The third EIT ICT Labs Cloud Computing Summer School was held in Otaniemi campus, Espoo, Finland on June 3-7, 2013. In total 28 doctoral and advanced Master’s students from eight EIT ICT Labs partner universities participated in the summer school. The programme of the week included state-of-the-art lectures on both technical and scientific aspects of cloud computing, as well as business-oriented lectures. Lecturers came both from academia and industry in Finland and abroad, for instance Google, Deutsche Telekom, University of Rennes 1 and Aalto University.
An integral part of the week was the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Event, which inspired students to consider an entrepreneurial career. During the week the students completed group works on their own cloud computing related business ideas and presented them on Friday. The students also presented posters on their previous cloud computing research and in order to gain the 4 ECTS they are expected to submit learning diaries by the end of July. The Summer School visited BaseN data center in Helsinki, had a dinner in Helsinki downtown and a seaside picnic.
Dorottya Maksay, a student at the EIT ICT Labs Master School, says the event was a great opportunity to deepen her understanding of the different issues related to cloud computing. She was happy to meet many people eager to participate in something new and big, and everybody was so enthusiastic when they presented their projects. The students even created a facebook group on their own initiative, and we believe many valuable and sustainable professional and personal networks were created.
Dorottya's group work idea was to connect lonely elderly people in an easy way - through their TV - and enable them to meet other lonely people in the environment they feel secure - at their homes. The TV is supposed to be easier to use than Skype. Dorottya thinks she got a different perspective on cloud computing from companies and professors who have years of experience of the topic or are currently working on their own cloud projects. While talking with others, she feels everybody got inspired by this summer school.
Dorottya has thought about starting her own company in the past, but has never had the courage to take the idea a step further. EIT ICT Labs helped her to understand that she can succeed only if she tries. Thanks to the innovation and entrepreneurship studies, starting an own company is not so terrifying anymore, if there is a good business idea. The Cloud Computing Summer School was a great opportunity for idea generation and discussions with others.
