EXPERIENCES OF COOPERATION BETWEEN A HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTION AND INDUSTRY AND ITS IMPACT ON WORKING CULTURE

Research, Development and Innovation (RDI) -related work has assumed a significant role in many organizations, especially in the public sector and academic world. Research, development and innovation work is closely related to the cooperation between higher education institutions and industry, and it is usually realized in different kinds of projects and open innovation ecosystems. In such cooperation, the industry usually brings out challenges that need to be solved together with the higher education institution, which approaches the challenges from the perspectives of research, development and innovation, as well as education. This combination is both fruitful and challenging, as this kind of cooperation changes the work culture in many ways.

This presentation describes experiences gained from cooperation between a higher education institution and industry, as well as the impact of this cooperation on the academic world's working culture, which has changed a lot when compared with the traditional working culture of higher education institutions. Laurea University of Applied Sciences (hereinafter: Laurea UAS) has developed a training program to facilitate its employees' response to the changes derived from the industry cooperation. The training program has been co-created with project managers at Laurea UAS. It deals with project management and tackles the challenges found in a project manager's role. Traditionally, employees of higher education institutions are qualified teachers with expertise in their own specific field. Projects with industry partners call for many kinds of expertise and competencies, such as networking management, accountability and international communication skills, which are typically not present in teachers' everyday work. Therefore, it is important to introduce new competences for the teaching staff in order to improve the quality of projects and also to reduce variation between projects.
The presentation introduces new models for supporting project managers' work, and the presented examples are based on experiences of Laurea UAS. Laurea UAS has a strong track record in national and international RDI projects carried out in cooperation with industry. Collaboration with industry has enriched Laurea UAS's activities; real-life examples and open innovation ecosystems have offered unique possibilities to teach research and learn both for employees and students. With the support of project management training, industry cooperation has been successful and the higher education institution has gained better abilities to serve the industry more effectively.