It was crowded, but in a busy and positive sense, when the Stockholm CLC and KTH faculty and administrative coordinators welcomed the majority of the 55 new students (some are still arriving) and the 15 second year students to the Masters Programme in ICT Innovation at KTH.
This year will not only see an increase in the number of students. As it is the first time that the second year is held, the track for Internet Technologies and Architecture (ITA) also opens besides the other three options that have run previously - Digital Media Technology (DMT), Embedded Systems (ES) and Human Computer Interaction and Design (HCID).
Konrad Tollmar, Master Programme coordinator at KTH, greeted the numerous students and gave a brief presentation about the research in Mobile Services at the department of Communication Systems where he is Associate Professor. Gunnar Landgren, Node Director of EIT ICT Labs Stockholm, continued with a presentation of the local partner network and opportunities in the ecosystem in Kista, which is an exceptional cluster of world leading researchers and businesses in ICT and mobile technology.
The faculty representatives and teachers gave each a brief overview of their respective course contents to help the students make their selections of elective courses. Terrence Brown, Innovation and Entrepreneurship (I&E) courses, starts the whole first year group with an I&E workshop for a week.
The second year students need to start thinking on how to link their I&E minor thesis with their major thesis and internship to be carried out next spring.
The major tracks coordinators also held breakout sessions to answer specific questions about ITA – Viktoria Fodor and Markus Hidell, DMT – Markus Flierl, ES – Johnny Öberg and HCID – Christian Bogdan and Konrad Tollmar. To help with practical matters regarding the Master studies May-Britt Eklund at the School of ICT and Nele Stoffels from the International Studies office are at hand. The Master School office is also located at the CLC where study advisor Helena Törnqvist supports with more general issues.
As inspiration for the newcomers two of the former students projects were showcased – the RunTroll application which helps people have fun and combine gaming with staying healthy and exercise, and the C3 calendar project that in a clever way shows conflicts in your and other (colleageus, family or friends) calendars to try to help you to plan better. Last year it was an idea to use this to see which elective courses would be smartest to choose….
There was much talking and interactions over a Swedish style buffet, introducing pickled herring (sill), smoked salmon (lax) and crisp bread (knäckebröd). CLC manager Karoline Beronius and CLC hostess Elisabeth Sahlberg gave tours of the facilities and an introduction to Swedish equality culture ( in Sweden everyone - even the Prime Minister should put his used coffee cup in the dishwasher).
We look forward to a very lively year at the CLC!
