Department of Art and Media
The departments of Art and Media at Aalto University School of Arts, Design & Architecture have merged as of 1st January 2022. Professor Harri Laakso has been appointed as Head of the new Department of Art & Media.
It may sound odd to claim that communication barriers and information gaps exist between different sectors in Finland, but this void in knowledge transfer seems to be preventing vast segment of the creative professionals and companies from establishing and expanding upon mutually beneficial collaborations.
In particular, creative professionals who do not typically work in commercial partnerships lack network connections, but also basic knowledge and terminology for effectively communicating their expertise to potential business partners. Different sectors rely on partially outdated perceptions of each other's values, aims and operational cultures. This, combined with underdeveloped mutual terminology, lead to situations where potential partners do not understand each other's value potential, skills or goals.
Two-year co-research project Luova Lämpiö, funded by Business Finland, aims to create the needed knowledge base for a partially automated facilitation, service, and collaboration model that is initially developed and scaled in Finland and during later stages internationally.
While certain areas of creative industry have increased their contributions to the Finnish BKT during recent years, other, traditionally less commercial segments of creative sector are largely isolated from other sectors. These professionals are rarely hired to work in other sectors for positions that utilize their expertise. On the other hand, creative businesses already working with companies are always looking to renew their practices.
Looking beyond conventional business thinking, researchers aim to identify and apply new ways of entrepreneurial and collaborative practices that can disrupt restrictive business-creative sector collaborations, which are too often limited to commissioned projects, outsourcing and purchasing of creative- and design services. At Aalto University, this new entrepreneurial orientation is referred to as Artpreneurship.
Aalto researchers set out to develop a new model for forming and facilitating non-typical, novel collaborations and partnerships that engage freshly graduated creative sector talents and experienced creative professionals who do not traditionally collaborate with businesses in developing innovative solutions to cross-sector business challenges.
Anniina Suominen, Project LeadArtpreneurship advances artistic ways of thinking and values based on ethics, integrity, and broad sense of sustainability.
The project is a five-partner-model that brings together academics, specialists from different industry fields, non-creative sector business partners, a network of creative professionals and creative and innovative technology developers. To generate research results that can contribute to a broader change in entrepreneurial and cross-sector collaborations, a team with curiosity and an agenda to rattle restrictive thinking and practices was needed (e.g. ethical contracting, IPR, AI accessibility, sustainability).
The core researchers are a transdisciplinary team from Aalto University School of Art, Design and Architecture and School of Business. Companies collaborate closely with academics, creative professionals and innovation experts. Company partners gain access to research data, novel ideas, and the opportunity to experiment with creative concepts, solutions and partnerships. The project involves internal Aalto partners like Aalto Innovation Services, international research collaboration with universities such as Aalborg University (Denmark) and business partners like Taiste Oy and Leapfrog Projects AB.
Luova Lämpiö co-research project is funded by Business Finland and NextGenerationEU.
The departments of Art and Media at Aalto University School of Arts, Design & Architecture have merged as of 1st January 2022. Professor Harri Laakso has been appointed as Head of the new Department of Art & Media.
Artpreneurship research group is a team of interdisciplinary researchers focusing on bringing new knowledge on art entrepreneurship on academic and practical levels.
Aalto University has produced a film to highlight its creative culture.