The Fudan-Tekes iLab MoU Renewal Signing Ceremony was held on June 28th to unveil another three years of cooperation between School of Management, Fudan University and Tekes Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation. Hosted by Mr. Sun Long, Executive Director of IMBA Program, Fudan School of Management, the event attracted representatives from Tekes, FinChi and Finnish partner companies of Fudan – Tekes iLab to get together and celebrate the moment. Prof. Chen Wen, Director of Fudan Foreign Affairs Office and Prof. Lu Xiongwen, Dean of Fudan School of Management, Prof. Zheng Ming, Associate Dean of Fudan School of Management, as well as Fudan – Tekes iLab faculty mentors and participating students were also there to witness the exciting event.
A third edition of Fudan-Tekes iLab program/ the 6th year of cooperation
The ceremony kicked off with a short video reviewing previous Fudan-Tekes iLab projects, at the end of which Director General of Tekes sent his wish for the new stage of cooperation.
Prof. Chen Wen, on behalf of Fudan University, gave a welcoming speech at the event, in which he recognized the accomplishment of the past 5 years of cooperation between the two parties. Prof. Chen also expressed his hope that this win-win-win mode which benefits Tekes, Finnish enterprises as well as Fudan MBA Program at the same time could continue to offer a learning-by-doing platform for the students.
Ms. Suvi Sundquist, Director of Growth Companies, Digitality, Tekes, thought the cooperation was satisfactory in that Fudan MBA teams had come up with tailored solutions for Finnish enterprises. Many of the enterprises have put the iLab recommendations into practice and have accordingly made brand new development strategies aimed for the Chinese market, which have resulted quite well. The Fudan-Tekes iLab program has become an important channel that helps Finnish companies to enter the Chinese market.
Prof. Lu Xiongwen, Dean of Fudan School of Management, said in his speech that Finland is a “small country” with “big innovation”. In the past 5 years, Fudan MBA students have injected the Finnish innovation companies with vigor that inspired them a lot when entering the Chinese market. “Such fruitful cooperation should be a long-term strategy for all of us, not just limited to a three- or five-year term,” Lu added.
It’s been 5 years since the launch of the Fudan-Tekes iLab program. By the end of this June when the program was concluding, Tekes had a review and evaluation on the value the Fudan-Tekes iLab program had brought to Finnish enterprises. Tekes did a series of interviews with some participating Finnish enterprises and got very positive feedbacks. That’s why Tekes has decided to renew a three-year contract with Fudan. It’s the third time that Fudan and Tekes have worked together.
At the closing of the ceremony, Prof. Lu Xiongwen and Ms. Suvi Sundquist signed a memorandum of cooperation and exchanged gifts.
As always, the iLab final presentations received great acclaims
After the signing ceremony, four Fudan-Tekes iLab teams presented their final reports to the clients. Through half a year of profound research and field work, the students have put forward systematic solutions to the problems the companies had encountered. The four final presentations have earned thunderous applause and numerous acclaims. Some clients commented, “We don’t see any space for improvement for the students. They are doing so good that we’re learning a lot from them.”
The Fudan-Tekes iLab program has been a fruitful and promising program that represents Fudan’s educational concept of working on high-level international cooperation, deepening practical learning and enhancing school-enterprise cooperation to encourage the cultivation of talents with multi-task capacity.
Since 2005, Fudan MBA iLab program has successfully worked with over 100 enterprises local and abroad on more than 200 iLab projects, which have been highly valued by the participating companies and students.
