The development of innovation and the culture of intrapreneurship have been the centre of attention at Patria in recent years. In May, Patria participated for the first time in a public innovation event, InnoDay in Helsinki.
InnoDay is a crowd innovation event for young people, where they can come up with unconventional, innovative solutions to challenges set by companies. The event, which took place at Hartwall Areena on May 11, was attended by some 10.000 participants aged 15–20. Patria took part with its own stand, boasting the most impressive video wall of the event and a comfortable sitting area with sofas and beanbag chairs. ”We wanted to be open-minded and test how crowd innovation could work in Patria’s operating environment,” says Pekka Närväinen, head of technology development at Patria.
Patria´s challenge to young people
Patria´s challenge to the young participants was to consider what the aircraft of tomorrow would be like from the passenger’s viewpoint, what kind of travelling experiences they would like to have and what structures (for instance smart structures) would be needed to implement them. How would an aircraft equipped with new features better serve passengers and operators? How might we further improve eco-, energy and cost efficiency, or create completely new features? Patria received positive feedback from the young participants for paying them due respect and presenting them with a sufficiently demanding, genuine challenge. ”We met many intelligent young people who took the challenge seriously and were surprisingly well informed considering their young age,” says project manager Mika Mustakangas, Aerostructures. The organiser of the event later reported on the content of the ideas presented. A total of around 9,000 new ideas were brought together at the event.
What did we get out of the event?
First and foremost, the event was a success in terms of marketing communications. With regard to corporate image and recruitment, Patria gained a lot of valuable visibility among the student target group. ”Patria’s participation in the event was an important first step – I am sure we will remain highly interested in crowd innovation. We now need to work out whether to do this at InnoDay or some other event for more advanced students, for example,” concludes Pekka Närväinen.