The 8th CAMOT International Conference 2018 was organized by China Association for the Management of Technology – CAMOT – and South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences – XAMK. The conference gathered together thinkers, academics and experts from businesses to share latest ideas, discuss and debate issues and challenges around the themes of CAMOT 2018, namely the Belt and Road Initiative, China´s Embracing Innovation and Sustainability, and Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Health and Wellbeing.
Cross Motion project organized CAMOT 2018 pre-conference event on September 18, 2018 in Helsinki and Espoo, and presented the project and its research during the CAMOT conference in Savonlinna on September 19-20, 2018.
The pre-conference event organized by Cross Motion project happened in KELA, Helsinki and in A Grid startup hub in Otaniemi, Espoo, where XAMK Small Business Center has an office. The event was opened by Professor Richard Li-Hua, Founder of CAMOT and Camot Innovation Academy Cambridge, United Kingdom, and Director Anne Gustafsson-Pesonen, XAMK Small Business Center.
Dr. Jari Handelberg and RDI Specialist Mervi Rajahonka from XAMK Small Business Center presented the Cross Motion project and its research. Cross Motion (2016-2019) aims to facilitate cooperation of audiovisual and video-games industries with other sectors such as education, tourism or healthcare. It has organized inter-sector events, conferences and hackathons, and supported prototype development and R&D on cross-innovation, as well as done research on the actual processes of cross-innovation. The research done in Finland and Sweden by Mervi Rajahonka and Jari Handelberg has focused on the intersection of the AV & education sectors. In their presentation, Rajahonka and Handelberg told that there are big changes just around the corner in the education sector. The trends behind these changes include the need for new skills and competencies, efficiency pressures in the education sector, growing power of students, and technology enabling more personalized education. Sectoral differences between AV and education sectors are boosting the rise of the EdTech sector.
CAMOT conference was arranged at XAMK Savonniemi Campus in Savonlinna. The conference programme begun with welcoming words by Director Anne Gustafsson-Pesonen, followed by opening words by Jyrki Koivikko, Chairman of the Board, and Heikki Saastamoinen, President, CEO – both from XAMK University of Applied Sciences, and Professor Richard Li-Hua.
There were several interesting keynote speeches during the day, for example by Professor Guy Liu, Head of Peking University HSBC Business School, Oxford Campus, and Dr. Elli Aaltonen, Director General, KELA, Finland. Professor Li-Hua’s keynote speech was on the capacity building in global higher education.
Late afternoon there were paper and poster sessions, where, among others, Mervi Rajahonka and Jari Handelberg presented their paper based on Cross Motion research called “The future of education – Will Nordic EdTech change the global game?”. The presentation provoked a vivid discussion on the future of education and AV sectors.
(Picture by Mervi Rajahonka.)
On the second day, the conference continued with interesting keynote speeches. After track sessions, Professor Indrek Ibrus from the Cross Motion lead partner, Tallinn University, presented Cross Motion project and its research results. The title and theme of his keynote speech was “Cross-innovation – How Audiovisual Media Industries Start Co-Innovating with the Health Care Sector”.
All in all, Cross Motion project was considered by the conference participants quite interesting and important.
(Picture by Natalia Narits.)
After Professor Indrek Ibrus’s presentation, just before lunch, the closing remarks were given by Professor Li-Hua, and Professor Shawn Carraher, University of Texas at Dallas, USA. They invited the participants of the conference to the next CAMOT conference, held at University of Texas at Dallas, USA, in 2019.
Cross Motion is an Interreg BSR EU-funded project focusing on cross-innovation solutions for health, tourism and education sectors to foster innovative business. There are partners from eight countries: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, and Norway. The lead partner is Tallinn University. Cross Motion is one of the Interreg’s Flagship Projects in the EUSBSR Policy Area Culture. The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment is responsible for the project’s national co-financing in Finland.
Text: Mervi Rajahonka (researcher) and Natalia Narits (project manager), Cross Motion project, Small Business Center, www.crossmotion.org