Otaniemi.fi Blog

Last week I was able to sneak into a morning session arranged by the AmCham High Tech and Growth Entrepreneurship Committee at Aalto Venture Park. As an invited guest speaker Marko Ahtisaari presented the case of Dopplr as an example of challenges and opportunities Finnish start-ups can face. According to Marko, Dopplr’s concept and success as a service for smart international travellers is partly based on the built-in desire for humans as a species to travel. To my ears this statement sounds like a perfect example of a “Third Culture Kid”, “3CK” or “Global Nomad” mindset: a person, who, as a child, has spent a significant period of time in one or more culture(s) other than his or her own integrates elements of those cultures and their own birth culture, into a third culture. For a person like Marko, who was raised in three continents, one could easily imagine large and strong wings and roots that re-root themselves to new surroundings is more of a norm than exception.

Personally, I’m more inclined to say that by nature, instead of wanting to constantly be exposed to unfamiliar circumstances, people have a strong need to feel safe. This is accomplished by creating daily routines around livelihood, building a circle of trust through meaningful relationships and ensuring not only a sense of belonging but also of an opportunity to contribute to the community. After all, hasn’t reservation for things that are different, new and strange been an important mechanism to ensure the survival of our species?

Other components of successful entrepreneurship mentioned by Marko was serendipity, lucky coincidences, which usually takes place in the context of informal networking. Whenever going to a new place, the first thing one should do is to find out where people gather to eat. Now this is something I like: the satisfaction humans have experienced since the Stone Ages in gathering around a fireplace to share a meal is something I believe is embedded somewhere deep in our DNA.

At a first glance “organizing serendipity” is an oxymoron but in the light of the above comments, it actually isn’t. During the past three weeks, every Tuesday and Thursday morning the coffee room at Design Factory has been buzzing with people enjoying breakfast together. The €2 breakfast has been well received and even described as a “hotel-type breakfast” with porridge, buns, eggs and the lot. Breakfast at DFfany’s proves that “organizing serendipity” can be done: “organizing” simply means someone taking the responsibility of setting the table (ie. doing the groceries, making the coffee and baking the buns) and “serendipity” is guaranteed to follow.

To ride one wave of serendipity, join us for breakfast Tuesday and Thursday mornings 8-10 am at Design Factory (Betonimiehenkuja 5, Otaniemi)!

Onnivatively yours,

Melissa
ps. you can find my definition for “ONNIVATION” in my previous blog posting “OIN and the Meaning of Life.

During yet another inspiring visit to Design Factory last week, around the coffe table I claimed that Otaniemi International Network will make Otaniemi and the Greater Helsinki Region the world’s best place to live, work and play by the end of year 2011. The confidence boost to make this kind of a claim came with the signatures put on papers just minutes before. Over 1,5 years of persistent work became worthwhile and EU-funding finally secured with a swift stroke of a pen. That felt so good and made me very happy.

So what was the reaction to this not-so-modest claim of mine? Eetu’s (see his background info at http://aaltodesignfactory.fi/wiki/index.php?title=Kalevi_Ekman) comment was that sure, one can always claim to be the world’s best but in the end, everything comes down to the meaning of life.

Wow. Meaning of Life. My favorite topic. My job is now about finding the Meaning of Life?!?!

How does one build and develop Otaniemi International Network so that it will enable us to get some kind of understanding of the Meaning of Life? Last autumn Eetu was moderating a panel discussion, the key topic of which I don’t remember anymore – surely there were important people representing business, technology and design talking about important stuff. What I do remember was that when Eetu invited the audience to the opening of Design Factory the next week, he said a visit there would be a life changing experience.

So, after this (also) very modest claim, I went to Design Factory with extremely high expectations and am now happy to say was not disappointed – quite on the contrary. Go and have a look for yourself.

During the past months I’ve had several chances to hear and learn about the way Design Factory works and how facilitating the creation of ideas into something concrete has been taken into consideration when planning the space. The choices that have been made are actually very simple, and the question of why these simple things are not applied everywhere comes to mind. As a side note: could it be so, that by making things complicated they seemingly become more important and the person who can multitask and handle the most complicated stuff is the hero of our age and time?

Ok, so Design Factory has walls and furniture that are easily adjusted to any kind of occasion and use. Also, boxes are filled with post-its, colored markers, legos, play-doh and the works. But what about the human factor? How do the people working at Design Factory create the soul of the place?

Last week I came across the DF Rules of Creation, which I think are an answer to the above question:

1. Never say NO or criticize any ideas
2. Get your hands dirty
3. Communicate your ideas
4. Document everything
5. Stay on topic
6. Build on others’ ideas
7. Keep up the pace
8. Have fun!

Heureka! These same principles are applicable in the creation of Otaniemi to be the best place for YOU and ME to live, work and play! In other words: let’s ask HOW and WHY instead of saying no and criticizing. Let’s take the extra step – or rather stop? – and listen to, share ideas with and help the individual persons that come our way. Let’s learn and build something new from these encounters. Let’s not multitask but rather take one thing at a time, from beginning to end, with the core idea jotted down or drawn on something: paper, napkin, coaster or the back of a matchbox.

In March, Harvard Business Review’s article referred to Otaniemi as the world’s #2 innovation hotspot. What do innovations and the Meaning of Life have to do with each other? Let’s play a little with the word INNOVATION – this buzzword we hear all the time “inno-this and inno-that…” To be INNOVATIVE it is safe to assume one is quite high on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, right? One is close to a state of realizing one’s own potential. From this it can be derived that HAPPINESS is to some extent a prerequisite for INNOVATION. In the Finnish language “HAPPINESS” translates to “ONNI”. Therefore I now declare that Otaniemi International Network’s will help us find the Meaning of Our Lives in the spirit of ONNIVATION. As the innovation sherpa John Kao stated: if innovation is the answer, what’s the question? The Meaning of Life?

Here is a link for you to Enigma’s Return to Innocence, hopefully it inspires you to start your search and share some of your findings along the way. Please enjoy – life is good! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_ALElMLpRA