Episode VI: Future is Made in Finland – Design it yourself!

Professor Hölttä-Otto is an expert on interdisciplinary design. Her current research areas include empathy, creativity and need finding. She is interested in how empathy and creativity can be developed and learned and also how creativity evolves during engineering education. She is also interested in novel methods for finding latent needs, needs not expressed by the user. She is active in the area of complex system architecture.

Prof. Hölttä-Otto teaches product development methods including design thinking. She is in charge of the ME310 Global Innovation Program at Aalto University, which is part of the global SUGAR network on global interdisciplinary design thinking. Prof. Hölttä-Otto is a recipient of the NSF CAREER award and has won ten best paper awards or similar distinctions. 

Professor Niina Nurmi is a director of the International Design Business Management (IDBM) program at Aalto University. Before Aalto University, she worked at Stanford University, Department of Management Science and Engineering. As an organizational psychologist, she studies how employees can find motivation and thrive in contemporary organizations. Her research focuses on work design, leadership, employee well-being, and innovative collaboration in virtual teams, particularly those spanning national boundaries.

Kaisa Väänänen is a professor of user experience in the unit of Human-Centered Technology (IHTE) at Tampere University. Professor Väänänen’s research interests include UX design, design research on human-centered technology, and social robots and their applications in sustainable development.  

Turkka Keinonen is a professor of industrial design, vice dean of research and head of doctoral education at Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture. Keinonen has a doctoral degree from the University of Art and Design Helsinki (1998). He has worked as industrial and interaction designer for Finnish technology industries (1990-1995), been a principal research scientist at Nokia Research Center (1998-2001) and visiting associate professor at National University of Singapore (2007-2008). Keinonen’s publications include Mobile Usability (McGraw-Hill 2003), Product Concept Design (Springer 2006), Designers, Users and Justice (Bloomsbury 2017) and about 100 other publications on human centered design, product concept design, design strategy and design ethics.