ATTRACT student pilots: transforming research ideas into innovations for society

Student teams collaborated with some of ATTRACT’s 170 breakthrough projects to bridge scientific research and product and service development using design-thinking methodologies.

The Young Innovator & Entrepreneurs pilot aims to boost ATTRACT’s fundamental research, industrial applications and social innovation. As a part of this pilot, students from Aalto University, Esade Business School, the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC) and IED Barcelona Design School worked with 10 ATTRACT projects to develop applications needed for their innovations.

At Aalto University, four of the ATTRACT student pilots ran as a part of the Product Development Project course and one student pilot was run in the Capstone Project for Creative Sustainability course. All the student projects were done in international interdisciplinary teams. The students found innovative ways to collaborate with the research groups and prototype despite the global pandemic. By the end of the course, the student teams made functional prototypes that demonstrate societal applications for the breakthrough ATTRACT technologies that are being developed.

Behind the scenes: Esade student pilots

Behind the scenes: Aalto student pilots

Seven teams of students from Esade Business School, the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC) and IED Barcelona Design School worked on five ATTRACT projects, as part of the course Technology of Social Impact (TeSI). The main goal of this course, powered by Fusion Point, is to work with senior scientists and help them transform their scientific ideas into tangible services and products for society.

Students had to work during the Covid-19 pandemic, thus they faced an additional challenge: learning to communicate, work and prototype remotely!

“Student pilots are bringing together multidisciplinary teams of students to create sustainable products and services for society”

Esade and Aalto University students presented their prototype solutions at the ATTRACT Conference ‘Igniting the deep tech revolution’, which was held online on the 22nd and 23rd of September 2020.