#181 – Vocational Learning & Technology in Finland
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Welcome to the next episode of our The Voctech Podcast: learning continued series, supported by the Ufi Voctech Trust and Ufi Ventures. You can follow the conversation using #voctechpodcast and #voctech.
Psssssst. The Ufi Voctech Seed Fund will be open VERY soon. There is between £15k up to £50k available for innovative projects that use digital tech to help people improve the skills they need for work across the UK. The project duration can be anywhere from 3 to 12 months and there are supporting workshops and webinars to guide your applications happening now. And finally, Applications for the seed grants are open on the 21st January and close 13 February, 5pm, so get prepping! For all the details go to ufi.co.uk/ufi-seed-guidelines
What’s in this episode?
This week’s episode throws back to our LIVE recording at Dare to Learn 2019 in Helsinki, Finland. It was recorded during the same week as HEL we can!, an event on Boosting Skills & Continuous Learning in Europe.
With a panel of adult education and corporate training providers, teachers, and eco-system supporters we dig into some of the following questions:
Whose responsibility is upskilling workers?
What is big tech doing to fund upskilling programmes?
Are learning economics fit for purpose in corporate learning? and,
What Investment opportunities in corporate training are worth taking a look at?
Happy listening!
People
Sophie Bailey is the Founder and Presenter of The Edtech Podcast
Sophie is the founder of the iTunes new and noteworthy, The Edtech Podcast. The mission of The Edtech Podcast is to improve the dialogue between ‘ed’ and ‘tech’ for better innovation, through storytelling. The podcast is downloaded 2000+ times a week, from over 145 countries with the UK, US & Aus in the top 3. Sophie is a mentor and advisor within the edtech community. If she’s not interviewing a University Lecturer, School Leader, Ex-Angry Bird, NGO, or Investor about education innovation, she’s chasing her son around the park or binge-reading Homo Deus. Twitter: @podcastedtech
Janne Hietala, Chief Visionary Officer, Valamis
Janne Hietala started his first company at the age of 21. He has been leading the company’s commercial operations since 2008 commercialization of Finnish EdTech for global markets. He’s responsible for commercial strategy and development within the key areas of marketing, sales, product development and services. Janne was selected as a Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 2012. Currently, he is leading Valamis’ global sales from the company’s UK office located in the world’s largest fintech center, Level39, in London. He is currently completing Executive MBA program at the London Business School. Twitter: @janne_hietala
Antti Korhonen, CEO, xEdu
Prior to founding xEdu, Antti has held positions as CEO, as well as having several central positions in Nokia. His core specialties are business development, strategy, networking, and competence development. Antti holds an MQ in Quality Management from Helsinki University of Technology. Twitter: @anttikorhonen
Reidar Wasenius, Executive Director, Soprano Plc
In his current position, Reidar enjoys working with his two life-long passions: communication and education. At Nasdaq-listed Soprano Plc, the leading Nordic private training company, he helps Finnish world-class learning solutions become available in new countries all over the world. It’s natural that education is becoming a priority aspect of Finnish development policy and that there is growing demand for Finnish education know-how around the world. Soprano Group and its six business schools are strongly investing to be leaders in this field. Twitter: @ReidarWasenius
Jenni Huopainen, Lecturer & Pedagogic Teacher, Omnia
Social Psychologist & Pedagogical Enthusiast. Twitter: @Omniasome
Quotes from this episode
References from this week’s episode
- Dare to Learn – festival website, homepage
- Dare to Learn – twitter
- Janne Hietala, Chief Visionary Officer, Valamis – LinkedIn
- Janne Hietala – LinkedIn
- Valamis – website, homepage
- Antti Korhonen, CEO of xEdu – LinkedIn
- xEdu – website, homepage
- xEdu – twitter
- Reidar Wasenius, Director, Communication and Corporate Responsibility at Soprano Plc – LinkedIn
- Reidar Wasenius – Twitter
- Soprano Plc – website, homepage
- Soprano Plc – twitter
- Jenni Huopainen, Lecturer | Pedagogic Teacher | InVET Expert, Omnia – LinkedIn
- UX – explanation
- Design Thinking – explanation via Career Foundry
- The 7 Soft Skills You Need to Be Successful – Omnia Group article, Sept 2019
- AI – explanation
- Lifelong learning – further information via Valamis website
- Digital Transformation of the Workforce – Valamis website link to the paper
- CSR – explanation
- The Elements of AI course – further information
- NASA and Valamis challenge – further information via Valamis website
- K-12 – explanation via Tech Target
- Education Alliance Finland – website, homepage
- Data Science – explanation
- Google Digital Garage – further information via Google
- Learning Management Systems – explanation
- MOOCs – explanation via The University Guide
- Moodle – website, homepage
- Cisco – twitter
- Gamification – explanation
- Reimagining the World of Corporate Learning in a Virtual Environment – article Aug 2018 via Training Industry
- Grow with Google – further information
- University of Eastern Finland – website, homepage
- Singapore Budget 2019: Businesses welcome digital push, emphasis on reskilling workers – article via Straits Times, Feb 2019
- Silicon Valley – explanation
- Edunation – website, homepage
- MIF Academy – further information via Soprano website
Thank you to the Ufi Voctech Trust & Ufi Ventures
The Voctech Podcast Series is produced by The Edtech Podcast and supported by Ufi Voctech Trust and Ufi Ventures.
Our aim is to help improve vocational skills in the UK’s workforce by funding digital solutions for vocational learning. We only fund activity that is ‘scalable’ through technology, ie projects that use digital methods to widen access to vocational learning. While digital learning solutions are potentially open to all, we are especially keen to assist digital projects which involve post-school age vocational learners that have failed to be engaged by the education system. Contact: kate.atha@ufi.co.uk, Head of Communications, Ufi Voctech Trust. Ufi Ventures offers early-stage ventures finance and support that draws on the depth of Ufi’s experience in developing digital technologies for skills needed for work. We can invest from £150,000 up to £1m as equity or debt into early-stage companies who share our mission and meet our investment criteria. We are keen to collaborate and co-invest with other value-aligned investors interested in the opportunity presented by the changing nature of work and skills. Contact: richard.male@ufi.co.uk
Tell us where you are listening in from
We’d love to hear about innovative technology or approaches you are developing or using in adult education. Leave your stories in the comments below. Alternately, record a quick free voicemail via speakpipe for inclusion in the next episode. Finally, you can post your thoughts or follow-on links via twitter @podcastedtech or via The Edtech Podcast Facebook page.
