University of Applied Sciences, Finland

University of Applied Sciences, Finland

VAMK offers education in technology, economics, international business, health care and social services. Its focus areas are the energy sector and combining entrepreneurship with internationalism. VAMK has an extensive co-operation network nationally and internationally; it is part of the Vaasa University Consortium. It has 3300 students and 280 faculty. The Western Finland Design Centre MUOVA is a design research and development centre of VAMK, with a cooperation agreement with Aalto University and University of Vaasa. Its team includes experts in marketing, branding, design and communication. MUOVA promotes international competitiveness of companies, runs applied research and creates innovative methods using creativity and design. It has executed hundreds of company projects, especially with SMEs. Companies are always co-creators in research projects. MUOVA provides design-related education and learning materials based on creativity and design thinking. It has provided educational solutions where design thinking, design principles and creativity have been transferred to other sectors. These include e.g. CreaCIT (Creativeme; creativeme.dmc.dit.ie)-a virtual multidisciplinary learning environment for product development, Creative Strategic Foresight (www.muova.fi/csf; http://www.csf-studymodule.net/), and DesignCamp- an intensive course of design thinking and problem solving for multidisciplinary non-design students and SMEs. MUOVA became part of VAMK in January 2014. It runs CreaCIT, CSF and DesignCamp still as part of Aalto University.

​Website: http://www.puv.fi/en/