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Research, Development and Innovation Operations and Services
Research, Development and Innovation Operations and Services
We strategically promoted the RDI activities and our competence in our core areas of expertise, in particular: entrepreneurship, sales, services, digitalisation and pedagogy. We built our sixth core area of expertise, business development. The impact of the RDI activities in our core areas of expertise was promoted by the hiring of the Heads of RDI in our units.
We supported Haaga-Helia employees in applying for external funding by assisting them with, for example, competence development, preparation of project applications and project communication. In order to generate new project initiatives and applications, we developed the ProjektiBoosteri project tool as RDI cooperation within 3UAS (Haaga-Helia, Metropolia University of Applied Sciences and Laurea University of Applied Sciences).
We launched two new laboratories that apply artificial intelligence and biometrics. SalesLab and eComLab offer new initiatives for researching, teaching and promoting sales and interaction, among other things. The labs generate interesting cooperation opportunities internationally as well.
We reformed the Master’s degree programmes in cooperation with a large number of Haaga-Helia teaching personnel and students. We ensured that the needs and perspectives of the future working life are taken into consideration in the renewed programmes by also involving working life representatives in the reform work. Eight Master’s degree programmes with 12 specialisations will be launched in the autumn of 2019, enabling multidisciplinary, flexible and customised study paths. The first student admissions to the programmes will be take place in the spring 2019.
In the SmartUp project, we joined three other European higher education institutions to build a Master’s programme of international entrepreneurship. In the 3UAS cooperation, we implemented an international innovation study module called CERN Bootcamp, which was attended by Master’s degree students from all three 3UAS institutions.
StartUp School supported student entrepreneurs
StartUp School supported Haaga-Helia students in starting their own businesses and accelerating growth. We offered modules that could be included in the degree programmes and expanded our study offering to meet the competence needs of the working life in the future even better. Our StartUp School expanded to include more than 1,000 students. We developed our services and concepts intended for education export. An entrepreneurship training package was developed in South Africa and a module in Ukraine. A StartUp Week event for the management of the university of applied sciences that we organised had customer participants from South Africa and Botswana as well.
We supported the launch of the operations of the Helsinki Entrepreneurship Society (Helsinkies). The operations of the society founded by students got off to a great start: at the end of the year, it had 102 members. We led the operations of the entrepreneurship group of 3UAS. We participated in the implementation of the Cambridge Venture Camps aimed at 3UAS students in Finland and England and in the 10 days 100 challenges event. In addition, we supported the development of the entrepreneurship competence of 3UAS teachers by means of various events.
Haaga-Helia took a step towards the future of sales in October by opening SalesLab, Europe’s first top sales laboratory based on artificial intelligence and biometrics, and eComLab that focuses on the development of webstore operations. The labs provide students, instructors and companies interested in developing their sales with a completely new way to study and develop multichannel sales, customer encounters and interaction. The labs were developed as a result of long-term cooperation with companies operating in Finland. These new development environments were among the main investments of Haaga-Helia in 2018.
Haaga-Helia’s Finnish-language Master’s programmes were renewed in 2018. The project to reform the programmes during the year resulted in the establishment of eight Master’s programmes with 12 specialisations. The programmes are scheduled to start in the autumn of 2019 and will provide opportunities for multidisciplinary study paths. In addition to degree education, they are also suited for continuing education and organisation-specific customised education in the working life. The renewed programmes enable students to choose study paths that best serve their goals. In the programmes, groups of students representing various sectors, organisations, job duties and nationalities refine information together and receive support from their peers.
The operations of Helsinkies, founded by Haaga-Helia’s and Business College Helsinki’s students in the spring of 2018, got off to a great start with 12 entrepreneurship events. The society promotes a culture where entrepreneurship is valued and the prerequisites of growth enterprises is promoted and brings together individuals who are interested in becoming entrepreneurs. The society organises a variety of activities, such as pitching events, hackathons and workshops in cooperation with Haaga-Helia, start-up companies and other student organisations. At the end of the year, Helsinkies had 102 members. Haaga-Helia’s StartUp School has supported the launch of the operations with the help of a donation made by the Helsinki Region Chamber of Commerce.
