Oivallus report 1: "New ideas originate in the boundaries of different fields. In the future, challenges will be solved in learning networks."

The goal of Oivallus is to make governmental decision-making in education policies meet the future needs of Finnish industries. What will working life be like in the 2020s? What kinds of knowledge and skills will the labor market and entrepreneurship require? The project seeks to explore and outline progressive operating and learning environments.

Oivallus report 1:

“If you are not in real time, you’re dead.” –Kevin Kelly

Waves of development, such as globalisation, climate change, the growing complexity and dynamics of systems, as well as changes in life values shape our operating environment – how we work, what companies do, what industries produce, and what sort of housing and urban conditions we live in.

The first Oivallus report asserts, for example, that in the future work will require more creativity and interdisciplinary thinking and doing, the motivation behind entrepreneurship will lie in a purposeful life instead of mere profit, the collaboration between different generations will become closer, and the public sector will increasingly develop services together with citizens and companies.

“You are what you share.” –Charles Leadbeater

In many areas, the future remains a mystery. However, one trend is clear: we will respond to the waves of development by networking with and learning from a range of experts and actors in different fields. These systems of interconnected people and organisations are known as learning networks.

“Anticipating the future is not about guessing, but about creating it.” –Oivallus

Oivallus report 1: Currently forest industry provides around one third of the net export revenues of Finland (The Finnish Forest Industries Federation, 2009). What will forest (www.upmforestlife.com) mean to Finland in the future?

Oivallus report 1: "What is Oivallus ('a sudden insight' in Finnish)?" – A project exploring the future of education in a networked economy.

Oivallus report 1: "A new target or method of use is as good an innovation as a completely new one." Experimental cooking mechanisms and mixes of ingredients make the cornerstone of the molecular kitchen at restaurant Luomo in Helsinki.

Oivallus report 2

While the first part of the Oivallus project looked at future operating and learning environments, the next one focuses on the competence needs of businesses.

“Future working life allows different ways for reaching the desired end results.” –Oivallus

The needed proficiencies will be different in the future because the ways of working are changing. Jobs are becoming less and less routine, and increasingly few of them can be done ‘by the book’. The future working life resembles film making: work is done on a project basis in collaboration with various contributors. There is also a tendency of tasks becoming more variable.

“All business will be ‘green’ business.” –Oivallus

In order to succeed, industries need to acquire environmental, technology, business and service competencies. It is also becoming increasingly important to focus on user experiences.

“The right conditions enable groups and their members to shine.” –Oivallus

Network skills and the ability to obtain, utilise and share knowledge lay the foundations of future work. At best, a learning network can use its extended knowledge-base to identify new opportunities and find solutions for contemporary challenges – the key is to work together with people of different backgrounds and capabilities. Learning from one another and building on existing ideas are skills that require practicing. These competences should be developed from early on and throughout education.

Oivallus report 2: "Skill synergies arise in groups. Future education will support working together."

Oivallus report 2: "What will we need to know or learn?"

The third and final stage of the Oivallus project will dig deeper into what kind of education will prepare people for work in the 2020s. The concluding report is to be published in May 2011.