A two-day seminar about knowledge co-creation and implementing ba and flow in regional innovation ecosystems was held in Espoo, Finland on 22-23^rd October 2012. The seminar was organized by Aalto University in connection with the research program Energizing Urban Ecosystems (EUE), and was attended by 60 people across the two days.

Set up in a learning cafe-style, the program provided short presentations to stimulate thinking on different aspects of knowledge creation and application, including ba and flow, the importance of innovation-enabling environments in real-life and virtual reality, and the challenges of regional innovation. Presentations were followed by interactive work activities to deepen participants’ insights in the content, and work out prototypes for application in the context of Aalto University and Espoo’s T3 area.

Three years ago, Aalto University received Professor Ikujiro Nonaka’s challenge to apply state-of-the-art KM theories in practice. One answer to that challenge can be seen in the extensive Energizing Urban Ecosystems research program being undertaken by Aalto University and its partners. According to EUE financier Tekes, “This program creates international standards in the area of ​​research … and enables participating companies to strengthen their global competitiveness in urban planning expertise.”

Professor Nonaka, Professor Emeritus at Hitoshubashi University and Visiting Professor at CKIR, Aalto University School of Economics, addressed the seminar on Day 1 to keynote issues of knowledge creation and the practical wisdom needed for leadership. Professor Noboru Konno of the Tama Graduate School of Management and Information Science, and pioneer in developing new thinking about ba in workplace and design thinking, spoke about this in relation to knowledge ecology, future centers and purpose engineering on Day 2.

Other speakers included Aalto University’s Professor Seija Kulkki on the EU’s Horizon 2020 program in the light of societal challenges; architect Aija Staffans on new urban space initiatives in the Otaniemi area; and Hank Kune, future-center expert from the Netherlands, about the importance of innovation-enabling environments for regional innovation.

Finland’s Secretary of State Olli-Pekka Heinonen told the seminar that the government would examine the themes of the workshop as they relate to the Finland’s on-going future strategic planning.

ACSI is an action-learning camp addressing societal concerns in a highly effective manner: it initiates a continuing process for empowering people and organizations to think and act in concert, creating shared understanding of how opportunities for societal innovation emerge, and how to use them constructively in business and research. At the same time participants apply innovation skills to address challenging real-life issues.

Built on the accumulated expertise of diverse international innovators, ACSI uses renewed Triple Helix thinking and Knowledge Triangle principles to bring field experts, practicing innovation professionals, top researchers, and high-potential students together to actively address societal concerns, and use rapid prototyping tools to translate promising ideas into practical projects aimed at societal innovation.

The world´s first ACSI camp was prototyped in Finland in 2010: 120 people from across Europe, North America and Asia took part. In the summer of 2011, the second edition of ACSI brought 160 participants from 15 different countries together in order to address 10 issues at the 8-day camp.

This year’s camp was organized in Helsinki from 7-14 August 2012. 80 people from 20 different countries worked with diverse societal challenges, including a cluster of five cases looking at different perspective of “Inclusive Society” in pioneering city innovation hubs in Finland, Sweden and the Netherlands.

ACSI is co-organized by Finland’s Aalto University and the New Club of Paris. It is part of the Aalto Societal Innovation Initiative activities at CKIR – Center for Knowledge and Innovation Research, an independent, international, academic and multidisciplinary research centre at the Aalto University School of Economics.

More information about the challenge descriptions and early results can be found on the ACSI website: http://acsi.aalto.fi/en/