Pushing boundaries at EIT Digital Master School

"I learned that studying in Europe is quite organised and that European professors push your boundaries to apply theory in practical or real life use cases. Clearly, I was good at spitting out theory on paper. I wanted to know if I would also be good at the European way of studying and I wanted to visit European countries. When I found out about the EIT Digital experience to study at two universities in two countries, it seemed a good match.  Luckily, I do appreciate the European way of studying. It is more oriented on utilising your learnings and preparing you for the working world. I found it a much easier way to collaborate with individuals within your cohort and the professors are keen to know how you think and why you think in a certain way. Based on what I have heard from friends who are doing their masters, I would say that the North American way of studying is more interpreting information and having exact answers, while the European way is more about utilising your brain and the theory for practical purposes."

"When it comes to the business side is that - especially in this Corona- era - you cannot always prepare for your future, you need to adapt. In theory, it is easy to have an idea for a solution, create an interface and design. But what actually happens is not concrete. EIT Digital made learning concrete by giving real-world business case scenarios. This teaches you that a great solution may not necessarily be market proof. You have to ensure the market fit. That is one of the lessons that I learned."

"I had a post master position a SmartSound Home at the Finnish EIT Digital co-location centre. My primary work was on the application side and doing user studies. I did a lot of market research, interface design work and pilot testing. This we did with nurses to see what did work and what not. The EIT Digital co-funding is ended now, but the project is continuing with Finnish business funding, the pilots will be done in March and the owners are registering it as a full company. I aided the founders in making their first step into the business world."

* SmartSound Home is a fully automatic safety monitoring and wellbeing tech solution for home care based on Artificial Intelligence. It analyses sound events that affect the safety and wellbeing of elderly people and alerts health care professionals when necessary. In a EIT Digital Innovation Activity, multiple EIT Digital partners work together to found a new start-up. Partners within SmartSound are the Tampere University,  home service organisation Hoiva Mehiläinen, engineering firm Mativation and the Swedish tech company Minut.

"I just started a PHD innovation management at LUT University. My background is computer science and international business. Once the PhD opportunity came by, I found that the EIT Digital experience I had, pushed my application further. Being part of EIT Digital is a step forward in understanding the innovation, technology and the entrepreneurship side of things. In the technology world, most people are focused on just technology and miss out on the business part. In my research, I am going to understand why it is that certain sectors of business can be so adaptive to innovate and are keen on trying different things and pushing boundaries, while others seem to want to remain stagnant and "not fix something that is broke". Pushing two sectors of study together is rather new. Hopefully, my research will add companies in the future."