Акселерационная программа «Эволюция» ̶ уникальная площадка, аккумулирующая лучший практический опыт и знания представителей инновационной экосистемы, способствующая продвижению перспективных проектов через формирование и развитие практических бизнес-компетенций членов команд.
Since DEMOLA was created 9 years ago in Finland, the project has expanded to 19 different locations in 12 countries with more than 700 cases worldwide to date. Proving that DEMOLA is here to stay. DEMOLA was introduced in Southern Denmark in the fall of 2016 as a cross institutional collaboration between SDU, UCL, EAL and SIMAC with support from the City of Odense. Currently the team is starting its third season. Each course has brought new knowledge for the DEMOLA team, thereby ensuring the quality of the program as well as preparing DEMOLA Southern Denmark to include more companies and students into their network.
“We have eliminated the rookie mistakes that will always occur in a startup phase, and now we are ready to include additional companies while simultaneously scaling up the number of students” says DEMOLA chief of education, Jacob Thomsen from Lillebaelt Academy Odense.
THE PROGRAM
A DEMOLA season lasts 12 weeks, a team is handpicked and the students partner up with a company to work together on solving the company’s concrete challenge. This means that the starting point is the company’s reality, therefore ensuring value for the company. The result of the collaboration is of course meaningful for the students as well because they get a taste of reality as well as the academic education that is included in their course.
The student team is carefully selected by the DEMOLA facilitators guaranteeing that the needs of the company and the competences of the students are compatible. Thus, a technological challenge would have 1-2 students with professional knowledge and industry know-how. Along with 3-4 students that has complementary competences. For instance, a lot of robotics is developed by engineers but is used by ordinary people with different approaches to the usability. This is where the other team members come into play. Additionally, they have their own professional knowledge that can shine a light on areas that could otherwise be overlooked.
Throughout the 12 weeks the team is assigned a specific facilitator, from DEMOLA Southern Denmark that ensures that the team and the solution are moving forward. The facilitator also provides tools and other competences to help the team understand the process that they are going through as well as what has been introduced in the scheduled workshops, called Milestones. The Milestones are an adaptation from the Finnish concept that equips the students with skills that allow them to strategically move forward in the process using their professional knowledge.