Dear Colleagues, If you are in Melbourne, Australia, on March 16th, we invite you to join us at Swinburne University for a presentation by Kalevi Ekman of the Helsinki Design Factory. Design Factory is a unique center of invention, innovation, and entrepreneurial action where students of technology, engineering, and design work in multi-disciplinary teams to solve real problems for business, industry, and the public sector. If you can join us, please do. Details below. Yours, Ken Friedman -- FREE PUBLIC LECTURE: 16 March 2011 Swinburne University Design Perspectives Lecture Series: Design Factory’s Kalevi Ekman The story of the Aalto University Design Factory, a passion-based co-creation platform for learning and entrepreneurial action When: Wednesday 16th March, 2pm to 3.30pm Where: Swinburne University of Technology Faculty of Design PA Building Lecture Theatre (PA309) Prahran Campus (144 High Street) Design Factory provides innovative programs in product development and entrepreneurship at Finland’s Aalto University. It embraces approaches to teaching, learning, and entrepreneurial action pioneered at Stanford University. Design Factory brings student teams together from design, economics, engineering and technology to develop new prototype products for Finnish industry. Commissioning corporations provide 15,000 Euros ($20,650 AUD) to support projects running for two semesters. Students collaborate with industry, and many students establish successful businesses while studying. Located in Otaniemi, Finland, the Design Factory building hosts courses, research projects, and start-up companies, as well as short-term co-operation projects. Kalevi Ekman (Eetu): Eetu is the Director of Design Factory and Professor of Machine Design at Aalto University School of Science and Technology. He also leads the Product Development Project and was named Otaniemi of the Year in 2009. For more about Design Factory go to: http://aaltodesignfactory.fi/ RSVP by Monday 14th March. Send RSVP to: hngo@swin.edu.au with the subject line: Design Factory or phone Henry Ngo on 03 9214 6871