Insights

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Teo Keipi

Social aspects of innovating design thinking

Teo is a social scientist with a background in social psychology, economic sociology and behavioural economics. His past research has involved group decision making, attitudes and behavioural patterns linked to identity including issues of trust, wellbeing, risk assessment, accountability and social tie effects among others. His research at the Design Factory focuses on mapping contextual factors that influence motivational, performance and cooperative aspects of organisational decision-making that can be enhanced by the design thinking approach.

In terms of Design Factory projects, Teo contributes primarily to Design+, DesignBites and DRIVE, studying how the design thinking approach and nuanced group dynamics can be leveraged for innovating business strategy.

In the private sector, Teo has been involved with building cooperative strategies between corporations and start-ups in addition to studying corporate experiences of innovating and integrating start-up expertise within complex and well-established companies.

Teo has a PhD in Economic Sociology from the University of Turku (2016).

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Tua BjörklundTeo Keipi
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Senni Kirjavainen

Senni is a designer doing research on design processes and ways of supporting creativity. She is involved for example in Design+ tracking initiatives taking design thinking to practice large tech companies.

Senni is passionate about smooth user experiences and services that really serve their purpose. She draws from a MA degree in industrial design from Aalto University, and doctoral studies in engineering design.

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adminSenni Kirjavainen
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Tua Björklund

Connecting theory and practice

Tua is the director of the Design Factory, an assistant professor in leading for creativity in the School of Engineering and the teacher-in-charge of the master’s level product development major and minor in Aalto. Her work revolves around understanding, teaching and developing co-creation efforts, turning ideas into improvements in organizations and education.

Tua heads research at the Design Factory, looking into sustainable design practices, innovation in organisations, co-creation and the impact of the Design Factory. In addition, she manages the research projects CREATNet, Design Plus, Design+Sustainability, and ATTRACT, investigating how design thinking can change the way companies organise for innovation and how collaborative experimentation can give rise to new opportunities. She is also a deputy editor at the Journal of Engineering Education.

On the teaching front, Tua is a part of Design Factory efforts to promote developing university teaching. She teaches responsible innovation and human-centered design in courses such as the Product Development Project, Mechanical Engineering in Society, Prototyping for Innovation, and Design thinking for innovation, as well as design innovation in executive and professional education.

Tua has a DSc degree in work psychology from the Aalto University School of Science, and an MA degree in cognitive science from the University of Helsinki.

Publications on the Design Factory

Recent journal publications

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adminTua Björklund