Greetings from London!

Business Administration students had a trip to London from 16^th to 20^th March. On our journey there were 22 3^rd year students who had studied some of the voluntary courses related to economics such as bookkeeping, financing and financial management.

On Monday 16^th of March we took a bus from Tampere to Helsinki-Vantaa airport. Everyone was expecting the trip very much and was eager to get to London. We continued our trip with an EasyJet aeroplane and arrived to London at 10.30 pm local time. After a long day we were very tired when we arrived at our hotel Norfolk Plaza which was located near Paddington underground station.

Our group in front of the hotel.

On Tuesday morning we left from our hotel quite early and headed to our first visit at Finnish Institute. We learned that the Institute promotes the export of Finnish culture in the UK. We also had a Finpro consultant who describing us how their organisation works and how they help Finnish enterprises to get to the UK’s market. It was surprising to hear how much British people appreciate Finnish knowledge and expertise. In the afternoon we went to London Metal Exchange were we saw how the brokers waved their hands oddly and almost fought with each other when they tried to get the deals done. In the evening we went shopping, sightseeing and visited some local pubs.

Tower Bridge in the evening

On Wednesday we had a school day because we visited Anglia Ruskin University. We had several lectures from different topics like the ongoing financial crises and we also played some games related to business world. It was quite a long day but it was interesting to get to know this school. We were warmly welcomed and our hosts had planned a very interesting day for us. In the evening we had spare time and we did some shopping again and wandered around the town.

On Thursday morning half of our group went to visit Bank of England Museum. There we get to know bits of the history of the Bank of England. Among other things we get to try how heavy a gold bar is and it was very heavy because the weight of it was about 13 kilos. In the afternoon the other half of us visited BBC television centre. In the evening the whole group gathered to our hotel to reminisce the highlight of our trip.

On Friday it was time to say goodbye to London and leave home. At the Gatwick airport we had

time to do some last minute shopping before our flight. We arrived at Helsinki-Vantaa at 8 pm where we continued back to Tampere. We were home just before midnight very tired but happy after a successful journey.

Text by Sonja-Maria Korhonen

The Electrician: TAMK - Salford Collaboration

"The Electrician tells the story of Marvin, an executioner in charge of an electric chair. After becoming unemployed when the government prohibits executions, and with his profession now illegal, Martin struggles to find a new way to use his unusual skill - showing no emotion at people's deaths."

The shortfilm "The Electrician" is a collaboration between TAMK School of Art and Media and School of Media, Music and Performance of Salford University.

The film was shot in Manchester last spring, from Tampere there was a crew of ten students.

The script, written by Jussi Jokihaara, was developed during the joint MA in Screenwriting programme. Derek Melling is Marvin, and the 14-minute film is directed by Miina Alajärvi. It is also the graduation work of four students at TAMK School of Art and Media.

You can enjoy a trailer and "making of" of the film at the film website. The Electrician was screened at Tampere Film Festival. Next change to see this film is at Tampere Art Factory, May 15-16.

Electrician website
Tampere Art Factory
MA in Screenwriting (TAMK School of Art and Media blog)

Transition towns and peak oil to Enve students

The Environmental Engineering student Association G.L.O.B.E. arranged an event for students to hear more about PEAK OIL and TRANSITION TOWNS. The speaker we had an opportunity to hear was Jupiter Cormier, the founder of Transition Network branch in Finland.

What was all this about then? Well, to quote the transition towns’ webpage:

“It all starts off when a small collection of motivated individuals within a community come together with a shared concern: how can our community respond to the challenges, and opportunities, of Peak Oil and Climate Change?”

Jupiter, a graduate with a masters degree in International Studies and Diplomacy from SOAS, University of London explains to us: “we will never run out of oil, but the time of cheap and plentiful oil is over”. “Oil is everywhere, usually we do not even understand in how many things in our lives it plays such a big role” he continues.


According to Jupiter there is a need for huge socio-economic restructuring. Today’s global economic system is not working for the majority of people in world, including most people in developed countries as can be seen in the current collapse of the global financial markets. This combined with climate change and soon to rise energy prices creates a necessity to decentralize and localize. Jupiter also said that we can talk about nuclear and hydrogen as resources and alternatives to oil, but in reality, we can measure and estimate that they are not even close in meeting the current demands of energy and cannot help us to carry on the lifestyle we are living at the moment in western countries.

“We have to realize that we are consuming more than the Earth has to offer and at the moment 2/3 of natural resources are depleted already” Jupiter explains. The triple challenge of climate change, peak oil and an economic recession, according to him, offers the possibility for change. It is therefore a challenge that can be turned into an opportunity. As we might have learned from research results, the happiness in many western countries has not increased since the 1980’s which means that more consumerism and economic growth does not necessarily bring more happiness. Jupiter’s solution to create sustainability, resilience and happiness is to use the transition town model with the idea of local production, permaculture and sustainable living to transcend our oil dependent society into a more sane and fulfilling way of living.

Jupiter will continue to open up minds in Finland and to speak about peak oil and the transition that is needed now. He offers practical steps to people and has started his transition town in his hometown Hämeenkyrö already. Jupiter offered the students also a possibility to join and the interested audience seemed to grab the opportunity and joined first of all to the mailing list in Finland.

To learn more about transition towns visit at the website: www.transitiontowns.org or contact Jupiter: Jupiter.cormier AT gmail.com.

Practice Enterprise Trade Fair Report

Culture shock in an hour

The arrival to Salzburg was a bit of a shock for most of us. From what we saw from the bus, the city didn’t look quite as magnificent and glorious as everyone had expected. And as for our hotel – well, I think those stories of horror might turn into urban legends within a year or two.

The first challenge (after surviving from the shock at the hotel) for our first group was to find the exhibition centre and put up our stand. With a little help from our teachers the centre was easily found and our team was ready for action. A couple of hours, many rolls of tape, some ironing, a few pieces of iron wire and a lot of patience was needed to make it look like this:

Lights, camera, action!

The first morning wasn't quite what we had hoped for (cold shower, poor breakfast, heavy boxes to carry around, traffic jam, and fallen paper signs at our stand...) but as the trade fair started at nine o'clock we were there - enthusiastic and eager to make the best of it. And I think we really succeeded in doing that. Everyone had a good time selling our products, getting to know new people, having conversations in foreign languages and experiencing what it's like to work in an international environment.

At the end of the day we headed to the old town and its numerous alleys. After a nice dinner that we had together some of us stayed behind exploring the local night life as the rest of us went back to the hotel having their minds set up for the next (and last) trade fair day.

Mozart and some other new friends

A perfect blend of sightseeing, trade fair work, shopping and socializing with old and new schoolmates - that's how I would describe our last day in Salzburg. The trade fair ended before it really even began but no one seemed to mind that as it gave us more time to explore the city and its wonders. (Everyone should know by now where Mozart lived his life.)

In the evening it was raining cats and dogs so we stayed in the hotel, having a nice little party on our own - singing, dancing, chatting and enjoying each other's company. Not even a little catastrophe called water damage could ruin our night.

All well that ends well

So we're back in Finland, back at school. And luckily also our dear coach managed to escape from the unforgettable Herr Böse.

Before we left for Salzburg we were told that after the trade fair we might feel so tired that no work would be done for a while. But something weird happened and we've been more active and efficient than ever before.

All in all, it was a great experience and should anyone ask me - I would definitely recommend participating in such an event if given the possibility!

Text by Minnaliisa Laaksonen, HY d'Sign Oy

Nokia Ubimedia MindTrek Award 2009 Launched

The third Nokia Ubimedia MindTrek Award is now open. The purpose of the award is to encourage makers of digital media to generate ideas and develop new innovative ubiquitous media products and services. The most innovative products coming from artists, practitioners, and industry are awarded with a price sum of 7.000 Euro.

Deadline for entries is August 7th.

The competition is organized collaboratively by MindTrek, Tampere Region Centre of Expertise in Ubiquitous Computing, New Ambient Multimedia Group (NAMU)/Tampere University of Technology, TAMK University of Applied Sciences, and Nokia.

Photo: In the centre 2008 First Prize Winner Peter Frohlich (Point-to-Discover, Telecommunication Research Centre, Austria), on left Head of Jury Bjoern Stockleben, RBB, Germany and on right Competition Chair Artur Lugmayr, Tampere University of Technology. This year the competition will be co-chaired by Cai Melakoski, TAMK School of Art and Media.

Nokia Ubimedia MindTrek Award
MindTrek