intriguing name. The topic’s relation to competence development, new technologies, and opportunities for cross-border collaboration was underlined so that each team would remember to take these overall themes into account in their scenario.

The teams listed the changes that would need to occur in 2022, 2025 and 2028 for their scenario to come true in 2030. This formed a narrative, a logical path from the current moment to the team’s envisioned future. The teams were allowed to find and use images in their work. These scenarios were presented at the Futures Fair at 12:30.

The Futures Fair

Team 1: Meaningful work augmented by technology in 2030
Scenario: Future Hospital

The team’s most important themes were VR in healthcare and teaching, and AI & robots in healthcare. Some of the team’s ideas were about how artificial intelligence could assist in diagnosing patients, automatization of databases and efficient communication within the hospital. Robots could help with patient care and in manual labor and as an entertainment service to patients. The teams also presented ideas concerning prosthetics and augmentation and how they would be developed in the far future.

Team 2: Product testing and creation in virtual reality
Scenario: The juicy future of VR designing

The team pondered the juicy future of VR design – virtual reality for customers & business. How can we enhance the process of the creation of a product including designing and testing? How can companies benefit from these changes, such as lowering the cost of production? The steps into this scenario in 2030 would include VR technologies becoming more common in different environments for businesses and customers to take advantage from them. To use VR in prototyping, the technology would also have to become more advanced and easily accessible.

Team 3: Meaningful work augmented by technology in 2030: How technology can enhance the learning process in the medical field
 Scenario: Virtual push

For the team’s scenario to happen in 2030, the usage of virtual reality technologies would have to become more commonplace. New technologies would be introduced into the learning process and studies would include more engagement via visuals and audio virtually. As these technologies become more common, more opportunities arise: education and possibilities to learn become more accessible and equality increases globally. This scenario has downsides, too: the continuously increasing consumption of electronics will have a negative impact on the environment and the increased number of professionals will lead to unemployment.

Team 4: Life-long learning on the job in 2030
Scenario: Almost positive

The team’s topic was the potential of lifelong learning in helping individuals to learn anywhere with less effort. In the digital age, the application of technologies to businesses will be a better virtue than simply knowing the technology itself. Blended learning can give different learners the opportunity to learn based on their personal preferences and style at their own convenience. This will also promote continuous lifelong learning. In this scenario, re-skilling and repurposing one’s talents is important. For the learner, lifelong learning is often voluntary and stems from self-motivation. It is important to have opportunities for up-skilling, re-training, and professional development to stay relevant and progress in working life.

In the scenario, in 2030 the technological advances are embraced by everyone, giving access to the tools and the possibility for lifelong learning. This will open cross-border collaboration. There can also be negative impacts in this scenario, such as the need for specialists in mental health care and social issues to deal with the negative consequences of alternate reality (AR).

Team 5: Smarter architecture with VR
Scenario: Smart World

The smart world scenario is all about focusing on smarter choices. Architecture designers can design faster and more efficiently and make more connected choices with the consumers. Structures will have more inventions, such as intelligent reporting and connecting the results for better and smarted upgrades. Sustainability is an important theme to back the scenario up.

Virtual reality along with research and development is deployed for better solutions, continuous improvements and making sure the consumer’s choices and needs are considered. Eventually the smart world way of thinking is realized as the main way to design and construct buildings. The new designs will have zero emissions.

Conclusions

After the presentations, everyone had the opportunity to discuss and ask questions from the teams. Many of the teams’ presentations had common themes. The scenarios aim mainly to improve our quality of life and unite us across the world. For these benefits to happen we must also be ready to accept new technologies. AR and VR seem to enable solutions to many issues, but their negative impacts were also present in the scenarios.

As common nominators for every team’s conclusions one could raise the unprecedented opportunities of AR and VR in enhancing an individual’s personal aspirations both during one’s educational path and their capabilities in influencing the development of the surrounding society.

The teams gained positive feedback from the audience and from each other. For such a short time to prepare, each team did an impressive job. Successful group working was in a key role in the work process.

After the workshop days, each team’s facilitator will make sure the outputs and the work are documented into a report.

The first workshop day was held on the 29^th of September 2021 from 9:30 to 14:30. A total of 37 participants gathered in Microsoft Teams for the day. Most of the participants were students from Xamk and LETI, who took part in the five teams of the group working session, but other participants were also welcomed to come in and listen to the keynote speakers.

The workshop’s manager Tero Villman kicked off the day with the inspiring themes of foresight and futures research. He instructed the participating teams on the day’s working methods and upcoming schedules. For the teams, the main goal of the day was to start their work on identifying the opportunities for competence development with new and emerging technologies related to virtual and mixed reality environments. The teams consisted of students from Xamk, LETI and Kudrovo. Each team had a facilitator student from Xamk, who was tasked with coordinating, instructing, encouraging, and documenting the groupwork activities.

After the introduction, the stage was given to the keynote speakers. Panu Johansson, UX Designer at Ponsse Oyj, talked about work that Ponsse does in forestry: “Seeing the wood for the trees – Keeping users at the center of modern forestry”. Ponsse concentrates on sales, service, manufacturing, and technology related to cut-to-length forest machines and services. It is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of forestry equipment.

Johansson presented interesting examples of the complicated processes and the importance of decision making in the field overall and in his work as UX Designer. He also presented how simulation is used at Ponsse and what kind of pros and cons it has. With new efficient methods and technology, customer’s needs can define which kind of timber is produced and less wood is wasted. One of the main challenges in user centered UX design is how to really understand the user, be it the forestry machine driver or the customer.

The second keynote speech was given by Osku Torro, Doctoral Researcher at Tampere University. His topic was “The future is 3D: How XR technology is revolutionizing the automotive and motorsport ecosystems”. His presentation was to give ideas of the technological possibilities we already have in XR – extended reality, including virtual and augmented realities. Natural 3D content and interaction with XR technologies will soon revolutionize how we work, train, and collaborate. When the XR system responds to the user’s actions realistically, they are likely to behave realistically in XR as well. Therefore, acquiring professional skills and knowledge via the use of XR holds exceptional potential.

“The world is 3D, so why not simulate it – or create something that is even more spectacular? How about creating a world where you can have superpowers, and where you level up not your fictional game character but yourself?” – Osku Torro

During Workshop Day I, the teams worked in two sessions with pregiven tasks: Gaining Perspective and Foresight Lense. The workshop’s working process was based on the Futures Clinique method (Ruotsalainen & Heinonen 2013).

The Gaining perspective section utilized a method called the Futures Wheel. The teams work outwards in steps or layers from their chosen topic. Each group member writes what they consider to be a new and interesting impact on their topic. After discussing the ideas on the first layer, the group moves on to the second level impacts and further on to the third layer of ideas.

The Foresight Lense section utilized a method called the Futures table. It is a method to classify impacts per dimension: Political, economic, social, technological, and ecological (PESTE). Each key idea is categorized to the different rows. After the categorizations, the ideas are discussed, and the most important ideas are voted by the group.

Group working started around 10:30 and continued until 14:15 with a quick check up on everyone’s progression. At the conclusion of the day, each team gave a quick overview on what topic they had chosen and how their work had proceeded during the day. To ensure the teams can continue their work until Workshop Day II, they had the opportunity for any questions and clarifications on the process. Tero Villman gave instructions on the follow up work after Day I and before Workshop Day II. He and the keynote speakers will also help the groups in an optional support session before the second workshop day.

At the Futures Lab Workshop Day II on the 13^th of October, the groups will complete their work and present it to everyone at the Futures Fair.

Download Panu Johansson’s keynote presentation (11.3MB).

Download Osku Torro’s keynote presentation (2,2MB).

Read more about the series of Futures Lab Workshop

Sources

Heinonen, S., Ruotsalainen, J. Futures Clinique—method for promoting futures learning and provoking radical futures. Eur J Futures Res 1, 7 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40309-013-0007-4

The kick-off day took place on Wednesday, September 15^th 2021 starting at 09.30 through to 11:30 Finnish time. The meeting was arranged in TEAMS due to Covid restrictions.

After having welcomed all participants to join the TEAMS workshops, RDI Specialist and workshop manager Tero Villman first presented the background and main objectives of the workshop, as well as the preliminary assignment for the students to prepare for the first actual workshop day later in September.

Tero organized the attending students into five teams, which were selected by the project team in advance. First activity for the students was to present oneself and their motivation for participating in this workshop to their own team members. Each team’s main task was then to discuss and together select and define their teams’ own specific topic, which they will then develop and elaborate during the workshop days under Tero’s and facilitator students’ supervision.

Before Tero closed the session at 11:30, students asked questions about matters concerning team set-up, working methods and possible workshop topics.

From the 18^th to the 21^st of May 2021, the Union “Autoprom North-West” held an international educational competition Automotive Innovation Camp (AIC).

More than 66 people from four regions of Russia took part in the AIC events. Three teams consisting of young industry experts were from St. Petersburg (St. Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering, St. Petersburg Fire and Rescue College, Academy of Transport Technologies). One team was from the Leningrad region (Kudrovo Techopark School), one team from Ryazan (Ryazan Institute (branch) of the Moscow Polytechnic University) and two teams from the Pskov region (Pskov engineering and linguistic gymnasium and Palkinskaya secondary school).

The AIC program was actively supported by industry representatives, educational and technological partners of the Union “Autoprom North-West” – St. Petersburg Cluster Development Centre (“Saint Petersburg Technopark” JSC), the autonomous non-commercial organization Industry Development Centre of Leningrad Region, “Metalloproduktsia” LLC, “MGBot” LLC, South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences (Xamk, Finland) and Kouvola region vocational college (KSAO, Finland).

During the four-day work of AIC, a round-table was conducted with representatives of business and educational organizations. “Science, education, sport: new opportunities for career guidance and development of children’s technical creativity”, the start of the International Competition for young specialists in the automotive industry “AutoEvolution-2021” (in a hybrid format in 2022) was announced, business-cases were presented, workshops were held from business-case holders and there was a live broadcast from the II International Transport Festival “SPbTransportFest-2021”.

1. Business case: “Automotive expertise of road accidents”
   Saint Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering (SPbGASU)
   Link to material (PDF, 704kB)
2. Business case: “From the first Russian cars and motor vehicles to the present day (to the 125th anniversary of the first Russian production car)”
   Union “AutopromNorth-West”
   Link to material (PDF, 626kB)
3. Business case: “Intelligent transport systems”
   Saint Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering (SPbGASU)
   Link to material (PDF, 1171kB)
4. Business case: “Maintenance optimization and vehicle fleet management platform using IoT”
   MGbotLLC.
   Link to material (PDF, 696kB)
5. Business case: “Mobile application “Driver’s assistant”
   Saint Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering (SPbGASU)
   Link to material (PDF, 800kB)
6. Business case: “Movement of an unmanned vehicle using the example of the “Dynamics M1″ (educational set)”
   MGbotLLC.
   Link to material (PDF, 781kB)

The 1st degree diploma in the “Road safety” nomination was awarded to the team from Pskov engineering and linguistic gymnasium and Palkinskaya secondary school (joint team), the 2nd degree diploma in this nomination was awarded to the team from the St. Petersburg Fire and Rescue College.

The 1st degree diploma in the “Innovative transport systems” nomination was shared by two teams from St. Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering (SPbGASU) and Academy of Transport Technologies, the 2nd degree diploma in this nomination was awarded to the team from the Kudrovo Techopark School.

In the nomination “Man and car: innovative modes of transport and infrastructure” the first place was taken by the team from the Ryazan Institute (branch) of the Moscow Polytechnic University, the second place belongs to the SPbGASU team.

The first place for solving the business case “Mobile App “Driver’s Assistant” was given to the team from St. Petersburg Fire and Rescue College.

The second Teacher Week of Race4Scale was held by Russian project partners on April 27th. The day was divided into two parts. Kudrovo presented on the topic of how to prepare for future careers: Traditions blended with innovations, young technicians, robotics and artificial intelligence in school and the making of the Kudrover. ETU “LETI” presented on the topic of simple algorithms of complex learning: Duckietown platform, self-driving cars piloting, digital model of optical sensors and sharp-eyes driverless vehicle.

Driverless vehicle programming and piloting

Intro and exercise presented by Anton Filatov

The Duckietown platform is an open-source project designed to simulate the urban environment and the behavior of unmanned vehicles. Such a platform has been deployed in the laboratory of Saint-Petersburg Electrotechnical University, and we are ready to show everything what it can do. We will tell you what the main tasks are solved by unmanned vehicles, what they are made of, and for which tasks the human intervention is still required. And, of course, in the laboratory you can see with your own eyes how this works on real mobile robots.

Sharp-eyed driverless vehicles

Research project introduced by Maxim Dobrokhvalov 

It is clear that self-driving cars are highly demanded in the nearest future. The first task that every unmanned vehicle should solve is to recognize every object in it’s area of view. Students of SPBETU work on the algorithms that would help these cars to see the environment around them.

Digital model of optical sensors

Research project introduced by Dmitry Ivanov

When a researcher develops a new algorithm, he wants to test it on the real data. Usually, he should find any existing dataset that has been captured by completely different people for different purposes. Students of SPBETU managed to implement a tool that allows to model real sensors and to generate data from these sensors. These data might be used by any researcher that works with a particular sensor.

Finnish Teacher Week was held on Tuesday 20^th of April, naturally online due to Covid-restrictions. During the day, the three Finnish partners of the project presented some of their best practices in education. The day was focused on continuous learning, multiculturalism, working life orientation and the utilization of modern technologies.

Taitaja: Where there is a will, there is a way!

Year 2020 will be remembered as the year of the pandemic and remote learning. Many lessons have been learned since. Education is undeniably one of the environments that has been most disrupted and changed due to the circumstances that Covid-19 presented the world. As a provider of vocational training, Adult Education Taitaja took this challenge as a catalyst for change and opportunity to use digital learning and VR-technology.

The goal of education is to prepare students for their future professions. Hence, their professional competencies should involve a range of complex skills. Critical thinking, problem solving, communication and collaboration are the most relevant skills that students should acquire during their studies, in addition to domain-specific knowledge and the skills to be able to make professional decisions and implement solutions.

Changing the mindset of lecturers starts with the institution’s management and its capability to technically and pedagogically facilitate and support teachers. Additionally, it must be made clear that everyone is expected to use the digital learning environment, and no one can choose not to participate in the ‘digital leap’.

During the process, the teachers learned that by thinking out of the box, they could teach almost any course remotely, even those that required students to be in a workshop or kitchen. The biggest challenges were:

• The technical problems: Students in some instances were not able to get online. Passwords were lost of forgotten. Lack of sufficient digital tools for distance learning. To tackle this Taitaja provided students with the necessary tools – laptop, iPad, headset and the applications. Also continuous technical support for students was offered.
• Some of the teachers were hesitant with the digital learning environment. If the teacher feels insecure or uncomfortable, this will trickle down to the students. Therefore, continuous technical and pedagogical support for the teachers was offered.
• The digital learning environment must offer multi-faceted activities for the students.
• Zoom or Teams must not be used as a channel for the teacher´s ‘monologue’ but as an interactive platform for discussions. Also, breakout rooms should be used to facilitate group work and project learning. At Taitaja the students are also co-builders of knowledge by sharing their experience and presenting their own results.

Of course, there are some traditional courses that have required a lot of hands-on work, such as car mechanics or professional drivers. In these fields of education, a balanced combination of innovatively constructed distance learning, simulations and practical hands-on exercises in the actual vocational environments (at school or on-the-job training) is the best way to teach and learn. Simulation-based learning can start early in study programs, as it works well for beginners and advanced learners. The effect of simulation is greatly enhanced by the use of recent technologies.

The old saying “Where there is will, there is a way” describes the situation quite well. At Taitaja the pedagogical innovations were boosted by the pandemic. It forced the teachers and students to do things differently. Of course, the situation was quite stressful for everyone, but it also gave a sense of achievement and joy when the teachers were able to reach the “next level” in distance learning and create new ways to teach.

Link to presentation

XAMK: Learning in different disciplines

XAMK’s presentation was divided into three individual sets dealing with the approach to learning within three different disciplines.

3D and laser cutting

The first set started with introduction in the principles of and various tools for both 3D scanning, 3D modelling and 3D printing as well as laser cutting. These topics together combine into a multidisciplinary methods course targeted for both degree, exchange and open university students and aiming in providing interdisciplinary students with an approach to a coherent skills package intertwining traditional and up-to-date PD methodologies.

The process applied during the course was then revealed more in detail through two parallel but somewhat different development processes- “step-by-step” case examples. Process phases, applied methods and materials and their combinations as well as the intermediate and final outcomes were portrayed in a dense pecha-kucha-like presentation.

Link to presentation

Game Design

The second part of the XAMK presentation was about the degree programme in Game Design. The degree programme focuses on game art and design, design methods and professional tools. Studies in Game Design enable students from different cultural backgrounds to build an international career.

Studies aim to provide competence in the global game design industry with hands-on experience. The studies cover a wide range of different study subjects with an emphasis on 3D modeling, game art and game design.

The students develop their design skills and learn to use professional tools through working on their own game projects. During these projects, different game design concepts and prototypes are explored with the aim of improving the students’ aesthetic, production, design thinking, visual communication, and team working skills and competences.

Graduates of the Game Design Degree Programme are able to create games and interactive products to meet the needs of customers and end users. The graduates are aware of the potential of gamification and game development opportunities in the market, including the public and private as well as the entertainment sector.

Data Analytics

The third part of the XAMK presentation was about the degree programme in Data Analytics. Unique data analytics training combines business, data analytics and communications studies. In the training, students learn how to manage a business using information and how to develop a new business. Students learn to operate in a changing business environment and gain the skills to be an entrepreneur.

Training is important for basic business skills, but skills related to data processing and presentation are the key to training. The studies include data analytics and information communication as well as visualization through procurement, business collaboration, small group work, self-study and expert lectures.

The studies can also be completed in easy working life contexts. Through close collaboration, students learn about companies and their needs in the new field of data analytics. This is how students learn to understand a business and produce data for its needs, as well as to come up with a new business.

Link to presentation

KSAO: working life orientation in education

In the first part of the presentation, KSAO told about the working life orientation of its educational programs. For instance, learning in an environment that closely resembles a real-life car repair shop, students can learn how to operate the same electronics, tools and equipment that a commercial car repair shop uses. To further illustrate and demonstrate this method of training, KSAO had prepared a 7-minute video, which showed a student learning the whole process of fixing a client´s car. The video began with the student making a work order for the car, and demonstrated the whole process of learning through actually fixing a car, with a teacher closely monitoring and aiding the student the whole time.

The second part of the presentation was about the possibilities of using an apprenticeship or a training agreement between a vocational college and a workplace. The presentation outlined the basics of both apprenticeship and a training agreement and discussed the requirements and benefits of such training methods.

The third part of the presentation told about the collaboration between vocational colleges and employers, and the possibilities that such a system creates for all the parties involved. In the beginning of the presentation, KSAO outlined the idea behind this partnership between schools and work life, and then continued to tell about building interaction between parties. They also spoke about educating workplace instructors and how educational institutions can provide support for companies. KSAO also spoke about how the actual training is organized in the workplace and how the content of instruction can be developed in cooperation with companies to better suit their needs.

Link to presentation

The topic of the research publication, Research on Current and Development Needs in the Automotive and Motorsport Industry, is the current situation of the automotive industry in Finland and its development over the next ten years. In addition, the publication focuses on the development of motorsport in Europe as car technology becomes electrified and emission targets become stricter.

The study examined changes in passenger cars in Finland in 2020-2030, focusing in particular on technological changes. Passenger cars are going through a huge upheaval, the significance of which even goes beyond the transition from horse-drawn carriages to horse-free carriages. This upheaval is driven by political, environmental, social, technological and economic factors.

The challenges in the automotive sector are changing at an unprecedented rate, and the key question is how education can meet them. Taitaja has been training automotive professionals for more than 40 years and, since 2015, also motorsport mechanics in cooperation with motorsports garages. As part of the continuous development of training, Taitaja has implemented national and international projects aimed at identifying and integrating future competence requirements in the vehicle industry into training programs. Development work has been carried out in close co-operation with companies and research institutes in the vehicle and logistics sector.

Read the publication here: http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-344-325-9

The second Future Professions Workshop was arranged by Saint Petersburg Electrotechnical University “LETI” in cooperation with the other Russian Race4Scale project partners, Autoprom and Kudrovo. The workshops were held on the 8^th and 12^th of December in 2020. Like the previous workshop earlier in the autumn, the workshop was arranged via Zoom. The Russian keynote speakers had interesting presentations about new technologies in the automotive industry.

The presentations and the workshop agenda can be found here.

Presentation Highlights

On the first workshop day, Irina Borovskaya and Alexandra Proshkina from INTPROTECH introduced a research of cross-border automotive and motorsport industries in the Russian Federation and Finland.

“There is a need to create modern educational programs, module and projects of secondary and higher education in the field of training specialists for the automotive industry in the North-West Federal District and Finland, in accordance with trends in the technological development of the industry.”

The presentation featured an interesting proposal to create a free economic zone on the border of Finland and the Leningrad region. This zone would provide the opportunity for simplified rules of entry, residence and procedure for employment.

Autoprom North-West represents many well-known international and national automotive brands. The international automotive companies have factories in the St. Petersburg region. Autoprom has done a research about the current situation and the development needs in the automotive industry. The amount of car production decreased 27 % from year 2019 to year 2020 in Russia. However, it is estimated to increase slowly from year 2021. This estimation aligns with the international car production trends.

There were 7925 electric passenger cars in Russia in July 2020. Nissan was represented by 6747 EVs. There are 500 electric buses in Moscow, which is more than in other European capital cities. In 2023, there will be 2300 EV buses in Moscow. Autoprom’s research also studied the demands of automotive professions in the future.

Anton Filatov represented ETU-LETI’s “Using the Duckietown platform as a simulator for managing autonomous systems” – an RDI project study about autonomous driving with a toy-scale testing track. Duckietown track simulates a city environment. The development of software and the usage of camera technology represents a significant role in the project.

The WP1 workshop days also included a section of team working. On the first day, the teamwork topic was to develop a simple software to the Duckietown platform.

On the second workshop day, Evgeniy Vorobyov from ETU-LETI’s Research Institute “Prognoz” represented “Intelligent Radar Systems for the Automotive Industry.” There are many uses and implementations for the traffic control radars such as velocity red light enforcement, crossroads management, object classifications and traffic statistics. The radar systems could be utilized in other businesses too. The software and hardware radar systems have been developed in ETU-LETI.

Nikita Sitkov from ETU-LETI presented about the topic of “smart clothes” as well as the sensor elements integrated into a car seat and a steering wheel. The presentation, “Automotive Bio-Techno Interface”, highlighted that the artificial integral neuroprocessor holds a key role in this technology. The teamwork topic on the second day was based on this presentation. The task for each group was to think and innovate about “What sensors can be used as the basis for a trucker monitoring system before and during a trip?”

The team working groups consisted mostly of students from South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences, Kouvola Region Vocational College, Global Education Services Taitaja and Kudrovo Education Centre.

In addition to students, each group had personnel or specialists to bring their own point of views to the conversation. Since the Future Professions Workshop was carried out in a hybrid model, the groups worked together partly in the same space with others joining online.

On Day 1, the participants were given themes to work on. The topics were based on the day’s keynote presentations regarding the studies of Tuija Arola, PhD., Development Director at Adult Education Taitaja Global Education Services, and Tero Villman, RDI Specialist and Futures Researcher. Each group had two topics to work on and they were asked to answer two simple questions in their presentation: What and why. To prepare for Workshop Day 2, the participants were also given homework to become acquainted with megatrends and Future Bank.

On Day 2, each group had to choose one of the Day 1 ideas to develop further. The groups had a few more added questions to answer, how and to whom, and were also given new problem solving methods to be considered. The Day 1 topics were:

• Continuous learning in a constantly evolving domain.
• Cars for other uses in addition to mobility: The transportation of people and goods from one place to another is only one use case; similarly to mobile phones, where calling was the first use case.
• New services: Understanding technology and new possibilities; Understanding and providing best solutions for customer needs; shifting from product sales to lifecycle services.
• Features of a top mechanic in motorsports.
• Motorsport is a forerunner in sustainability.
• Technological development brings possibilities and uncertainty.

Jan Kettula, RDI Specialist at Xamk, collected and presented the main outcomes, concerns and ideas from Day 1 group discussion. One of the main outcomes of Day 1 presentations was how artificial intelligence, sustainability, emissions and the need for services instead of owning affects the near future. Sustainability is and will be the main driver for the development in several areas: motorsport, electronic battery development and formula E. Motorsport aims for optimal performance and efficiency. In formula E, new customers, servicescape and collaboration opportunities contribute to new business models. Motorsports is the testing platform and the development lab for innovations. It provides new technologies, but also brings new skill requirements to the field.

On Day 1, the groups discussed how the themes of connectivity, data compilation, service opportunities and privacy could create a network of conflicting interests in the field. The groups considered the opportunities in developing public transportation and updating and upgrading the existing vehicle fleet. However, they also recognized the challenges in different areas such as competition versus standardisation.

Group discussions brought up worry for the local circumstances regarding geography, weather and the differences between societies and their effect on infrastructure and business. The impact in e-infrastructure was also a much-discussed topic. The networks, charging stations and distribution were considered both an opportunity and a challenge. The fruits of the presentations of Day 1 also included examples of innovations and designs in vehicle technology. In summary, the groups were pondering how to match existing education structures with the expanding need of constantly updating the skills and performance of individuals and teams.

Thinking About Future

The keynote speaker for Day 2 was RDI Specialist and Futures Researcher Tero Villman. The presentation aimed to provide some food for thought in regards of thinking about the future, and posed interesting questions about how and why we perceive the future as we do.

In our minds, the future can be discerned in very different ways. The keynote offered analogies on what do we see when we think about future. Future is often imagined as a post-apocalyptic view or a very futuristic city with shimmering, white buildings and space colonies. However, for example, the future could also be described as a highway, heading straight to a specific destination, or a forest path with many potential directions. It can also look like a jungle, requiring you to clear your own path, or a wide-open space filled with endless possibilities.

At the beginning of the 20th century, people had difficulties trying to foresee the future and had a wide range of imagines of what could be. The keynote presentation laid several examples of what our present day was thought to look like over a hundred years ago. The imagined aero-cab station shared some similarities to the present, especially since a year ago Volocopter, a pioneer in the Urban Air Mobility (UAM), successfully completed its first manned flight over Singapore’s Marina Bay.

The keynote provided several different models on how to map the alternative futures. The Futures Cone (Adapted from Voros 2003 and 2017) is a graphical representation that expands from the present into alternative futures. The future is not yet realized so everything beyond the present moment is a potential alternative future. The further we go in time, the more possibilities there are.

The Cone has plausible things, educated guesses based on current knowledge that could happen. There are current megatrends, probable things that are likely to be realized in the future. There are also projected things, the extrapolated “baseline” that is expected to become a reality as long as development continues on the same track. Beyond all this, there are also preposterous futures that are currently considered impossible. For example, in Christmas 2019, it might have been thought impossible that soon we would be in lockdown due to Covid-19. Among all of the alternative futures, we also have the preferred futures. These might not be something we have yet but instead are something we strive towards because they support our values. The preferred future is something we want to happen and think should happen. It might still be considered preposterous, though.

As another way to map the possibilities of the future, Zaidi’s Seven Foundations of World building includes different perspectives, which are then in turn divided into levels. The perspectives are social, political, economic, philosophical, environmental, scientific and technological, and artistic. Additionally, Zaidi’s model has different timescales and levels in all perspectives: Civilizational, societal, communal or organizational and individual.

There is all sorts of information available regarding the future. Megatrends are global changes that might even be considered unstoppable, such as digitalization. Sitra in Finland produces information of current megatrends. For example in 2020, these include the ageing and diversifying of the population and the embedding of technology into everything. These in turn lead to other trends such as change in work and consumption. Future Bank (Tulevaisuuspankki) is a crowdsourced look into tomorrow that collects the most impactful future trends. It is a web service that is maintained by the Finnish government. The material is discussed, reviewed, categorized and scored using the Radical Technology Inquirer (RTI) method before being added to the Future Bank. It is a great source for inspirational material.

The keynote presentation provided inspiration and ideas for the day’s group working but also for the private lives of the workshop attendees. The future is not predictable nor predetermined. Future is present today and lots of information regarding the future is already available to all of us. Future outcomes may be influenced by the choices we make today. Most importantly, the future is made, together: people must have innovative visions and want to better the society for all humanity.

Problem solving methods

Dr. Mikhail Nemilentsev from South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences (Xamk) presented different problem solving methods for inspiration and to give the working groups tips on how to best gather their thoughts.

The Golden Circle by Simon Sinek is a simple but powerful model. It has three concentric circles, why, how and what, that define different entities or stages of business and how the audience relates to the vision or the message. These layers represent the purpose, the process and the result.

The workshop attendees were encouraged to use Edward De Bono’s Six thinking hats methodology in the team working session of the day. Everyone in the team could wear the same hat or each person could have their own hat.

The white hat helps the group to think about how information can help the team tackle a particular issue. The red hat’s thought process includes intuition and emotions. It allows everyone to express their feelings without the need to offer a rational explanation. The yellow hat collects all the benefits and feasibility of an idea. It is the optimistic but logical hat. The black hat uses caution and criticism and assesses the risks of the idea. It is the hat of logic, critical judgement, and constructive criticism but never negativity. The green hat believes in creativity, new ideas and possibilities. The blue hat is the conductor of the orchestra and it has the control of the thinking process. Usually the chairperson or the arranger of the meeting wears the blue hat.

The presentation also touched the idea of the AHA moments of our lives by highlighting brilliant innovations such as WhatsApp and IKEA, and the people and their realizations and ideas behind them. This worked as a reminder to record your ideas. Innovations can be divided into different types such as product innovations, service innovations, process innovations and frugal innovations. The presentation helped the workshop attendees to look at their ideas from different perspectives.

Team working, part 2

The teams took their Workshop Day 2 ideas to very different directions. Some had a practical approach into services and technologies, and others focused more on developing methods. On Day 1, the groups were pondering how to match existing education structures with need of constantly updating the skills and performance of individuals and teams. One of the groups answered directly to this dilemma by diving deeper into what features a top mechanic must have in motor sports and what kind of curriculum would be needed to train one. Per the workshop’s theme, the presentation was future-oriented with attention to what special skills would a top mechanic need, such as welding modern materials, data-analysing, aerodynamics and software development.

Another group developed a concept of an autonomous taxi as a service, pondering its pros and cons. While it might not be technically a possibility yet, it is important to consider the impact of such service from different angles on both individuals and on society. The opportunities and challenges of an autonomous taxi service are multi-faceted, such as AI morals and the costs of this technology.

Two of the working groups focused on developing methods based on Day 1 ideas. From the topic of “Continuous learning is a constantly evolving domain”, one group gathered ideas based on the fact that the world is rapidly changing, and the people and institutions who exist must change with it. Their presentation focused on the change in systems as in educational institutions and companies, but also on people as in student and employees. With these two approaches, the group presented their solutions on how systems and people must evolve now in order to support continuous learning.

Another developing idea was to understand and provide the best solutions for customer needs. The group divided their approach to individual, societal, educational, cultural and business point of views and responded to each in terms of the main issues.

In each group, there was a student from Xamk, who will write a learning diary about both workshop days and the ideas and developed methods. These learning diaries and the team working presentations will be utilized in a publication that is to be published in January 2021 by Xamk. The publication will be based on the researches by Tuija Arola and Tero Villman, supplemented by the workshop groups’ presentations.

Day 2 concluded the Future Professions Workshop in Finland. The Russian partners of Race4Scale will have a similar workshop in the coming months. The basis of this workshop will be formed by the research made by Saint Petersburg Electrotechnical University and Union Autoprom North-West.

Sources:
https://www.sitra.fi/en/topics/megatrends/
https://tulevaisuuspankki.fi/en/
Simon Sinek: How great leaders inspire action

In 1910, the world’s largest manufacturer of wagons, George Milburn (1820-1883) had a vision that the electric car could be made lighter, lower and cheaper. He opted to get into electric car manufacture. During their eight years of production, from 1915 to 1923, Milburn Wagon Company produced over 4,000 electric cars.

Milburn was one of the more successful makers of electronic automobiles. Powered by batteries, this car provided an exhaustless and almost silent ride. The Milburn was the lowest-priced electric of the time and much lighter than its competition. While easy to drive and elegant, it was also slow, achieving a top speed of only 20 miles per hour. It also could not go very far even on a full charge with only a 60 to 75 mile range. By the early 1920s, electric cars had lost their popularity to gasoline-engine cars.

Electric cars have been around for over a hundred years now and their popularity is constantly rising. In 2019, the sales of electric cars reached 2.1 million globally. The leading country in the share of sales of new cars running on electricity is Norway with 56% and Iceland holds the second place with 25.5%.

In Transition – Passenger Cars in Finland 2020-2030

In the Future Professions workshop, RDI Specialist, Futures Researcher Tero Villman presented the results of his research, In Transition – Passenger Cars in Finland 2020-2030. The research provides interesting insight into the current state and the future of transport with focus on the technological change regarding passenger cars. It identifies trends, driving forces and weak signals regarding and around passenger cars in Finland in 2020 to 2030. The research forms an informational foundation for further activities in the Race4Scale project.

In Finland, the current dominant mode of transport is passenger car, of which there are nearly 2.8 million in traffic use. The share of petrol or diesel plug-in hybrids is 1.2% and only 0.23% of passenger cars are battery electric vehicles. The majority of passenger cars, 70%, are powered by petrol, followed by 28% of diesel powered. However, the growth of new registrations of plug-in hybrids and battery electric vehicles is significant and increasing. In 2019, they represented 6.9% of new registrations and from January to September in 2020 already 16.7%.

In the future, towards 2030, passengers cars are expected to continue as the dominant mode of transportation in Finland, but the number of passenger cars is not expected to grow significantly. There are alternatives to drivetrains and energy sources for internal combustion engine vehicles, but they are expected to remain dominant. The share of electric vehicles is expected to grow to 8-30% of the passenger cars in traffic use in 2030.

Technical development is at the core of possibilities and uncertainty in the future. Research and development investments by car manufacturers have significantly increased since 2010. Currently, electrification is seen as the most viable solution of alternative powertrains to reduce emissions and avoid penalties. Driving automation increases safety, comfort and productivity. Overall, digitalization and urbanization change customer expectations and behavior, and create possibilities for new business models.

Motorsport Industry – Interesting and Challenging Career Opportunities

Tuija Arola, PhD., Development Director at Adult Education Taitaja Global Education Services, presented her research about the Interesting and Challenging Career Opportunities in Motorsport Industry.

Motor racing provides an ideal environment and race teams ideal capabilities for the automotive industry to develop and test technological innovations. The whole automotive industry benefits from this trickle-down effect. Motor sport serves as a platform to demonstrate new technologies on global scale. Especially Formula 1 is a forerunner on technological innovations. The professionals interviewed for the research agreed that important future innovations will be related to energy recovery, energy technology and battery recharge rates.

FIA, Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile, is a governing body for motorsport globally, that brings together 243 international organizations. In 2017, FIA created an environment and sustainability commission. FIA’s Environmental Accreditation Programme is aimed at helping motor sport stakeholders worldwide to measure and enhance their environmental performance.

In public debate motor sport is often accused for polluting and being a waste of natural resources but, in truth, Formula 1 has been a forerunner in sustainability. Formula 1 announced their sustainability plan in 2019, which aims to a net-zero carbon footprint by 2030. Formula E is a single-seater motorsport championship that uses only electric cars. Formula E’s three core values are energy, environment and entertainment. Formula E has a vision for the future of motorsport that includes electric vehicles, clean energy sources, staying connected to enhance safety via data-sharing between cars, car sharing fleets to reduce emissions and consumption, and autonomous, self-driving cars to promote productivity. Formula E is also a forerunner in gamification.

The research has been able to document the features of top mechanics in motorsport and thus provides information on what kind of qualities should one aiming for the industry to have. Teams have specialists from very different fields. Working in motor sport requires resilience, motivation, enthusiasm and self-confidence. One should also be precise and disciplined team player. Being innovative and proactive are also good qualities to have. Working in motor sport naturally includes lots of travelling so one must be willing to travel and even live abroad and not get homesick. The required skills are typically obtained by a basic training, but hobbies related to and interest in the field is also important.

Building a career in motor sport is a long path from bottom to top. Teams are actively headhunting for good mechanics and hardworking individuals are recognized. Demonstration of skills and motivation is required. Best way to score a job in the field is to actively market ones skills and build a network. References are always asked when recruiting new team members.

Team working

Mikhail Nemilentsev presented the instructions to team working and problem solving. He presented the basic conditions and commitments required for team working. The flow for team working is divided into four simple steps: Framing, structuring, collecting materials and information, and understanding. This cycle repeats as needed. The presentation also gave ideas for brainstorming. This was an orientation and basis for the teams to start working on the given topics.

For group working, the participants were given themes to work on. Topics were based on the researches presented earlier. Each group had two topics and they were asked to answer two simple questions in their presentation later: What and why. The topics were shared between the groups:

• Continuous learning in a constantly evolving domain.
• Cars for other uses in addition to mobility: The transportation of people and goods from one place to another is only one use case; Similarly to mobile phones, where calling was the first use case.
• New services: Understanding technology and new possibilities; Understanding and providing best solutions for customer needs; Shifting from product sales to lifecycle services.
• Features of a top mechanic in motorsports.
• Motorsport is a forerunner in sustainability.
• Technological development brings possibilities and uncertainty.

Groups had one and half hour to work on their topics and then present their ideas at the end of the day in 3-5 minutes and one slide or page. These presentations were to be saved in order to continue working on the topics on Workshop Day 2. Groups were also asked to take notes on other teams’ presentations and save them for the next workshop.

Research presentations

Tero Villman: In Transition – Passenger Cars in Finland 2020-2030

Tuija Arola: Motorsport Industry – Interesting and Challenging Career Opportunities

Sources:
https://www.milburn.us/history.htm
https://www.virta.global/
http://www.ev-volumes.com/country/total-world-plug-in-vehicle-volumes/

Jarmo Kujanpää

+358 40 588 0007

jarmo.kujanpaa@xamk.fi

European Cooperation Day has been celebrated since 2012 by EU member countries and their partner countries. The day celebrates the achievements and possibilities of cross-border and interregional cooperation.

South-Eastern Finland – Russia CBC Program invited CBC-family members and friends to join EC Day coffee-hour. The meeting was carried out online due to the covid-19 restrictions. The covid-19 pandemic impact on project implementation and funded activities was one of the main topics of the day, but special focus was on the positive experiences brought by the digitalization in CBC activities. These experiences and best practices were shared on the day. Participants also shared project achievements and contribution to the regional development. These moments were shared via Programme social media account to remind people about the good things during these challenging times.

See more about covid-19 pandemic impacts, challenges and opportunities on CBC Program projects. Results are based on the project updates in PROMAS, the follow-up and the EC Day registration questionnaires.

CBC during pandemic from Challenges to Opportunities [pdf]

Race4Scale – Development of Automotive and Motorsport Ecosystems -project started in May 2020. The project has six partners. Three of the partners are from Kouvola, Finland and three are from St. Petersburg, Russia. WP1 activities of the project happen this autumn. WP1 consist of four researches and two workshops. The research organizations are the project partners and their subjects are:

• Xamk: The identification of trends, driving forces and weak signals regarding and around passenger cars in Finland from 2020 to 2030.
• Taitaja: Describing the current situation and potential future developments of the motorsports industry, focusing on the fields of Formula and rally in the Finnish and European context.
• LETI: Evaluating the current state of and making predictions for the Finnish-Russian cross-border automotive ecosystem.
• Autoprom: Multidisciplinary applied research of the current and future (development) needs and the future professions in the automotive industry and motor-technics.

Because of the Covid lockdown the partners will arrange two separate workshops in October-November 2020, one in Russia and one in Finland. The implementations will be arranged as a combination of remote connection and physical presence. At the workshops the groups will be working with the topics and high-lights of WP1 researches. The groups will consist of students, teachers and external professionals. A publication of WP1 will be published in December 2021.