Audit of Metropolia University of Applied Sciences

RDI and artistic activities renew the society

The innovation hubs produce projects, education implementations, MINNO studies and services on the campuses’ collaboration platforms. Special focus is placed on entrepreneurship services and the deployment of innovations in practice as part of the Helsinki Metropolitan Area’s Campus Incubators programme and the 3UAS Entrepreneurship Society. The operations of Turbiini have expanded to all campuses, and access to Turbiini has also been granted to actors outside the HEI community. Metropolia’s artistic activities are intricately linked to the RDIL activities and the innovation hubs’ themes. Close ties to education are manifested in opera education, for example, in which multidisciplinary RDIL activities enable opera productions.

Metropolia applies its extensive cultural sector and offers the know-how of the creative fields for use in other fields, which strengthens the societal impact of the creative fields. One of the first significant cooperation outcomes is the Creativity and Arts in Social and Health Fields – Master’s degree, which renews the utilization of creativity, culture and art in health care and social services. Another example is the Mahdollisuuksien maisemia (Landscapes of Possibilities) event, which promotes taking the opportunities provided by creativity into consideration in various sectors and occupations of the business world. Metropolia has also integrated its expertise in creative fields and technology with the development of urban environments, and became the first Finnish UAS to be selected as a partner in the New European Bauhaus initiative (see 2.4.).

The management of the RDI activities and innovation hubs has been developed to meet the needs of systemic management and working in an ecosystem. Innovation Directors are responsible for the operations and development of the innovation hubs. The RDI Services unit supports the project activities, the funding applications, and the publishing activities. The Innovation and Entrepreneurship unit supports the operations of the innovation hubs and schools in the innovation ecosystems by developing the collaboration platforms and student-oriented entrepreneurial activities. The coordinators for the innovation hubs’ thematic areas have been assigned themes that transform the contents of each innovation hub into a concrete form (Figure 11). They strengthen cooperation between the educational content and the innovation hubs.

Quality management supports the RDI activities

The planning of innovation hub activities is based on annual implementation plans and on school-specific RDI plans in Education (figure 12). Changes in the operating environment are monitored through continuous dialogue with various actors in society. Information is gathered from the user/experience interface for the needs of new learning environments, education, and projects. In addition, international RDI and policy programmes and opinions are monitored and analyzed.

Figure 12 The management of the RDI activities and quality management are interlinked.

The implementation of the RDI activities has been described in the OMA intranet. The RDI projects and the project portfolio are managed in accordance with Metropolia’s project model. They are monitored in the Halli management system. A significant portion of Metropolia’s external funding is channeled via project operations. This is why using Halli supports Metropolia’s financial management. Project management at Metropolia (only in Finnish) consists of progress stages and decision-making points, roles and any related responsibilities, as well as project management documentation. Project management guidelines are available in the OMA intranet, as are the instructions for other RDI project operations. Strategic selections and policies concerning intellectual property rights have been approved by the Board of Directors and published as the IPR Strategy. The innovation hubs publish scientific and popular articles in, among others, publication series, specialist blogs and podcasts. The library is responsible for the collection and reporting of the publication data.

Metropolia communicates information about research, innovations, and artistic activities to its stakeholders in newsletters and through social media channels and the Metropolia website. In the self-assessment, strengthening the hubs’ communication was highlighted as an area of enhancement. It has since been addressed with new recruits for communications services.

The RDI activities are assessed by means of feedback surveys and feedback events aimed at customers and collaboration platform partners. Projects are assessed at decision-making points included in the project model, in steering groups and with self-evaluations. RDI activity services collect internal feedback. Information on progress is entered in the Tsemppi system. It supports assessing the impact of the innovation hubs. According to the self-assessment, verification, and assessment of the impact of RDI activities should be more strategically managed and more consistent and open. Feedback collection practices should also be strengthened which has been taken into consideration in planning operations for 2023.

Current development targets of the innovation hubs are related to the RDIL activities, student entrepreneurship and cooperation with businesses especially on the campuses’ collaboration platforms.

Metropolia is committed to promoting open science and responsible conduct of research

Nearly all of Metropolia’s publications are freely available in the Open Repository Theseus. They are published under the open Creative Commons license. The Metropolia Research Data Policy document includes the promises, guidelines and principles to be implemented related to Metropolia’s research data. Deploying good data management practices and open RDI activities in the operating culture is supported by means of data agents.

Metropolia is committed to complying with the guidelines of the Finnish National Board on Research Integrity on the responsible conduct of research and the processing of suspected violations thereof. Induction to responsible conduct of research and teaching research ethics are part of the studies. Every Metropolia RDI project manager peruses the RCR Guidelines and the principles and operating models of the open RDI activities as part of project manager training. Any suspected violations of the RCR by Metropolia’s actors are dealt with an agreed process. The quality and functionality of the process for suspected violations of the RCR have been developed as part of the records management plan and the case management system. Metropolia employs two research ethics support persons, providing easy-to-access guidance and training on research ethics to RDI actors and thesis instructors. Metropolia is an active participant in the Human Sciences Ethics Committee of the Helsinki Region Universities of Applied Sciences and in the Finnish National Board on Research Integrity and its working group.