Knowledge Creation in Oulu Game LAB 9th International Workshop on Knowledge Management Vysoká škola manažmentu / City University of Seattle, Bratislava, 2014 Teppo Räisänen Kari-Pekka Heikkinen Blair Stevenson Oulu University of Applied Sciences

Kari-Pekka Heikkinen ”K-P” - my career M.Sc in E.E. 1998, University of Oulu - Electronics power design +15 yrs in Nokia Mobile Phones - left 3 yrs ago. 2 yrs ago to Oulu University of Applied Sciences, OUAS LAB-learning model piloting - Oulu Game LAB and Oulu Cloud LAB I’m here as a PhD student - my area is Leadership This is my first research workshop - my first paper & presentation

Background City of Oulu - capital of Northern Scandinavia Population 190 000 - 20 000 students Two Universities - Science and Applied Science High Technology research & products - important export 600 ICT companies - employing 10 000 2012-2014: 4000+ unemployed ICT-professionals - Nokia and it’s subcontractors 1.1% increase of unemployment rate - 5-8 MEur tax income decrease Growth and Scalable business - Game Industry and Cloud Services Re-education needed - and fast

6 pilots done – LAB concept developed 2012-2014 6 pilots done – LAB concept developed Feedback from students - data for LAB-research OUAS is committed – new LABs to be established LifeLAB, EduLAB, EnviLAB, AutoLAB 2017

Multidisciplinary Projects - Problem Based Learning What is LAB-model? Multidisciplinary Projects - Problem Based Learning Focus area - Scalable Business Networking - Companies & Organisations Multi Experienced students - 22-55 yrs Master-Apprentice - Coaching and Tutoring Entrepreneurship - Mindset

Students for LAB

4 Months Demo LAB IDEAS

LAB Paths

Premises

Coaching in LABs

Multidisciplinary Game Industry

LAB’s as a network, example Also negotiations ongoing to Netherlands, Lithuania, Great Britain, Malta, Brazil, China and Middle East.

9 Startups established - 7 still alive today So far, in 2 years 9 Startups established - 7 still alive today 10 published products - 40 million downloads 25 game and service demos - talented teams 88 game and service concepts – ready for take-off 180 fresh professionals - done with their biggest mistakes 6000+ credits - value for the University Model research – just started

Summary of LAB student feedback 2014

Knowledge Management Alavi and Leidner have identified four socially enacted knowledge processes in organizations Knowledge creation Knowledge storage/retrieval Knowledge transfer Knowledge application The focus on this paper is on team level learning, i.e. knowledge creation

Identified Aspects based on the literature

Socialisation (Tacit-Tacit) Students work in joint office spaces together with more experienced industry experts and coaches. Sharing the common values of the LAB-model creates and maintains mental models. The practices and experiences of the game development and business are discussed and shared in formal and non-formal ways. Students visit game companies and they establish networks with and between the other professionals and disciplines in the weekly events, industry seminars and conferences.

Externalisation, (Tacit-Explicit) During the period of Concept Development (LEAD-part) the tacit knowledge of game development is transformed into explicit knowledge. The joint office space is organised into a relaxed office environment. In addition no NDA's are signed between companies and the students. All this, in addition to a trusted, open and relaxed atmosphere, is essential for having debate and creativity to produce new ideas for game concept development.

Combination, (Explicit-Explicit) The LAB-model is looking for the student need of creating new knowledge. The teams and individuals are served with new information mostly on their need basis. After there's a need for explicit knowledge coaches are there to give guidance. The new knowledge is created to support progress of the game project. Also working closely together the students are reflecting their existing knowledge and experience against more experienced students or coaches.

Internalisation, (Explicit-Tacit) The combination of more experienced and younger professionals to work toward a common practical goal creates the Master-Apprentice team set-up and enables tacit knowledge transfer. Also the "Learning by doing" pedagogical method enhances the transfer of young professionals’ explicit knowledge to tacit knowledge.

Fluctuation and creative chaos The LAB-model simulates the establishment of a small company or start-up by its operation. The students define the premises rules and they modify the premises according the project needs. The routines and mandatory events are minimal, still there are different kinds of happenings just in the next door to the premises. The fluctuation is coming from the constant need of making better solutions and the supportive climate of change. Justifying concepts LAB-model includes the close co-operation with the industry. In practice giving ideas to be developed or problems to be solved, their participation to the coaching of the teams and judging student teams developed concepts do this. The concept justification is done in events, which are selecting the projects with most opportunity to be done to demos. Cross-leveling knowledge After the Concept Development (LEAD) part the selected concepts and project teams move to Demo Development (LAB) part. This changes the scope of the knowledge to be needed. The more solution focused knowledge. Repeat LAB on a different role. BA LAB's are established around a context, game industry. This selection of context has effect to the LAB-model and the spaces. The context is also the key motivation to perform, "passion for the context".

Summary of findings The LAB-model offers support to a number of key aspects related to knowledge creation. Learning-by-doing seems to fit really well both the SECI- model and others aspects related to knowledge creation. It is a challenge to find suitable locations for the LABs. The role of teacher is changing to a coach & facilitator.

Limitations Work in progress, preliminary findings so far. In this paper we have no data from the LAB participants, so we have made conceptual analysis Student Feedback collected for 2 years, but not analysed yet. Pilots done & developed on the run for the last 2 years, not yet a stable environment to measure

Future Research SECI-model concentration, remaking the feedback questionnaire based on the theory Study of how LAB model effects to the students understanding of their own and team leadership LAB learning model development 5 new LABs for different areas of industry Ideal environment for research, e.g. for usability, entrepreneurship, communication

LABland Developing Professionals by Innovative Way for New Era Kari-Pekka Heikkinen Kari-pekka.heikkinen@oamk.fi www.oulugamelab.net