Manufacturing 4.0

MFG 4.0

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MFG4.0 Presentations at the July international conference Knowledge Management in Organisations (KMO2019)

By

Mikkel Stein Knudsen Project Researcher, Finland Futures Research Centre, University of Turku

In the middle of the Finnish summer, the Finnish MFG 4.0 research team of Finland Futures Research Centre contributed to the annual international Knowledge Management in Organisations-conference which this year was held in Zamora, Spain. MFG 4.0-researchers presented two papers, chaired a special session, and acted as part of the conference organizing committee.

In July 19, MFG4.0 work package leader
Dr. Jari Kaivo-oja and researcher Mikkel Stein Knudsen (both Finland Futures Research Centre, University of Turku) represented the project at the annual Knowledge Management in Organisations-conference with topics highly relevant for MFG 4.0 research challenges.

The MFG 4.0 presented two papers, one a conceptual paper on Digital Twins and one on a bibliographic study of emerging technologies enabling Manufacturing 4.0.
 

Conference papers were:

Jari Kaivo-oja, Osmo Kuusi, Mikkel Stein Knudsen & Theresa Lauraeus (2019) Digital Twins Approach and Future Knowledge Management Challenges: Where We Shall Need System Integration, Synergy Analyses and Synergy Measurements?

Mikkel Stein Knudsen, Jari Kaivo-oja & Theresa Lauraeus (2019) Enabling Technologies of Industry 4.0 and Their Global Forerunners: An Empirical Study of the Web of Science Database.

Both contributions were published in high profile series of the Springer, Conference proceedings. Knowledge Management in Organizations, 14th International Conference, KMO 2019, Zamora, Spain, July 15–18, 2019, Proceedings. See MORE

More about the event

Notes from MFG4.0-workshop: Dos and Don’ts of Big Data for Foresight

By

Mikkel Stein Knudsen, Project researcher Manufacturing 4.0, Finland Futures Research Centre, University of Turku

Organisations today, whether public or private, are trying to figure out how to capture new opportunities through application of Big Data. For forward-looking organisations this might be one of the most pressing concerns of the ongoing digital transformation. It is often considered an important strategic imperative to succeed, yet we have found many organisations to be struggling with how to even approach the subject.

Increased integration of Big Data can also lead to better foresight-models in organisations, research and society. This could be an important step towards better decision-making in general. Identifying good practices of Big Data for Foresight is therefore a topical research topic to tackle in order to make Finland thrive in an era of rapid change. How to integrate Big Data into Foresight-methodologies is also an important and highly topical research question for the academic foresight and futures research community.

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MFG4.0 Research Team Members visited the Committee of the Future Coordinators at the Parliament of Finland

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MFG 4.0 researchers from the University of Turku, Research professor, Research director Jari Kaivo-oja and Senior Researcher Theresa Lauraéus met the coordinators of Finland Futures Committee at the Parliament of Finland, On Thursday 22.9.2019. There was a joint meeting of the Finland Futures Research Centre, FFRC (University of Turku) and the Future Committee of Finland, which was organized in Helsinki. Co-hosts of the event were the Committee Counsel Olli Hietanen and Senior Advisor from the Committee for the Future, Parliament of Finland, Dr Maria Höyssä.

According to Senior Adviser Maria Höyssä FFRC will be invited later in the autumn to give its formal statement for the Committee for the Future on emerging future issues that the Committee should explore. But before that there will be an informal brainstorm on themes that the researchers of FFRC think would be interesting for the Committee to look into. This is a possibility to bring forward and collectively comment on the tentative ideas and weak or silly signals, from the juniors and seniors alike.

It is important for MFG4.0 project to have high-level policy dialogues on many levels. This special day in the Parliament of Finland was a very good example of this kind of constructive dialogues. The new Government of Finland was shortly informed about the MFG4.0 project. Research director and research professor Jari Kaivo-oja proposed to the Committee of the Future to pay strategic attention to the digitalization process and new industrial policy options of Finland. As a concrete initiative, he proposed to start futures-oriented co-creation and co-planning process of the Finnish industries and the Government, in which “full business potential of Manufacturing 4.0 and Industry 4.0 will be discussed with implementation programs in the Parliament of Finland”.

“Future, Digital Transformation and Innovation” seminar in Brazil 16th April 2019

By

Marianna Birmoser Ferreira-Aulu, Project Researcher
Finland Futures Research Centre, University of Turku

“Future, Digital Transformation and Innovation” seminar

Brazilian university UniCEUB held on 16 April 2019, a seminar on Future, Digital Transformation and Innovation called “I Seminário Internacional Brasil Finlândia: Futuro, Transformação digital e inovação”. This seminar was organized as a joined effort between UniCEUB, Finland University and Finland Futures Research Centre, and it marked the launching event of a course post-graduation lato sensu course organized by these organizations.

Project Researcher Marianna Birmoser Ferreira-Aulu

Manufacturing 4.0-project Project Researcher Marianna Birmoser Ferreira-Aulu was a keynote speaker in this event. In her talks, Ferreira-Aulu provided the audience with an overview of what Futures Studies is, and why it is an important emerging academic field. She explored how digital transformations are just one aspect of complex futures, and that not only individuals, but also societies should be futures literate in order to make better decisions on business, academia, government and personal lives. Basic concepts of Futures Studies were presented: megatrends, trends, emerging issues, black swans and
extreme events.

High-profile audience and keynote speakers
The audience present in the event included important decision-makers. In addition to students and teaching staff of the university, also members of government (as some staff of the presidential office and members of ministries) and CEOs were also present.

Finnish Ambassador Jouko Leinonen

Finnish Ambassador Jouko Leinonen presented his thoughts of education as a driver of social change. He explained in his speech how Finnish education system is based on rational choices. According to him there was not any education revolution in Finland, but a slow evolution.

 Leinonen mentioned in his speech, that Finland has made a mutual decision between all political parties that education must be a priority of the state, and that the most qualified persons to make decisions on how the budget for education will be spent are the professionals of that specific area, not politicians.

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The videos of the event are available (in Portuguese) on YouTube:
Opening session
Closing session