Project
PARK - Game Industry leading towards a Pandemic Resilient education
Project sponsors
Abbreviation
Project type
Focus area
Implementation time
1.3.2021 - 31.8.2022
Project unit
Financing program
European Social Fund (ESF)
Primary home page
Project description
The gaming industry is globally the fastest growing business area of ??the creative industries. In this project, the game industry's growth potential as well as technical and service-related innovations are expanded to be used by companies in other industries. Since the gaming industry is strongly digital and global, solutions in the gaming industry work well even during the corona crisis.
In the project, multidisciplinary product development and innovation workshop modules are organized for companies in connection with game industry training. In the workshops, product and service blanks are developed to promote business in the creative industries. The focus is on generating added business value for creative industries, but of course other industries also benefit from multidisciplinary solutions. For example, gaming and digital innovations in wellness technology or tourism benefit game and technology companies that produce solutions, as well as health and tourism companies that utilize solutions.
As a result of the workshops, blanks for new product and service innovations are created. From these blanks, the blanks judged to be the best in terms of impact will be selected, from which projects will be made for the structural fund program period 2021–2027.
Participating universities of applied sciences choose their own product and service development themes in accordance with their own areas of strength and the needs of the business life of their region. Game training is included in all themes. In some of the workshops, the game industry acts as a facilitator, bringing together actors from creative fields and other fields.
The substantive themes of the project, which are reinforced with the methods and technologies of the gaming industry, are: 1) event production and tourism, 2) circular economy and sustainable design, 3) digitalization of the user experience and 4) XR technology in useful gaming applications.
The project is nationwide, the main implementer of which is Southeast Finland University of Applied Sciences (Xamk) and the sub-implementers are LAB University of Applied Sciences (LAB), Kajaani University of Applied Sciences (KAMK) and Jyväskylä University of Applied Sciences (JAMK). The Digi & Game Center ecosystem is especially utilized in JAMK's project measures.
More information:
Hanna Hauvala, Certified Project Manager (IPMA Level C® certificate)
+358 40 576 9174
Jyväskylä University of Applied Sciences, Business
Project results
articipating companies and municipal organizations received service and marketing ideas that were gamified or applied from gaming practices. The students were able to participate in the development activities and gained experience in working life-oriented. In addition, the activity generated new project proposals.
The cooperation between the universities of applied sciences resulted in workshop concepts that combine working life, education and R&D activities, as well as an online training event concept that the universities of applied sciences can implement in cooperation in the future.
The project compiled an article on the pandemic challenges of the target group industries and an online publication, which contains descriptions of workshop implementations, students' and teachers' experiences of studying during the pandemic, ideas on applying the gaming industry to the operations of different industries, and video lectures on earning models in the gaming industry. The best practices of the workshop implementations were modeled and conceptualized so that it is possible to use them in the future, for example, in the operations of universities of applied sciences. Blog articles and a summary article were published about the project in the LAB Design Annual Review publication.