Welcome to the XAMK Business Factory! We are grateful for the funding we have received from the Otsakorpi Foundation. The Business Factory helped companies find a student team to meet your R&D product or service development needs. Students were teamed up with interesting company projects that are integrated into their study program.
The XAMK Business Factory’s Goals
We aimed to pilot a multidisciplinary XAMK Business Factory learning environment. Companies had been invited to submit project challenges. Based on the company needs, we would strive to tailor a suitable student project team. The goal was to start 10 to 15 joint student-company project teams that operated either during Spring Semester 2020 or the Summer Factory in Summer 2020.
The students received mentoring and assistance from XAMK University and Business Factory staff to successfully complete their company project. Alternatively, students were also welcome to bring their own product & business ideas to the Business Factory, where we would help them gather a project team to boost forward their business. We also organized workshops and other training events that are open to companies, students and XAMK teaching staff participating in the Business Factory.
How the XAMK Business Factory Worked
We welcomed all companies to submit their student project challenges. Participation was free of charge for participating businesses.
The Business Factory company-student projects will be implemented, depending on the project, in one of the following 3 ways:
- Spring Semester 2020 Business Factory Projects. The Spring semester joint company-student R&D projects were included in broad 5 credit courses in January to early May 2020. This was especially applicable to projects with clear engineering student needs (energy tech, automation, logistics).
- Summer 2020 Business Factory. The Business Factory summer program run May to August, 2020. The participating companies project descriptions were announced to students in late February, and students were invited to apply for the projects teams. For students, the Summer Business Factory is equivalent to a company internship needed to complete studies.
- Business Factory Hackathons. Student-company hackathons are a great way to generate new business or service ideas and to think of new ways of doing things within organizations. Companies can submit a hackathon challenge and student teams use the two days (48 hours) to come up with suggestions & concepts. A winning concept model will be chosen for potential further development.
