Creative Futures

Speakers

Professor Junko Tohda

Junko Tohda profile

Professor Junko Tohda has been a member of the Marketing and Management department in the Industrial Society Studies Faculty at Hagoromo University of International Studies in Sakai, Osaka, Japan, since 2002.

After graduating from the Faculty of Law at Kansai University, she immediately entered the business community. Working for major international companies in area of finance, insurance and distribution, she acquired a detailed knowledge of Management and Marketing. Eventually, she established a small consultancy of her own in 1990.

Ms Tohda is a pioneer among women in the field of designing business strategy in Japan. Her list of clients includes many large Japanese manufacturing companies, spanning the pharmacological, cosmetic, steel and other heavy industry, semiconductor, and BIO sectors, and she has presented sessions at business conferences and published in technical periodicals. At present she serves as an auditor of a company moving toward IPO and an external board member of an IT company.

Presently, she divides her time equally between classroom instruction and board meetings. Her aim is to research mechanisms for enabling knowledge creation and to rejuvenate local economy, through knowledge based industry and education. Professor Tohda strongly believes that innovation in knowledge based culture holds the key to economic strength.

Professor Slavko Milekic

Slavko profile

Slavko Milekic holds a medical degree (Belgrade School of Medicine) as well as Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology ( University of Connecticut ). His research interests include digital design, the psychology of human/computer interaction and building of WWW-based tools for knowledge transfer. Dr Milekic's innovative, child-friendly digital environment (KiddyFace) has been already implemented in a museum setting. He is co-author and principal interface designer for the "Theory of Language", a CD ROM-based text (MIT Press, 2000). Slavko Milekic has received several grants from the Lemelson National Program in Innovation, Invention and Creativity for teaching academic courses and research in the area of psychology of human/computer interaction. He was recently granted a US patent for an original way of interacting with a computer display.

Dr. Milekic is frequently presenting at international conferences and leading workshops on educational uses of digital technology and innovative methods of human/computer interaction. He has been engaged as a consultant for the development of interactive digital environments by a number of institutions including the Philadelphia Museum of Art, National Constitution Center in Philadelphia , Phoenix Art Museum , Cleveland Museum of Art, Gulf of Maine Aquarium, Daimler & Chrysler Research Laboratory and Interactive Institute in Stockholm, Sweden . He currently holds the position of an associate professor of Cognitive Science & Digital Design at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia and is a co-founder and Creative Director for Flatworld Interactives, LLC, a company producing innovative software for interacting with visual information. Dr. Milekic's work has been recently featured in a PBS series exploring early childhood creativity, "Art to Heart" (www.ket.org/arttoheart/ ).

Professor Markku Wilenius

Markku Wilenius profile

Professor, Dr. Markku Wilenius (born 1961) is probably the only professor of futures studies in the whole world. His genuine interests lie in understanding the challenges and possibilities of the long-term future and bringing this foresight to the strategic thinking of society and companies. During his career he has served in surplus amount of major companies and high-level governmental bodies to bring new insight to their future activities. He has also acted for a number of years as director of Finland Futures Research Centre.

Professor Wilenius has been very keen on developing various methods to do futures research. His particular interest has lied in the use of Delphi-method as an essential kit in the futures methodology toolbox in order to produce cumulative expert based knowledge about possible futures of any given topic. Together with professor Pirjo Ståhle, he has created a concept of creative knowledge capital to understand better how foresight and knowledge management –approaches can be united to form the basis of company’s strategic thinking.

He is a well known public figure in Finnish media, often requested speaker for companies and Governmental bodies. Under the last three years, he has consulted most of the Finnish ministries and major companies, starting from Nokia. Finnish ministry of Foreign Affairs has used often his figure to promote the unique competence of Finland.

In recent years, professor Wilenius has been increasingly active internationally and he has spent considerable time abroad with various projects. He is a vice-chair of advisory board of European Futurist Conference, a body for professional European futurists. In 2001 Wilenius was awarded the international Aurelio Peccei –prize by L’eta Verde organisation, based in Rome.

Professor Saara Taalas

Taalas profile

Professor Dr. Saara L. Taalas is Chair of Media Business and Head of Media Group research centre in Turku School of Economics. She holds a visiting professorship in University of Jyväskylä, Finland and a visiting research fellowship in the University of West of England.

Her research interests focus on management dynamics in media and creative industries, and the cultural forms of organization and entrepreneurship from the perspective of economic anthropology. Her work has been published in journals such as Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, Management and Organizational History, Organization Studies, and Philosophy of Management.

Professor, Research Director Jussi Vähämäki

Jussi profile

Jussi Vähämäki is presently Senior Assistant in Social policy at University of Joensuu. He studied sociology at University of Tampere , political science at University of Helsinki and philosophical hermeneutics at University of Turin . He has taught political theory at University of Jyväskylä and has been visiting Professor at the University of Genova (2000-2001).

Vähämäki has published works on social theory, philosophy and transformation of work. He has also been active in translating French and Italian philosophy (Foucault, Deleuze, Serres, Agamben, Negri, Vattimo, Colli among others). His current research centres on the role of the human body in the communicative labour and new modes of controlling intellectual and creative work.

Creative Leadership www.creativeleadership.fi
Turku School of Economics, Pori Unit www.pori.tukkk.fi
University of Art and Design, Pori School of Art and Media www.pori.uiah.fi



Creative Futures Programme Speakers Workshops Call for Papers Organizers Location Registration CCF06		Speakers Professor Junko Tohda Professor Junko Tohda has been a member of the Marketing and Management department in the Industrial Society Studies Faculty at Hagoromo University of International Studies in Sakai, Osaka, Japan, since 2002. After graduating from the Faculty of Law at Kansai University, she immediately entered the business community. Working for major international companies in area of finance, insurance and distribution, she acquired a detailed knowledge of Management and Marketing. Eventually, she established a small consultancy of her own in 1990. Ms Tohda is a pioneer among women in the field of designing business strategy in Japan. Her list of clients includes many large Japanese manufacturing companies, spanning the pharmacological, cosmetic, steel and other heavy industry, semiconductor, and BIO sectors, and she has presented sessions at business conferences and published in technical periodicals. At present she serves as an auditor of a company moving toward IPO and an external board member of an IT company. Presently, she divides her time equally between classroom instruction and board meetings. Her aim is to research mechanisms for enabling knowledge creation and to rejuvenate local economy, through knowledge based industry and education. Professor Tohda strongly believes that innovation in knowledge based culture holds the key to economic strength. Professor Slavko Milekic Slavko Milekic holds a medical degree (Belgrade School of Medicine) as well as Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology ( University of Connecticut ). His research interests include digital design, the psychology of human/computer interaction and building of WWW-based tools for knowledge transfer. Dr Milekic's innovative, child-friendly digital environment (KiddyFace) has been already implemented in a museum setting. He is co-author and principal interface designer for the "Theory of Language", a CD ROM-based text (MIT Press, 2000). Slavko Milekic has received several grants from the Lemelson National Program in Innovation, Invention and Creativity for teaching academic courses and research in the area of psychology of human/computer interaction. He was recently granted a US patent for an original way of interacting with a computer display. Dr. Milekic is frequently presenting at international conferences and leading workshops on educational uses of digital technology and innovative methods of human/computer interaction. He has been engaged as a consultant for the development of interactive digital environments by a number of institutions including the Philadelphia Museum of Art, National Constitution Center in Philadelphia , Phoenix Art Museum , Cleveland Museum of Art, Gulf of Maine Aquarium, Daimler & Chrysler Research Laboratory and Interactive Institute in Stockholm, Sweden . He currently holds the position of an associate professor of Cognitive Science & Digital Design at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia and is a co-founder and Creative Director for Flatworld Interactives, LLC, a company producing innovative software for interacting with visual information. Dr. Milekic's work has been recently featured in a PBS series exploring early childhood creativity, "Art to Heart" (www.ket.org/arttoheart/ ). Professor Markku Wilenius Professor, Dr. Markku Wilenius (born 1961) is probably the only professor of futures studies in the whole world. His genuine interests lie in understanding the challenges and possibilities of the long-term future and bringing this foresight to the strategic thinking of society and companies. During his career he has served in surplus amount of major companies and high-level governmental bodies to bring new insight to their future activities. He has also acted for a number of years as director of Finland Futures Research Centre. Professor Wilenius has been very keen on developing various methods to do futures research. His particular interest has lied in the use of Delphi-method as an essential kit in the futures methodology toolbox in order to produce cumulative expert based knowledge about possible futures of any given topic. Together with professor Pirjo Ståhle, he has created a concept of creative knowledge capital to understand better how foresight and knowledge management –approaches can be united to form the basis of company’s strategic thinking. He is a well known public figure in Finnish media, often requested speaker for companies and Governmental bodies. Under the last three years, he has consulted most of the Finnish ministries and major companies, starting from Nokia. Finnish ministry of Foreign Affairs has used often his figure to promote the unique competence of Finland. In recent years, professor Wilenius has been increasingly active internationally and he has spent considerable time abroad with various projects. He is a vice-chair of advisory board of European Futurist Conference, a body for professional European futurists. In 2001 Wilenius was awarded the international Aurelio Peccei –prize by L’eta Verde organisation, based in Rome. Professor Saara Taalas Professor Dr. Saara L. Taalas is Chair of Media Business and Head of Media Group research centre in Turku School of Economics. She holds a visiting professorship in University of Jyväskylä, Finland and a visiting research fellowship in the University of West of England. Her research interests focus on management dynamics in media and creative industries, and the cultural forms of organization and entrepreneurship from the perspective of economic anthropology. Her work has been published in journals such as Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, Management and Organizational History, Organization Studies, and Philosophy of Management. Professor, Research Director Jussi Vähämäki Jussi Vähämäki is presently Senior Assistant in Social policy at University of Joensuu. He studied sociology at University of Tampere , political science at University of Helsinki and philosophical hermeneutics at University of Turin . He has taught political theory at University of Jyväskylä and has been visiting Professor at the University of Genova (2000-2001). Vähämäki has published works on social theory, philosophy and transformation of work. He has also been active in translating French and Italian philosophy (Foucault, Deleuze, Serres, Agamben, Negri, Vattimo, Colli among others). His current research centres on the role of the human body in the communicative labour and new modes of controlling intellectual and creative work.
		Creative Leadership www.creativeleadership.fi Turku School of Economics, Pori Unit www.pori.tukkk.fi University of Art and Design, Pori School of Art and Media www.pori.uiah.fi