UNAM/Nokia sign collaborative agreement

Nokia Corporation and the University of Namibia (UNAM) this week signed a Letter of Intent concerning the implementation of a collaborative agreement that will foster mutual knowledge and education in the field of visual culture, art and design. Namibia has been selected as the country in which to base this collaboration that will eventually target much of Africa. The Nokia research collaboration will be based at the UNAM’s Visual Arts Department which will manage it and will draw other interested parties into the collaboration as it develops. It is anticipated that the Polytechnic of Namibia, the John Muafangejo Arts Centre, the College of the Arts, among others, will all be involved in various aspects of the collaboration.

The collaboration will begin with the introduction of the Nokia ‘Only Planet’ programme in Namibia. “Only Planet” is a design research programme that explores the world of young people in a variety of different countries with the aim of gaining an insight into daily experience, society and trends in different global cultures. Nokia will introduce the Only Planet programme in the first semester of 2007 and facilitators from Nokia will conduct reviews at intervals through the semester. It is anticipated that the students’ research activities will result in innovative designs in a variety of different fields. In the second half of 2007 an evaluation and further discussions will take place to determine future developments.

In addition to the collaboration agreement with Nokia, the University of Namibia also signed a cooperation agreement with the University of Art and Design Helsinki (UIAH).
UIAH has a close working relationship with the design department of Nokia and it is envisaged that mutually supportive activities and information sharing between UIAH, Nokia and UNAM will result from these two agreements. In future the Helsinki University of Technology and the Helsinki School of Economics will assist the formation of a multidisciplinary research network.