Applied Artificial Intelligence for Business and Education

The Artificial Intelligence, an accelerator for European prosperity

Applied Artificial Intelligence for Business and Education

About this hub

Based at Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences in Helsinki (Finland).

It promotes the application of AI tools and methods to meet the challenges presented by AI.

It concentrates on the application of AI opportunities across many domains. Specifically, the application of AI tools and methods will be studied and implemented in a wide array of contexts related to business and education.

Scope

Haaga-Helia’s Applied AI for Business and Education Innovation Hub (IH) concentrates on the application of AI opportunities across many domains. Specifically, the application of AI tools and methods will be studied and implemented in a wide array of contexts related to business and
education.

Description

Target challenges

The use of AI in Europe has increased substantially and represents both huge opportunities and major challenges both socially and economically. The European Green Deal has indicated the adoption of AI as one of the key tools in achieving the goals of the twin transition and this is especially the case related to business and education.

The use of AI in education represents a number of challenges and still remains a subject that requires further research and practical application. Data usage, ethics and advancing the use and knowledge of AI in education require further competence development of teachers, school administration and students to extract the full potential of this new technology.

Possible solutions

Through the IH, Haaga-Helia will endeavor to promote the application of AI tools and methods to meet the challenges presented by this advancing technology. To achieve this, Haaga-Helia will leverage its extensive synergies in the world of work and business and provide the platform to support researchers and teachers to identify synergies and skill mismatches in the labor market.

The IH’s core strength is its applied relationship through an extensive regional innovation ecosystem consisting of SMEs eager to learn and adapt to the growing use of AI and lead to future economic growth. Haaga-Helia is at the forefront of developing pedagogical practices and in identifying new use cases and approaches related to the integration of AI methods into curricula.

The IH will lead to the increased collaboration of AI experts within the Ulysseus Innovation ecosystem through the development of research groups focusing on applied AI and business solutions, jointly developed projects under Horizon Europe and Erasmus+, the involvement of associated partners to provide guidance, and the input of regional industrial stakeholders.

In its strategy, Haaga-Helia aims to strengthen its entity of learning and research environments (a.k.a. Haaga-Helia Labs) by strongly integrating research, development, and innovation activities with learning. Haaga-Helia’s IH is an inherent and natural part of the Lab infrastructure, where the strengths of different labs (altogether 19 of them) can be tapped to advance the uptake of AI skills, methods and tools by external stakeholders, students, and researchers. Learning activities, in the IH will be partly funded by the Ministry of Education and Culture. Research projects seek funding from external EU funding instruments and other stakeholders.

Pilots and Academic Offer

Haaga-Helia’s IH will also play a key role in the Finnish AI Region (FAIR) consortium, which attained a European Digital Innovation Hub status last year. In this consortium, the IH will provide services and expertise to local companies to advance their uptake of key AI skills, methods and tools. Haaga-Helia’s IH has led to the increased collaboration of AI experts within the Ulysseus Innovation ecosystem through the development of research groups focusing on the application of AI in the fields of business and education.

This has been achieved through jointly developed projects under Horizon Europe and Erasmus+, the involvement of associated partners to provide guidance, and the input of regional industrial stakeholders.

Recent activities

Latest publications

  • Digitalization, robotics and cybersecurity transforming the future & Applied AI for Business and Education Extended Abstracts from “COMPASS Conference: Transferable Skills for Research & Innovation” (Helsinki, October 2023). View full list of publications on this topic.