About a year ago I made a post about a stay at the University of Bergen by Staff Mobility week, following that experience I decided to organize an ICT week in the UPC, so I asked for help to the ICT community and Cabinet International Relations and Business (GRIiE).
The team that came after talks with GRIiE: Anna Fàbregas (GRIiE), Alex Mounted (DAC), Gabriel Verdejo (RDlab), Elizabeth Darnell (ICE), Joan Giralt (OSI), Luisa Romanillos (GRIiE), Monica Perez (ETSEIB) and Sandra Marsà (inLab).
Once the team was formed, it was necessary to prepare the week. The first thing we did was look for a theme, finaly it was SMART UniverCITY. With the theme in mind we “only” needed a week filled with content, and finding adequate to the chosen theme and budget social activities.
Finally the week from 4 to May 8 ISTW-UPC 2015 was held.
Monday welcome and presentation of the participants. Upon completion of the presentations we made a meal where each of the participants bring the typical meal of his city or country.
Tuesday context. In the morning we discuss about the SMART CITY and the SMART Univercity. At afternoon we did BCN Smart City Tour to see cases to make of BCN a smart CITY.
Wednesday and Thursday teamwork. Two groups were made, one would see case studies thanks to Professor David Carrera DAC and the other would innovate in college thanks to the UPCNET (Sergi Sales and Raquel Fernandez).
Wednesday morning the first group explored the possibilities offered by the sensors (very important to get information and make decisions based on data received), that is why we worked with tessel, because it are easily programmed and can be plugged all types of sensors.
The second group worked through design thinking techniques to identify some of the problems that exist in our university (or universities in general).
Wednesday afternoon we did a visit to the “cavas Codorniu“, a chance to see not only Barcelona but also its surroundings, and the visit was completed by a wine cellar.
Thursday morning the practical group saw how to store the sensor data that are collected through an API and create workflows from these data nodered. To finally make a brain strorming of possible use cases in university environment.
The other group thought possible solutions and made some prototypes that collected all the proposals made in these areas.
Thursday afternoon we went to the Duchess Terrace Hotel Duques de Cardona, overlooking the port of Barcelona, to write the conclusions of the week.
Friday Conclusions. The day began making a visit to the BSC, then each group presented their findings and said goodbye by making a paella in the FIB party.
After taking a week of mobility abroad and local I can say that the two experiences are very enriching. Both know new people, ways of working different from yours and you also have small touches of the culture of each country of the participants. Now organize a week like this would not have been possible without the great team. Thanks!