Dec 11 2014
The European Organization for Nuclear Research CERN has opened a new innovation facility in Geneva. The facility, which has been named IdeaSquare, is modelled on Finnish Aalto University's Design Factory and Aalto University has assisted in the planning and implementation of the project. IdeaSquare will serve as an environment for technological development and its purpose is to make the technology developed at CERN more widely available for society.
At IdeaSquare, the focus will be on innovation and product development projects. Like Aalto University's Design Factory, it brings students and companies from different sectors together so that they can join forces and share ideas.
- CERN is a top expert in basic research and measurements in the field of particle physics. I believe that IdeaSquare will become a place where our research expertise can be made to bring more benefits for Europe as a whole and European innovation. We also want to be a partner in the training of new-generation engineers for a world where technological skills alone are no longer enough, explains Sergio Bertolucci, CERN's Director for Research and Scientific Computing.
- Planning and building of IdeaSquare has been an interesting project. It is great to see how the work that we have been doing at Design Factory is attracting interest around the world. We are looking forward to seeing what new opportunities IdeaSquare will provide for Aalto University students and for students coming from elsewhere in Europe, says Professor Kalevi Ekman, Director of Aalto University's Design Factory.
The operating approach of IdeaSquare has already been tested in practice in Challenge-Based Innovations (CBI), a joint product development course between Design Factory and CERN. In the programme, students are engaged in real-life projects and it has attracted students from different parts of Europe.
- In the latest course, students at CERN implemented a programme using which autistic children can communicate or play with other people. In IdeaSquare, our aim is to arrange more courses that are similar to CBI and also carry them out in a virtual manner, explains Bertolucci.
Source: http://www.aalto.fi/en