On October 19-21, the second module of the educational project Converge, developed by Graduate School of Management jointly with IPERF, the International Institute for Research Performance and Innovation Management e.V (Germany), took place. The project was initiated by the Fund for Infrastructure and Educational Programs (RUSNANO Group). The first module of the project held on September 28-30 was devoted to emerging technology trends, methods for analyzing Big Data and artificial intelligence.

Among 35 people who participate in the training there are business owners and executives of the high-technology, construction, manufacturing and IT companies, financial organizations, restaurant chain and advertising agencies.

The second module of the project was devoted to the design of human-computer interaction. The participants of the training got acquainted with the latest technical achievements of this sphere and learned design methods that allow creating empathic communication with users and understanding the context for which a solution is being developed. Much attention was given to forming a special type of thinking among participants, which would allow creating favorable conditions for the development of creative ideas in their companies.

According to Sebastian Denef, senior researcher at the IPERF Institute and design professor, the goal of the course was to explain to the audience that the design addresses not only the question "How does the product look?", But it also addresses the main question "How does the product work?". Another goal of the course was to teach participants to be curious about new ideas, no matter how unusual they sound, because often such ideas are breakthrough and successful. Previously Sebastian told more about the vision and objectives of the course during an interview for the GSOM SPbU website.

Margarita Gladkova, assistant professor at Department of Operations Management at GSOM, noted that the idea of forming interdisciplinary teams for project work is a great success. Thanks to the presence of participants with different experience and specializations, the teams were able to develop interesting and creative ideas for their own projects.

During the educational project, the participants will participate in six training modules on three thematic blocks: Technology, Design and Business. As a result of the course, the participants will complete a project to create a new product / service or to improve an existing product / service within their companies.

To support the work of mixed teams, OWN.space, the cloud platform, was adapted. This platform allows creating virtual workspaces, where team members, together with virtual agents based on artificial intelligence technologies, can perform tasks for their projects.

The next module dedicated to technology transfer and product management will be held on November 9-11.