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A student team from the Information Technology Program (ITP) academic summer program at the School of Business researched how VR Group, the Finnish railway company, could utilise platforms and ecosystems in their future.

The international and multidisciplinary team consisted of Marketing student Erkka Jussila, Architecture student Venessa Mok, Information and Service Management student Linh Nguyen and Creative Sustainability student Art Maloku.

During their summer, the students specialised in the Digital and Interactive Ecosystems (DIE) specialisation track of ITP. The students completed three courses taught by visiting professionals and professors, where they learned about platforms and ecosystems, digital marketing strategies and web and mobile analytics, as well as completed the ITP business project.

The future of transportation is platform-based and integrated

The students found that the changing market and legislative landscape of mobility providers in Finland is full of possibilities for new and existing providers. To better understand the trends affecting the field, they conducted extensive desk research, user interviews and expert interviews. The team also utilized benchmarking to identify the current maturity of integrated mobility ecosystems around the world.

Based on their findings, the team created multiple future scenarios, focusing on one particular scenario, in which VR would become a provider of an integrated mobility ecosystem. In addition, the team created multiple service strategies, an implementation framework as well as an app design for the mobility platform.

The challenge-based way of learning was new for the team. “This was a very new way of working for all of us. When we started in the summer, we had no clue what the final product would look like, but as we gathered information, the direction for our project became clearer and clearer,” said Erkka Jussila, a marketing student at Aalto University School of Business.

The students enjoyed working in close collaboration with their client. “VR was a great client to work with. They were very helpful throughout the project, providing us with resources for research and experts to interview, without creating restrictive limitations,” said Erkka. “We were encouraged to be as creative as possible and really think about all the possibilities from start to finish,” he added.

“We got to utilize a lot of the information we learned during the courses. Having a multi-disciplinary team was extremely useful as well, as every team member had their own area of expertise and could bring something new to the table,” Erkka concluded.

Working with different companies and organisations has been in the core of teaching and learning at ITP since 1995. Next year celebrates 25 years of co-learning together with companies and society for ITP.

 is a 24 ECTS minor study module taught at Aalto University School of Business during the summer period. Participating students have three months to develop solution concepts to challenges faced by businesses and organisations in different sectors. The program is one of Aalto’s spearhead programs in challenge-based learning. More information from Program Director Laura Sivula (laura.sivula@aalto.fi).