HAMK students work together with Hotel Waltikka and City of Valkeakoski

Students from the Electrical and Automation Engineering, Smart and Sustainable Design and International Business Programmes unite their forces this spring on a project commissioned by Hotel Waltikka and the City of Valkeakoski. Students are creating new services, ideas and concepts to develop the allure of Waltikka and Valkeakoski.

The project started with a kick-off meeting at the hotel, where the owner Tomi Kuparinen gave students the assignment and they were divided into groups for brainstorming and implementation of their ideas. Tomi is an alumnus of HAMK’s Electrical and Automation Engineering Programme and has previously worked for Nokia and Microsoft.

The students’ aim is to make Valkeakoski and Hotel Waltikka even more appealing and find new customer groups. Valkeakoski’s challenge is that it is a small town without any major attractions. A playful request to the students was therefore to develop a local Eiffel Tower.

The student’s ideas can be, for example, about energy efficiency, new types of hotel rooms or events. However, just a wow effect isn’t enough for an idea. The students will also get to test their business skills and consider the cost estimate and financial feasibility of the idea.

The project will run until the beginning of May.