VIDICO proceeds as planned

First pilots in motion

The VIDICO project, which started in the autumn of 2009, proceeds as planned in its four subareas. In all four subprojects, the first pilots have started and results are beginning to show. VIDICO (Visible Digital Competence) makes competence visible with digital contents in Southern Finland.

Hämeenlinna pilots electronic services

In the Public Services Process and Maturity Model subproject, service processes are converted into electronic form together with the City of Hämeenlinna. During autumn and winter, the needs for making service processes electronic were mapped in the city’s different sectors. “Now, in the spring, the first pilots start and concentrate on looking for solutions, among others, for finding the municipality’s health services as well as for electronic customer services,” states Piia Liikka, the project leader.

In the Tacit Knowledge Made Visible subproject, tacit knowledge and competence documentation methods based on mobile technology are being implemented for small and medium-sized enterprises. “The training for the first pilot has now started. The pilots provide experiences for a common, experience-based training programme for small and medium-sized enterprises,” Project Manager Virpi Messman describes the importance of the pilots. The pilots of the enterprises deal with smart text messages and corporate wikis, for example.

Second Life introduction in Porvoo and Creative Foresight Space experiences from Helsinki

The Digital Campus subproject promotes creativity, learning and innovativeness through a digital service concept in the future Porvoo Campus. Companies and educational institutions operate together in common digital spaces. “In the spring and summer, Digital Campus contents are being defined by six action groups, which are: information, operational management, learning process, data bank, calendar and space/location. Second Life coaching, which will continue until the end of June, trains teachers to coach their students in Second Life,” sums up Project Manager Kitte Marttinen.

The Creative Foresight Space (CreaFore) subproject studies and tests the concept of the creative foresight space and realises pilots by means of social media and competence digitisation tools. The analysis results for the first pilots will be available in the beginning of the summer. “The creative foresight space of the Lasipalatsi library was realised for viewing for a couple of months at the end of 2009. User feedback is currently being analysed in order to carry out the next pilots in the autumn,” says Sirkka Heinonen, the project leader. Creative spaces will be expanded to Hämeenlinna in the autumn.

Success with enthusiastic partners

“In this cross-regional project, we work together across Finland. Subprojects are proceeding according to their individual plans, and we will soon catch up with our ambitious schedule,” Project Coordinator Hanna Willner describes the project’s progress. “In the future, it will be important to crystallise the common message and to maintain a good spirit of togetherness in this vast project.”

“In the beginning, positive issues absolutely included the involvement of enthusiastic partners. The projects have already now received a lot of attention. For example, the Creative Foresight Space in Lasipalatsi has evoked interest in Finland and abroad. The nature of the project involves active benchmarking to different corners of the world. The most interesting practices have been searched from Europe, Asia and America,” Willner continues.

The two first subprojects are realised by Technology Centre Innopark Oy, the third by the Porvoo Unit of the Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences and the fourth by the Futures Research Centre at the University of Turku. The needs of different types of actors are unified with the help of the VIDICO project to make competence and its utilisation visible. Actors participating in the project include, among others, the public, education and private sectors as well as the users of different services.

For more information, please contact

Project Coordinator Hanna Willner
Tel. +358 40 860 1423
hanna.willner