Teleport to a meeting in the office premises of the future
Teleporting from one country to another, augmented reality conservatories and robot assistants. All of these are things you can find in the offices of the future, if the ideas envisioned by students at InnoEvent Tampere will come to fruition.
InnoEvent Tampere is an innovation event that has brought together university students from the Tampere region as well as local and national businesses since 2013. At the event, the participating students solve future-oriented assignments created by the businesses.
One of the 11 organisations creating assignments at this year’s event was MOW, the Sponda-owned provider of innovative coworking spaces. The MOW assignment, entitled “Workspace concept 2030”, invited the students to envision the office space of the future: what will it look like and what services and technology will it include?
International teams of students worked on the assignment at Tampere Arena and made their pitches at the Plevna cinema at the end of the week.
A smart wall that senses the worker’s alertness
The students’ presentations included not only utopian visions of office premises, but also solutions that can be implemented using today’s technology.
One of the innovations was a smart wall equipped with sensors to collect data on the uses of the premises related to their well-being at work.
“A smart wall could remind a worker not to spend too much time sitting down.”
For example, the smart wall could let an office worker know they’re spending too much time sitting down or that they should take a meal break. The wall could also change its colour according to the occupant’s current state of alertness, creating an atmosphere that suits the relevant objectives.
The presentations also included fascinating ideas concerning augmented reality conservatories, quiet capsules and furniture that adapts to the user.
There were also new ideas related to meetings. The teams envisioned that the meetings of the future will be conducted with the aid of VR smart goggles or teleporting, which would involve the participants move between cities and countries as holograms.
“Meetings will be conducted with the aid of teleporting, with the participants moving from one place to another as holograms.”
AI, VR and AR were commonly mentioned in the presentations, and there were also interesting recurring themes. These included the comfort and adaptability of office space, technology that makes daily life easier and health-related aspects, such as stress reduction.
Smart technology was perceived by the teams as a factor that can help build a stronger sense of community.
New ideas from the workers of the future
Katta Heikkilä, Head of Hub & Community at the new MOW Supernova in Tampere, says there were many reasons for MOW to participate in InnoEvent.
“Students are the future. There are strong synergies between universities and businesses in Tampere, and engaging in co-operation with the higher education sector is important for us as well. We also wanted to provide the students with an opportunity to let their imaginations run wild, which gave us access to new ideas from the people who will shape the working life of the future,” Heikkilä says.
The future is now!
In the world of office space, MOW represents the future today. The innovative MOW concept takes advantage of state-of-the-art technology, and MOW also looks to lead the way when it comes to services and interior design solutions.
“Sponda has taken a trailblazing role by introducing its own coworking concept. Our strengths are agility, a strong community spirit that creates genuine synergies and our ability to serve businesses of all sizes. Our solutions rely on Sponda’s extensive experience and empirical data on businesses’ needs related to office premises as well as the changes in working life. This means that all of our innovations are based on genuine utility and need,” Heikkilä explains.
“MOW creates innovations, but all of the concept’s business premises solutions are based on genuine utility and need.”
She promises to carefully review the work produced by the student teams with the rest of the MOW Crew.
“We might well see some of the ideas they envisioned become reality at MOW in the future. We just need technology to reach the point where the implementation of their ideas is feasible,” Heikkilä concludes.
InnoEvent Tampere
- A five-day innovation competition
- Brings together university students and businesses
- During the event, more than 700 students from various fields work together in multidisciplinary teams to come up with solutions to business-related challenges presented by the participating businesses
- The student teams are mentored by experts, coaches and the representatives of the participating businesses
- The students get to develop their skills and the businesses get the opportunity to identify future talents
- Organised since 2013
Published 27.11.2018