21st Century University feasibility study

Final Report: 21UNI Feasibility Study -project
January 2016
For: Cursor Oy
Prepared by: Courage Ventures Oy
Picture source: kyamk.fi/Koskinen/022015/vellamo.html

Table of Contents
1.  Project: Overview and organization
Project background and purpose
Methods
Project and extended team
2.  Context: Challenges and drivers
3.  Process: Overview of findings & co-creative process
4.  Concept: MVP – Minimum Viable Product
Overview of concept
Approach and foundation
Operating plan for pilot in 2016
Future recommendations
5.  Future Recommendations & Conclusion
Annexes
Annex 1: Presentation with initial research on novel education concepts
Annex 2: Workshop 26.10. wrapup
Annex 3: Operating Budget (excel)

Section 1:
Project Overview and Process

21UNI: PROJECT BACKGROUND
Cursor Oy commissioned Courage Ventures Oy to explore a disruptive
educational concept based in the Kotka region with global reach during fall
2015-winter 2016. The project is named ‘’21UNI’’.
This opportunity assessment (feasibility study) took place during Oct-Dec 2015
and final deliverables will be delivered to Cursor by 15.1.2016.
The Feasibility Study was co-created with a project team, consisting of members
from Cursor, Google, Kyamk, PatteriES and City of Kotka. The project team
participated actively in workshops and the creation of the concept. In addition,
a series of interviews and benchmarking of existing concepts were conducted.
This document sums up and synthetizes the learnings from the co-creative process
and presents an MVP (minimum viable product), ie a first draft of a concept,
with an operational plan to test it during summer 2016.
Section 1: Project Overview

OBJECTIVES
1. Define and clarify the project
vision and frame the opportunity
2. Create an initial concept that
Cursor can pitch to potential partners
3. Define a roadmap: with next steps
and working plan for 3-5 years
4. Support a go / no-go decision, by
providing empirical information on the
concept’s key parameters
21UNI: Initial objectives and deliverables
DELIVERABLES
1. A 30-50 page slide deck in English,
including detailed description on
following areas
. Concept
. Partners
. Physical infrastructure
. Financial parameters
. Roadmap: next steps and milestones

2. An executive summary of the
concept in the format of a 2-3 page
word document (English and Finnish)

Key phases of the project
Oct’15 ~15.1.2016
PROJECT
KICKOFF

EXPLORE
VISION
1ST CONCEPT
OUTLINE
DONE
ITERATE
CONCEPT
ITERATE
CONCEPT
& MVP
DELIVER MVP
Key methods used
3 WORKSHOPS
24 INTERVIEWS
BENCHMARKING
of global concepts
Nov’15 Dec’15

The development of the 21UNI concept is considered analogical to that of creation of a new innovative venture: a
creation of a novel concept for a nascent market need. Therefore the delivered concept is treated as a minimum
viable product (MVP) ie. a prototype, or first creation of a form for the idea.
Regarding the concept development, the feasibility study at hand focuses for the most part on phases 1 and 2, after
which the material (MVP) is handed over to Cursor, which further tests it on the potential partners by interviewing
them and further developing the concept (phases 3 and 4) during 2016 and after.
• Experiment
•  Test the concept
•  Gather feedback
• Evaluate
•  What works?
•  What has to be changed?
•  Elaborate
•  Synthe9ze the collected
informa9on and data
•  Develop the concept
together with project team
•  Produce a MVP
• Explore
•  Informed idea9on on the
opportunity and iden9ﬁca9on
of early hypothesis of concept
aGributes
•  Data gathering through
benchmarking alterna9ve
educa9on concepts and
interviews with stakeholders
1 2
3 4
Explorative process to create an MVP

BMC as a tool to develop the concept
Since the concept development of the 21st Century Digital University has been seen analogical to that of creation of a
new innovative venture, the tool called Business Model Canvas (BMC) was chosen and used as the main approach to
testing and validating the initial hypothesis for the concept.
BMC is currently the leading tool in new venture creation, used by most of the startups globally as well as
increasingly being adopted by the larger corporates and public organizations. The tool includes 9 most important
segments each new venture has to solve.
This study focused primarily on the highlighted segments, as they were most relevant to the context at an early
phase of concept development.
Cost Structure
Key
Partners
Key
Activities
Value
Propositions
Customer
Relationsihps
Customer
Segments
Key
Resources
Channels
Revenue
Streams
Source: www.businessmodelgeneration.com

21UNI: Project & extended team
The following individuals participated actively in the development process giving their valuable input in
the development of the concept, and on one or more workshops / project meetings
Cursor Oy: Jouni Eho, Petri Tolmunen, Jan Storgårds, Teemu Saarelainen, Heidi Sjöberg, Sami Ristiniemi
Kyamk: Petteri Ikonen, Ari Lindeman, Antti Viitanen (PatteriES)
Google: Hermann Arsaelsson
City of Kotka: Terhi Lindholm, Markku Hannonen, Antti Karjalainen
Cranfield, UK: Dr. Shailendra Vyakarnam
Brains DK: Erik Kristiansen
Courage Ventures Oy: Ambassador Bruce Oreck (ret.), Will Cardwell, Laura Carnicelli, Fabian
Sepulveda, Povilas Valiauga

21UNI: Panel of experts & students
In addition to the project & extended team, a large group of experts were involved in the process. The
interviewees represent a broad range of educational influencers, leaders, educators and students of novel
programs from Finland and abroad.
•  Aurimas Ražanauskas, Kaos Pilot (LT, DK)
•  Dr. Shailendra Vyakarnam, Cranfield University (UK)
•  Norris Krueger, Entrepreneurship NorthWest (USA)
•  Theresa Berg, Samuel Hailemariam, Educational entrepreneurs (Finland)
•  Alf Rehn, Abo Academy, Copenhagen Business School (Finland, DK)
•  Ruth Graham, MIT (USA)
•  Herve Lebret, Innogrants
•  Tina Seelig, Stanford University (UK)
•  8 students from Lauttasaaren Yhteiskoulu International Program (Finland)
•  2 University students attending Finnish universities (Finland)
•  Mikko Hakala, TAT & LYK (Finland)
•  Mikko Koria, Aalto IDBM, Loughborough University London (Finland, UK)
•  Mia-Stiina Heikkala, Lauttasaaren Yhteiskoulu (Finland)
•  Kari and Veikko Jääskeläinen, Founders of Helsinki Business School (Finland)
The purpose of the discussions was to form a holistic view on the theme, and how Kotka region can
integrate these trends and/or find opportunity spaces with the help of this insight of a larger context.

Section 2: Context
Challenges and Drivers
© Courage Ventures

21UNI: The opportunity
During the past years, Cursor Oy has taken an active role in creating growth
entrepreneurship activities and boosting the economic renewal in the Kotka-Hamina region,
in collaboration with the local educational institutions (such as Kyamk) as well as
international universities (Cambridge and Cranfield from the UK) and corporations with
strong local presence (e.g. Google).
Section 2: Context
In the summer 2015, an idea
of a novel educational
concept emerged.
This idea has been taken
forward by the project to
conduct a feasibility study.
3.1.2016 Kymen sanomat

Source: 3.1.2016 Kymen sanomat

Why are new edu concepts emerging?
Section 2: Context
Todays education system is
broken, thus a number of
disruptions are emerging
globally.
The global spend on edtech in
classrooms was $13 billion in 2013
and is on the rise, fueling a market
that is projected to reach $19
billion by 2018 [Futuresource Consulting,
2014]
The leading disruptors include:
Annex 1 offers an overview of the background, as well as examples of novel
concepts catering to this opportunity.

“We’re not losing students to Stanford or
Harvard, our competition is places like Thiel
or YCombinator.”
-Bill Aulet, MD, Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship

“Compensation and power for the researchers
will not be driven by publishing lots of low-
impact papers or speaking at lots of conferences
—that whole system seems broken. Instead,
we will focus on the quality of the output.”
-Sam Altman, YCombinator Research Initiative

The UNESCO pillars of learning, which highlight:
“learning to know”
“learning to do”
“learning to live together”
“learning to be”
should be kept as the key driving guidelines when developing a curriculum for
modern education (Zhou Nan-Zhao, 2013). These four elements are integrated in
the values and concept of 21UNI.
These realities and trends combined with the current global challenges (changing
immigration policies, global refugee crisis, unemployment), that also have a large
scale effect on Finland, open new opportunity spaces for the creation of novel
education concepts.
Section 2: Context
Creating a holistic learning concept

In addition, the opportunity for 21UNI is aligned with the orientation focus of
Kymenlaakso University of Applied Sciences (Kyamk), highlighting the creativity, open-
access multicultural and multi-disciplinary learning process.
Understanding Milling the focus Crea9vity
Open Access
Learning process
Context

Mul9cultural

Mul9-discipline
Habit of thinking and
knowing
Meaning
Experience
PlaUorms for
diﬀerent values –
value-based
network
Individuals Ins9tu9ons
Accelerator
Studies -
Ideas to make new
horizon for new
solu9on and learning
Section 2: Context
Leveraging Kyamk approach
Source: Petteri Ikonen / Kyamk

MVP – Minimum Viable Product
21UNI – name for this project, the original working name was ‘’21st Century
Digital University’’
Higher education – in this project, we mean the post-highschool education
Business Model Canvas, BMC – a framework tool that explains how an
organization creates, captures and delivers value
Section 2: Context
Glossary of key concepts

Section 3:
Analysis of Findings & Co-creation process

This section offers a short overview of the initial assumptions that were made based on
1.  Benchmarking global concepts and
2.  The project team’s workshops
These assumptions were translated to an interview script and questions. The objective of
the interviews was to
1.  Validate / invalidate our assumptions and
2.  Gather new insights to be incorporated in the 21UNI concept creation
The objective of the process was thus to collect preliminary evidence that there is need
and desire for the 21UNI concept, as well as develop the concept further, in order to
visualize the final MVP.
The following slides present the findings in short, as a prelude to the MVP visualized in
the next section. For a detailed overview of the findings, please refer to the Annexes or
the project team.
Section 3: Analysis of Findings
Collecting evidence to validate assumptions

Overview of novel education concepts
We researched existing educational programs with a similar objective and
summarized our findings in the next slide. As can be seen, they tend to have strong
focus on entrepreneurial education, innovation and technology.
Most of them have a very exclusive selection process and a highly targeted audience,
and some have a high cost of attendance.
“Innovators can be any age, come from any background, with any
level of education. What they share in common isn’t a prestigious
degree but a passion for innovation, a great idea, and the strength
of purpose and business savvy to make people listen.”
-Gary Shapiro
Guest piece on Forbes. President & CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA)® , Author of the New
York Times best-selling books, Ninja Innovation
Annex 1 offers a detailed overview of a collection of global education concepts.

© Courage Ventures Oy 2015© Courage Ventures Oy 2015 23
Organiza5on Key Focus Why (Value proposi5on) Program Audience
Singularity
University
Exponen9al
Technology,
Entrepreneurship
Solve global challenges via
exponen9al technologies
10wk onsite + online
+ others (IPP)
Batches of 80,
highly compe99ve
selec9on process
Draper
University
Entrepreneurship World class entrepreneurship
programs for people who want
to change the world
7wk onsite + online
(at your own pace) +
execu9ve package
Limited to ages
18-28 + execs
Watson
University
Entrepreneurship “1st Degree-Bearing Incubator
for the World’s most promising
next genera9on changemakers
and social entrepreneurs”
4 full semesters
onsite + 3 summer
semesters online,
2.5 years total
Bacherlor’s level
students.
YC Research Open source R&D Create research that maGers
without current limita9ons
Full-9me research
for as long as it takes
Researchers with
experience
Virgin Unite Entrepreneurship Solve global issues in health,
environment, etc. via
entrepreneurship
Ad hoc support + 6-9
day courses
Entrepreneurs,
business owners
MIT – IDIN (D-
Lab)
E&I, Innova9ons for
development
Engineering, innova9ons for
global and human
development in poor countries
4-weeks on the ﬁeld;
Global hubs (long
term)
Selec9ve
applica9on
process, global
students
Berghs
Communica5on
Communica9on,
crea9vity
Kickstart new careers, and
advance exis9ng ones
1-2 year full-9me,
onsite
Bachelor level with
industry experience
Kaos Pilot Hybrid business and
design school, a mul9-
sided educa9on in
leadership and
entrepreneurship
To turn crea9ve minds into
crea9ve leaders

Experiment +
explora9on +
experience +
enterprise
Selec9ve
applica9on
process, global
students

Through the benchmarking of similar programs globally (see Annex 1 for details) and project team
workshop (on October 26, 2015 – see Annex 2: Workshop wrapup, for details) with Kotka region
stakeholders, the following aspects were identified as potential avenues for further exploration
when creating the 21UNI concept creation:
•  Engagement of younger generations
•  Addressing markets other than “top elite” – or in a different way
•  Global campus: Digital + Physical offering
•  Integration of creativity, innovation, entrepreneurship and impact
–  Focus on creativity, creativity processes, etc. not only technology
–  Resilience; Storytelling; Networking…
•  Personalization – focusing on student’s passions & strengths
•  Focusing on big global problems
•  Product-oriented learning: learning to scale the solution (created by students) to global
audience
–  Students as Global Entrepreneurs
Informed ideation & creating assumptions

BMC as a tool to develop the concept
In the data gathering, we focused on validating / invalidating assumptions on the core areas of the BMC:
Customer Segments – this was conducted through the selection of pioneers of education as our interviewees.
Value Propositions – we tested our hypotheses and how well they resonated with the pioneers
Channels – all respondents gave their insight to our assumptions regarding channels
The interview insight was taken further to a 2nd project team work session, to give shape to the final MVP.
Cost Structure
Key
Partners
Key
Activities
Value
Propositions
Customer
Relationsihps
Customer
Segments
Key
Resources
Channels
Revenue
Streams

24 interviewees, 22 interviews:
Ø  Aurimas Ražanauskas, Kaos Pilot
Ø  Shai Vyakarnam, Cranfield University
Ø  Norris Krueger, Entrepreneurship NorthWest
Ø  Theresa Berg, Samuel Hailemariam, Edu
entrepreneurs
Ø  Alf Rehn, Abo Academy, Copenhagen Business
School
Ø  Ruth Graham, MIT
Ø  Herve Lebret, Innogrants
Ø  Tina Seelig, Stanford University
Ø  8 students from Lauttasaaren Yhteiskoulu
Ø  2 University students
Ø  Mikko Hakala, TAT
Ø  Mikko Koria, Aalto IDBM, Loughborough
University London
Ø  Mia-Stiina Heikkala, Lauttasaaren Yhteiskoulu
Ø  Kari and Veikko Jääskeläinen, CEO and
Chairman/founder of Helsinki Business School
•  The project team’s hypotheses were validated
through a series of extensive interviews. Altogether
22 semi-structured elaborate live interviews with key
stakeholders in education were conducted.
•  Interviews focused on three pioneering groups:
–  Thought-leaders in education
–  Current high-school & university students in novel
programs
–  Educators in novel and pioneering programs
•  The interviews focused on alternative learning
experiences, problem-solving process, future skills
needed for the young person, values as well as
means for content delivery in education
•  The MVP (presented in following chapter) was built
based on the insights gathered in these interviews, as
well as the learnings from benchmarking & the
project team workshops.
Validating the assumptions: Interviews
Detailed notes from interviews have been delivered to Cursor project management. Due to some sensitive information
and personal opinions of the interviewees, the detailed interview notes are not made available for a larger audience.
For this same reason, the names of under 18-year old interviewees are not disclosed.

Focus on integrators
(vs. specialists)
Solve big societal problemsConnection & experience
with real-life
Global campus & varying learning
environments
Degree /
certificate is important
Self-awareness tools
Explore many fields,
choose where to dive in
Insights from USER interviews
Projects vs. subject classes
Insight from educator and student interviews

All respondents highlighted the importance of soft-skills
Learnings from interviews: Value proposition
•  Facilitating an environment for participants to try different fields and discover own
passions before making a choice
•  Work on real life, real world problems
•  Project based learning which integrates diverse skillsets and personal qualities
•  Self-discovery and awareness of capabilities (nature & wellbeing as an important
value)
•  Diploma is important (counter to the initial assumptions)
•  Innovation & entrepreneurship skills were inseparable
•  Similar learning experiences are offered by different education organizations
around the world. However, most focus on specific target areas (i.e. startups)
•  21UNI can stand out by offering a more open program that offers greater
balance/ flexibility to choose your own path

The initial assumption was that:
•  Physical was best but we could heavily capitalize on digital technologies
including online, virtual reality, video, etc.
During the interviews, we learned that
•  Human to human contact is irreplaceable
•  MOOCs and similar the attractive element is all about who is delivering, and
MOOCs were not attractive to all teaching staff
•  Virtual reality and other “radical” technologies not game changers - it could
help but it is not compelling on its own
Learnings from interviews: Channels
All respondents highlighted the importance of having a balance
between technologies and physical presence

The next chapter presents the MVP that was developed on the basis
of the analysis of the findings and workshops with project team

Section 4:
MVP and Recommendations

Overview of the MVP
This section gives a detailed description of the jointly developed concept vs.1, the MVP. The following areas
will be presented.
Customer Segments – the ‘’first adopters / lead users’’
Value Propositions – what value the program brings
Channels & Key activities – what the program consists of & how it is delivered
Key resources & Cost structure – resources (spatial, human and financial) needed to make it happen
Key partners – key organizations and people involved in the delivery; under discussion
Cost Structure
Key
Partners
Key
Activities
Value
Propositions
Customer
Relationships
Customer
Segments
Key
Resources
Channels
Revenue
Streams
Section 4: MVP and Recommendations

In the next slides we answer the key questions:
Minimum Viable Product – the MVP
WHAT does it
consist of?WHO are our
student and faculty?
WHERE is it delivered?
HOW
to make it
reality?
WHY does the
program exist?

Focus on Real world problems
Photo source: Laura Carnicelli

As the basis of the program, we’ve defined real global problems that have local
relevancy
•  Look at China, buying bottled air from Canada or Beijing closing factories for
poor city air quality during autumn 2015
•  Water quality related problems on a global scale are huge, and threaten us
all: ocean pollution, hygiene and water borne illnesses, polluted fish…
•  Finland is still clean and we have an abundance of clean fresh water and air,
unlike most global locations
à Thus we believe there is interest for international students to attend programs
helping them create better and cleaner living environments
Real problems for real people

Theme: Clean Water
Photo source: cursor.fi

We suggest running the test program over summer 2016 with the theme of
‘’Clean Water’’ and continue with it, if and when it resonates well.
•  The theme is locally relevant. Kotka is by the water, a maritime city that hosts
maritime and sailing related events. Thus the theme fits its profile.
•  We have access to competence in this field, through our partners: Water
Science Institute and Bruce Oreck’s competence in the cleantech area
•  There are Finnish expertise and technologies available.
•  Baltic Sea is one of the most polluted seas.
NB: Desired primary impact of the program is in people, not in ready solutions.
Our aim is to transform the person, not (necessarily) create a feasible solution in
the 3 weeks (although this can happen, too, especially as a long-term effect
through their later endeavors).
Why Clean Water?

For whom? Pathfinders & Change agents

Analysing the findings from interviews, workshops and other data gathering, the
following groups were identified as ‘’first adopters’’. We propose targeting these
groups when testing the MVP.
Primary: Pathfinders
Finnish and international students in the “gap year” , particularly during or after
highschool, who want to discover their strengths and passions, in order to make
educated decisions regarding their further educational paths.
Secondary: Change Agents
Local and international change-agents who are
a) in search for meaningful, integrated learning experiences to develop their
certain skills
b) who wish to create positive change in their communities
Segmenting users: Pathfinders & Change agents

The MVP in short
•  Timing: 3-week program before *SHIP event in June / July
–  Final presentations at *SHIP– open to the public
•  Theme: ”Clean Water”
–  Students work in project teams & cases around the theme
•  Participants: 26 high-school and early university students
–  For the pilot, 20 local/Finnish, 6 international. Aim for 50/50 ratio in Finnish and
internationals for the future.
–  Handpicked participants for the Summer 2016 program, as we want active, good
quality feedback on the program. Normally through application process.
–  Participants reimbursed for flights, room and board in exchange of constant feedback
and program design support.
•  Organization: Pilot in Summer 2016 run as a Cursor project
–  During 2016-2017 an entity e.g. a social enterprise or association to be formed that
takes ownership of producing the program
For discussion and finalizingSection 4: MVP and Recommendations

Content: A project-based 3 week program

Key objective:
Transform the individual
Foundation of Learning:
•  Learning is designed to highlight a balanced/flexible lifestyle
•  Nature & wellbeing as core values
•  Students can take charge of designing their own learning path
•  Instructors act as Guides or Mentors, helping students to
–  Discover and explore options and topics, before making final choices
–  Identify their strengths and passions
–  Design their own learning path
–  Understand the real-life applications of different topic areas
–  Succeed in their project work during the program
• Study in diverse environments and/or abroad (not in pilot) through partner institutions
• Follow up with participants in 12 months and ask them to mentor following year’s batch
Foundation of learning

Learning is organized in projects, where students work in teams. The following skills
emerged in discussions with interviewees as well as in the workshops and data
gathering. We have organized them in two complementary core areas, that support
the growth of capabilities and skills of the participants.
Skills (me & my team)
Mindfulness & self-reflection
Communication & presentation skills
Resilience
Creativity & imagination
Teamwork & leadership
Capabilities
(methods and tools)
Entrepreneurship
Systems thinking
Design thinking
Product & service design tools
Holistic approach: Learning hard and soft skills
This approach supports the philosophy of the Unesco Pillars of learning:
Learning to know, to do, to live together and to be.

The vision for future is to offer a hybrid program, where participants create their own
learning path: They pick & choose for content modules from a range of choices selected
by the faculty and do the core skills modules together with peers in Kotka
Vision: A self-tailored program for each student’s needs – they can explore a field further
as they progress, or change fields if they notice it wasn’t the right choice
coursera
edX
MOOCs
MIT
Local offerings (e.g.
game programming)
Partner offerings
(eg. Cambridge online,
Cranfield studies)
Core methods
and skills
during project work
Learning
”verticals”
A self-tailored program

•  Program duration: 3 weeks
•  Content workshops: ½ day, morning to lunch, daily
–  Core curriculum
–  Predefined paths available: E.g. an online “health” pack of water pollution with a physical
“math” pack for water pollution
•  Experience module: ½ day, afternoon to dinner, daily
–  Free choice of topic (within range selection)
–  Work with coaches/mentors: Advisors (guides) could be those delivering the physical
programs that can support the participants’ independent learning of the online “packs”
–  Work with teams and bring the learning to them
•  Last week spent heavily on development
•  Culminates in demo day (*SHIP)
•  Follow-on online modules
•  Alumni network building
Structure of learning

Venue: Maritime Center Vellamo or Kyamk
Photo source: PatteriES facebook page

Kotka has some available real estate. During the co-creative process we
identified that summer offers us even more possibilities, as most of the
educational spaces (Kyamk, Ekami) are unused or underused. The project group
also held a workshop in Vellamo, which thematically and location-wise would be
great for the purpose. The current dialogue with City of Kotka indicates that the
venue for summer 2016 test round could be one of these locations, depending on
the final requirements.
Thus the project group has come to the conclusion to start the concept testing in
already existing venues, rather than proposing building (or renovating) new ones.
Short term – Doesn’t require hefty investments, just paying for use (lecture hall
and equipment rentals)
Long term – As the concept continues evolving and developing with the users
(students), this decision allows us to be flexible. In future, we could offer the
learning in multiple locations or make other suitable decisions as moving forward.
Venue: Vellamo and/or Kyamk

Run First
Program
*SHIP
(July)
Fund
program
Partners
Organizing
Implement learnings from
1st round
Design 2nd Program with
Alumni
Explore int’l partner options
Run 2nd Program
Secure founding partners,
Establish entity
Roadmap for 24 months: Test & Launch
Key Objectives in 2016-2017
1.  Implement insights from MVP
2.  Explore international exchange options & program expansion opps
3.  Secure global network of mentors

Secure
funding
Secure key
partners
Recruit
participants
Design
program
Prepare
communi-
cations
Organize
participant
tickets, visas
etc
Design
program
Practicalities:
Venue,
materials,
accommodation,
program
coordination
First
Program
Final Event
at *SHIP
Test the MVP in July 2016

MVP: Resourcing I – Funding
An estimate for the operating budget is provided in the excel sheet attached
(Annex 3: Operating budget), delivered to Cursor.
The main budget items are:
-Salary cost of organizing team and facilitators
-Fees and travel cost of faculty
-Travel cost & lodging of invited students
-Marketing, materials and IT
-Rentals of venue, equipment and material

MVP: Resourcing II – Human resources
To ensure a smooth pilot, we recommend the following structure on running the MVP.
Note that same people can run different roles.
1. Program office:
Producer: Individual with overall project ownership, coordinates all activities between players, leads all
program design and implementation, ”glue between all the separate pieces”
Program management: Financial and fundraising responsibility, recruits partners, participates in
program design, node between other team members. Communications.
Program design and delivery: Able to design learning programs, delivers content and great
experiences. Recruits students. The node for the learning program.
Program coordination: Organizes practicalities, such as student communication and recruitment, ticket
and venue bookings for students and staff, support during delivery.
2. Faculty:
Program Dean: A ’godfather’ of the program, with relevant influence and networks.
Global gurus and facilitators on specific subjects.
3. Mentors and Key stakeholders:
These organizations can offer mentors, facilitators, or collaborate in other forms
Local: Cursor, Google, Kyamk, City of Kotka, PatteriES, local companies
Global: Cranfield, Cambridge

MVP: Recruiting participants
We propose using a selective application process normally. However, we suggest handpicking /
inviting the participants to the summer 2016 program through our contacts, to ensure active and good
quality feedback. Courage Ventures proposes approaching following organizations for recruiting.
1.  Kotka-based institutions: 8-10 participants from local schools. A mix of Finnish and foreign
students
–  Eg. From local highschool, or Ekami, Kyamk and their contacts
–  2-3 students from immigrants / refugee background
2.  Lauttasaaren yhteiskoulu LYK (international business track): 5-6 students
–  A novel highschool program where pupils applied to when 15 years old.
–  CV team has good contacts to the teaching staff
–  Pupils have participated in Slush trainings and volunteering, as well as the interviews for this
project
3.  Other Finnish highschools: 5-6 students
–  Approach selected highschools through Kotka highschool teaching staff
4.  Global students: 5-6 students (2 Asia, 2 Africa, 2 Latam)
–  CV team has good networks to active communities (such as IDIN network) that have
1000-2000 members from mainly developing countries.

We suggest exploring growing brands that work in the same sphere and could potentially be
expanded to include the 21UNI concept. Expanding an existing brand (rather than creating
a name & brand from scratch) gives a leap forward in the creation process, and is valuable
to both partners.
The following two offer a potentially good fit for branding the concept:
Opportunity 1: Slush Youth (2-day learning program for high schoolers)
• Slush brand is well known internationally
• Slush Youth targets similar needs as 21UNI
• Concept could be leveraged (from 1 day to 3-week program)
à Organizer is open for discussion
Opportunity 2: *SHIP (entrepreneurship event in Kotka)
• Existing, local event and brand; partly same delivery team and organizations
• Concept easily broadened from event to a study program
à Already linked to *SHIP event, brand could easily be leveraged to cover the program
Communications: Brand & Name

We suggest contacting the following institutions when developing the program. These
organizations work with the same problem space and can offer valuable insight to support
launching the 21UNI concept.
Benchmark 1: Danish Højskolen
• Same identified problem/need, with decades of expertise: To help youth figure out a path for
their future
• Normally a 4-10 month program in a ’boarding school’ with study visits abroad
à We propose contacting / visit 1-2 Hojskolen institutions in Denmark to explore their concept
further
Benchmark 2: Minerva
• Global campus: A 4-year long program, each semester in a different campus, across continents
• Focus: ‘’Higher education for 21st century’’ (incl. a degree)
à An elite program with hefty cost, worth studying closer or contacting at a later stage
Spring 2016: Explore success cases
Section 5: Future Recommendations & Conclusion

Cursor and Kyamk already possess strong relationships with especially UK based institutions,
such as Cambridge and Cranfield. These offer great opportunities for forming formal
partnerships in the future.
1.  The interviews throughout highlighted the importance of gaining a diploma or certificate at
the end of the program. Opportunities for a UK diploma or a dual diploma from a Finnish
& UK based university should be explored.
2.  Cursor is in close discussions with Prof. Shai Vyakarnam and his team from Cranfield, and
will visit his team in early Feb 2016. Prof. Vyakarnam is mapping out possibilities to include
some of their faculty in delivering the program in Finland.
3.  We propose making decisions regarding partners and the operating mode after testing the
MVP in summer 2016 with the currently active stakeholders.
2016-2017: Establish formal partnerships

Concluding remarks
The higher education system as we know it is broken. An increasing amount of evidence
demonstrates that traditional higher education is overpriced, out of touch, and outdated.
This challenge presents a substantial opportunity to create a disruptive education
concept.
As a first step in that direction, the 21UNI project team took this challenge on by
exploring a first-implementation of such a concept. Led by the Courage Ventures team,
our extended team of educational experts, entrepreneurs, students, teachers, and other
relevant experts evaluated the feasibility of a disruptive learning program based in
Kotka with global reach.
Based on first-hand experiences of interviews, workshops, and discussions, the team co-
created a unified vision that yielded the first version of this program—a Minimum
Viable Product (MVP). The MVP will bring a batch of approximately 25 participants,
Finnish & international, to Kotka to go through a disruptive educational experience
centered on the theme of "Clean Water". The project team proposes implementation of
the MVP in July 2016 on the back of the successful *SHIP event.

For more information, please contact:
Jouni Eho
Director, Business Services
Cursor Oy
Tel.+358 40 190 2527
jouni.eho@cursor.fi
Will Cardwell
Partner, Chairman of the Board
Courage Ventures Oy
Tel. +358 40 514 1325
will@courageventures.com

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