It’s been way too long since the last post, and we are sorry for that. We got taken by surprise by how abruptly our time in the US seemed to come to an end. It’s funny how these things go: you start a new project and remember thinking how great it’s going to be. Next comes the blurry part, where you experience all sorts of great things and learn a bunch of stuff. And before you know it, it’s the last week and you’re busy making arrangements to return to your normal routines. Or flying to California to see San Francisco, Yosemite National Park and Lake Tahoe, as was the case for me. Anyway, it’s been hectic.
It’s hard to quantify or even to qualify all the things I’ve learned. I think my brain is still going through everything I’ve experienced, trying to put things in the right place. I know I’ve learned a lot about tech transfer, which is a skill I’m certain will benefit me greatly in the future. I still need to go over the notes I took from the Management for Scientists and Engineers –course at Kellogg. Most of the lectures I had the privilege of participating in were, quite simply, the best I’ve ever experienced. I’ve adopted a new mindset too: the American way of getting things done really rubbed off on me.
One feeling sits on top of everything else – I’m immensely grateful for the opportunity I was given when I was chosen for the Kellogg project. I know the experiences over the last three months will help me in whatever I choose to pursue next year.
Now is the time to give back; I have three months to work my hardest at helping the commercialization efforts at ÅA. There are some incredibly interesting projects going on, some of which I’m sure you’ll hear about at some point in the future!
There is another way in which we want to give back to Åbo Akademi. We are organizing a course called Business Essentials for Scientists (BES) in November 2015. We are super excited for the course – a bunch of really inspirational speakers have already agreed to tell us about their experiences in topics such as starting your own company, how to pitch your business idea, how to get financed, patenting and commercializing your research as well as digitalization and disruption. We think this is something every scientist should be a part of!
The course is aimed for all doctoral students at Åbo Akademi University. Please don’t hesitate to contact me with your questions – shoot me an e-mail at lfalck@abo.fi, also if you’d be interested in enrolling on the course.
More information on the course will be available shortly! Until then!
-Lauri