Collaborative facilitation mindset

The DFGN team looks after the continuous development and maintenance of the network by facilitating the collaboration between the members, the real heroes of this movie. One of the team’s core role is to facilitate the collaboration between network members. An example of that are the annual events and gathering DFGN hosts, such as the International Design Factory Week (IDFW), the DFGN UnBoxed, and the World Design Factory Day (WDFD). Yes, we love acronyms…

Our small (but mighty) team is based in Aalto University’s Design Factory, in Otaniemi Campus, Espoo, Finland, Europe, Earth.

Balloons

The DFGN team looks after the continuous development and maintenance of the network by facilitating the collaboration between the members, the real heroes of this movie. One of the team’s core role is to facilitate the collaboration between network members. An example of that are the annual events and gathering DFGN hosts, such as the International Design Factory Week (IDFW), the DFGN UnBoxed, and the World Design Factory Day (WDFD). Yes, we love acronyms…

Our small (but mighty) team is based in Aalto University’s Design Factory, in Otaniemi Campus, Espoo, Finland, Europe, Earth.

History of Aalto Design Factory and DFGN

The first Design Factory ever was created in Finland by Kalevi “Eetu” Ekman in 2008. In 2010, the first Design Factory outside of Finland was established in collaboration with Tongji University. And then, just one year after that, in 2011, on the 29th of November, the Design Factory Melbourne was launched, which set the official start of the Design Factory Global Network.

What a beautiful story… what else will come?

Who runs the network?

The network is run by itself, with the support of the 39 existing members. We all do our best to create collaboration projects. Each DF drives change in its own institution with the support and inspiration of like-minded doers.

Klaus Castrén

Klaus is the Head of Design Factory Global Network as well as Head of Community at Aalto Design Factory. His experience managing an educational platform from the service side gives him a unique perspective on enabling learning that depends on industry collaboration, hands-on experiences, international teams, informal education, and, of course, passion-based learning.

Aaro Packalén

Aaro is the Coordinator of Design Factory Global Network. He takes on the brunt of the daily work of the network without forgetting to make people smile. His background is in electrical engineering and project management, and he is currently researching product development, with a passion for international collaboration and leveraging team dynamics to bring out the best in any team or organisation.