Välkommen till Kista MentorSpace
Nu har “Kista Mentorspace” öppnat vid KTH Skolan för Informations- och kommunikationsteknik. Där testas nya idéer och innovationer i samverkan mellan akademi, företag och samhälle. Initiativtagaren, professor Mark Smith, hoppas att den nyinvigda mötesplatsen blir ett ställe där studenter kan förverkliga sina drömmar.
Och i en engelskspråkig intervju med Mark Smith:
Welcome to the Kista Mentorspace
The Kista Mentorspace has officially opened at KTH the School for Information and Communication Technology. Professor Mark Smith explains the new concept.
What is a Mentorspace?
A Mentorspace is an environment that uses knowledge sharing among groups of diverse individuals to accomplish goals in education, business, and societal development. It uses elements of the “Maker Movement” or makerspaces which are about discovering new ways to use ideas, technology, materials, techniques, and skills. The Kista Mentorspace is a unique environment among makerspaces in that it uses these elements primarily to address and solve problems shared in community spaces such as formal education support, provisioning for innovation, business creation, community integration and social inclusion. The Kista Mentorspace also serves as an open platform for research into the science of creating and supporting the activities that take place in these new environments.
Why is one opening in Electrum?
By opening in Electrum, the Kista Mentorspace is well positioned to constructively change how education and innovation combine to serve the needs of the Kista community. The Electrum building in Kista is a central point where educational, business, and social organizations are co-located. The Kista Mentorspace will work by dividing its operational time between education, entrepreneurial and social development.
Who will use/benefit from Kista Mentorspace?
The beneficiaries of the Kista Mentorspace are the participating schools, businesses, and the Kista community. Schools benefit in that they can use the makerspace for applied learning of classroom material. This is important for several reasons, but the most important is that it provides a necessary applied learning component as education becomes increasingly digitalized. In order for schools to provide the means for student to practice and apply theoretical concepts, some form of hand-on space is needed. Industry and business benefit from the Kista Mentorspace by having access to graduates with applied knowledge of their fields. They also benefit by having a new means for becoming involved in the education process. The community benefits in a large number of ways by having stronger schools and businesses. Because the Mentorspace is provisioned in a way that supports innovation, students and contributors in the space are exposed to a very wide range of ideas, experience, skills, and knowledge of an academic, market, and entrepreneurial nature. Also because events and activities in an educational makerspace focus on projects and problems rather than on unimportant aspects of individuals such as age, gender, country of origin, or wealth, Mentorspaces form very non-judgmental, inclusive environments that promote community involvement.
If I want to take part in the mentorspace what can I do?
Contact me! msmith@kth.se