Konstfack's Vice-Chancellor Anna Valtonen and Chalmers' president, Martin Nilsson Jacobi, have written a joint essay within the framework of IVA's vision project "Swedish Futures".
Chalmers' president and CEO Martin Nilsson Jacobi, and Konstfack's Vice-Chancellor Anna Valtonen.
In the essay "The two A's in STEAM – A vision of art, design and the humanities as the Nordic region's next competitive advantage", the vice-chancellors of Konstfack and Chalmers University of Technology write about why technical excellence is no longer enough to meet the complex challenges of our time.
STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. Adding an A to the concept, where A stands for Arts, "is an attempt to name something we have long known but have rarely been able to articulate: that the major breakthroughs rarely occur at the center of the disciplines, but in the field of tension that arises when different ways of understanding the world meet," the authors write, among other things.
They describe two different A's: The first A focuses on the user (whether a human or another species), on creating a society where the new technology has a context and impact. The second A focuses on thinking completely differently, on imagining what does not yet exist.
Together, they point to a future where innovation arises precisely in the meeting of different ways of thinking – and where art, design and the humanities can be the Nordic region's next competitive advantage.
Read the full essay here: www.iva.se/en/Swedish-futures/Essays/the-two-as-in-steam/
Both Anna Valtonen and Martin Nilsson Jacobi are part of the Swedish STEM delegation, www.stemdelegationen.se/in-english/.
The essay is part of IVA's vision project "Swedish Futures", aims to develop an overarching vision for Sweden as a world-leading country of technology and innovation by 2035.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA) is an independent academy with a mission to promote engineering and economic sciences and the advancement of business and industry for the benefit of society. Konstfack's Vice Chancellor, Anna Valtonen is Deputy Chair of IVA's Presidium, which serves as the Academy's Board.
"Swedish Futures" is led by a steering committee consisting of leaders from business, academia, the public sector and civil society. The steering committee includes Chalmers' President, Martin Nilsson Jacobi.
About the project "Swedish Futures": www.iva.se/en/Swedish-futures/