Helsinki Design Week at the end of September saw the birth of the first Finnish HUB, a social entreprise and part of a global network of inspiring places, as Pop Up HUB Helsinki was set up within the capital's central Market Quarters. The temporary pop up space served as an office, meeting place and a platform for public innovation, work shops, talks and seminars for five consecutive days during the festival.

The Finnish Institute in London invited designers Anton Schubert and Nathan Waterhouse from global design consultancy IDEO to set up a series of inspirational work shops to envisage the future HUB. The workshops tackled issues ranging from ethical and ecological urban planning to looking at the potential in the city's aging population.

"The pop up HUB Helsinki workshop was high energy and super creative. The sense of commitment and passion from all involved really inspired IDEO. I've done a lot of workshops, and I'm still always amazed how productive user centred innovation sessions can be, it's incredible how many tangible and compelling ideas people came up with. It felt like the HUB Helsinki had arrived. I personally was grinning all the way back to London", enthuses Anton Schubert from IDEO.

IDEO aims to solve not only design problems but also larger scale global problems. They see design as a human-centred innovation. IDEO's core principles coinside with HUB's ethos. HUB believes the world is not short of great ideas, all people need are resources, connections and investment to execute their ideas.

"IDEO's focus lies at the intersection of insight and inspiration, and is informed by business, technology, and culture." - Tim Brown.

Helsinki's first permanent HUB will be launched in January 2010.

More information:
http://ideo.comhttp://the-hub.net
http://www.helsinkidesignweek.com/index.php