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

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.

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 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

Live stream of the event 14.15 Finnish time : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34wFtj8NDu

More about the seminar

It starts 14.15 Finnish time.

Manufacturing 4.0-researcher Marianna Birmoser Ferreira-Aulu (Finland Futures Research Centre, University of Turku) is one of the keynote speakers for a Brazilian-Finnish seminar in the capital city Brasilia on Tuesday the 16^th of April. The seminar ‘Future, Transformation and Digital Innovation’ is held at the Centro Universitário de Brasília (UniCEUB) www.uniceub.br) and has one thousand registered participants.

The event is arranged jointly by UniCEUB and Finland University and functions as a launch event for planned university courses on digital transformation offered by Finland Futures Research Centre in Brazil.  

The event will be opened by Finnish ambassador to Brazil, Jouko Leinonen, and will also includes a talk by former President of the Brazilian Supreme Court Carlos Ayres Britto.

Marianna Birmoser Ferreira-Aulu is part of the work of Finland Futures Research Centre on Manufacturing 4.0. The ongoing research-project provides insights into the impacts of digital transformation on the manufacturing industry, as well as on society, social policy and education. As the high-profile launching event and the 1,000 registered attendees demonstrate, Brazilian partners have shown great interest in these themes.

The event and the upcoming course-offering also provides the FFRC with an opportunity to strengthen the international impact of the project supported Strategic Research Council of the Academy of Finland.

More information on the event (in Portuguese): https://www.uniceub.br/eventos/eventos-seminario-brasil-finlandia

Marianna Birmoser Ferreira-Aulu is a Brazilian/Finnish project researcher at the Finland Futures Research Centre, University of Turku. She has a M.A. in Futures Studies, and in addition to Manufacturing 4.0 her research primarily relate to sustainable development futures.

Jouko Leinonen is the Ambassador of Finland in Brazil. He has a M.Sc. in Political Science from the University of Helsinki.

Carlos Ayres Britto is a Brazilian jurist with a doctorate in law (Pontifical Cathololic University of Sao Paulo, 1998). He was appointed to the Supreme Federal Court of Brazil in 2003 and served until 2012, when he faced mandatory retirement. During the latter part of the time period, he served as President of the Supreme Federal Court, the highest judicial position in the country.

Finland University (www.finlanduniversity.com) is a private company that represents 4 Finnish universities (University of Turku, Åbo Akademi, University of Eastern Finland, and Tampere University), and acts as the commercial branch of these organizations. Finland University has recently opened an office in Sao Paulo, Brazil.