Presenting Kuopio Health members: Smart Visionary Solutions Oy
Smart Visionary Solutions brings digital solutions to learning
Smart Visionary Solutions Oy is a company founded in 2022 in the field of professional orientation, training and content creation. The company provides modern digital solutions for the needs of all industries and supports learning with virtual reality and gamification elements. The company’s content creation services incorporate still images, 2D videography from the ground and the air as well as 3D and 360 images and videos.
The entrepreneurs Arto Kärkkäinen and Henri Heiskanen both have strong expertise in the industry. Kärkkäinen has previously worked as a vocational teacher and has particularly been involved in the development of vocational teaching in logistics. His aim has been to develop and improve the quality of teaching from the learner’s perspective. His work has been guided by the question of how can we produce effective teaching quickly, flexibly, and independently of time and place. Meanwhile, Heiskanen has an extensive educational background and strong experience in digital content creation.
In his role as the company’s CEO, Kärkkäinen is responsible for managing customer accounts, planning the orientation/training content, applying for funding for training projects, and writing manuscripts for video productions and learning environments. As a content creator, Heiskanen is responsible for digital services and has expertise in areas such as storage, editing, creation of digital environments, simulation training and equipment management.
Roots in the forest
“You could say we come from the forest and have been solving challenges related to teaching and learning in the forest environment, but the methods we use are applicable to all industries. The methods can be used in contexts ranging from R-kioski to pharmaceutical plants and everything in between – anywhere where there is a need for training and orienting people. Logistics remains the company’s main industry due to the entrepreneurs’ background, but the activities have been gradually expanded to new sectors, such as nurse education”, Kärkkäinen explains.
The company’s values are transparency, sustainable development and smart solutions. They involve issues such as reducing the necessity to travel between cities thanks to digital solutions and making effective materials accessible regardless of time and place. All productions are cost-effective and created so that over-training and extra tasks can be avoided. The company’s approach includes precision and responding to clients’ needs.
“In the context of orientation, the role of content creation is emphasised, while when we provide a service such as recruitment training, the aim is to make the client company attractive and we may also manage their marketing for them. We can create the necessary content, market the training, apply for funding and look for the necessary educators together with the client company’s representative. Sometimes the training is provided by several parties, in which case we manage the whole network and process. After the training has ended, the learning is presented as stories on social media, highlighting the experiences that learners and the recruiter have gathered during the training. Making videos and photos is one of the strengths that sets us apart from other companies. In addition to training materials, we also create the necessary marketing materials as a side stream of our activities”, Kärkkäinen explains.
“Other companies in Finland may not be able to offer such extensive services. When it comes to operators in logistics, we can offer them the whole training package and integrate various, top-quality digital solutions into it. Meanwhile, when working with industries we are less familiar with, our role as a content creator is emphasised, and our work involves recording operating processes and activities such as the use of devices”, Heiskanen continues.
“One of our strengths is also the scalability of our solutions to various devices. We also use the high 8K resolution when shooting video to make sure the content stands the test of time. In practice, what we’re dealing with is the real world captured using 360 equipment on a virtual platform with a 3D feature and depth resolution, and we’re pioneers in this area. It’s also essential that the content feels real and stirs emotions. We want our materials to evoke genuine emotional reactions that also make learning more meaningful”, Kärkkäinen says.
Arto Kärkkäinen (left) and Henri Heiskanen.
Behind a screen, not your shoulder
Today’s learning does not have to occur in a traditional classroom setting. Learners can gain access to the equipment required for simulation learning at home. In logistics, this means driving simulators, and in other industries, the simulation environments we’ve produced. This also allows for eliminating any distractions that occur in the classroom setting, as students have an opportunity to focus on learning on their own terms. Simulations can also be used to teach learners manual skills and the use of various devices and equipment. Gamification enables learners to learn and acquire skills through a scoring system. We’ve aimed to create materials that are as interesting and engaging to learners as possible.
“The VR environment is an immersive environment that feels real and allows users to complete tasks at their own pace. This allows making sure that the learners understand and receive the content”, Heiskanen explains.
Meanwhile, orientation tutorials can be created for individual workstations, and the users can access the material with a QR code at a convenient time. Compared to traditional learning situations, this solution saves time and makes it easier to ensure that users are actually learning. For example, in healthcare, tutorial materials can be integrated into the existing HR systems. This enables the creation of personalised learning portfolios for individual learners.
Paying attention to different learners
Paying attention to diverse learners enables ensuring the uniform quality of teaching. All materials are available in writing, as audio files and in various languages. 360 environments, virtual spaces and 3D and avatar worlds provide new ways to illustrate learning content.
“Our solutions can improve and develop the integration of people with immigrant backgrounds. They can be used for learning Finnish language skills and making sure that people with different cultural backgrounds are understood. Students can be familiarised with their work tasks, organisation and environment already in their country of origin, and the learning motivation of arrivals can be tested in advance. For example in the case of nurses coming to Finland from a foreign country, the solution enables training them while they are still in their homeland”, Kärkkäinen and Heiskanen note.
The methods also enable practising encountering skills, as our technology provides a safe environment for training for various interpersonal situations.
Health and well-being are also involved
The company created a learning environment for Diaconia University of Applied Sciences for a course on the manufacturing and dosing of intravenous antibiotics. Diak has adopted the learning environment for medication as part of its regular activities. Smart Visionary Solutions has also partnered with Kuntokeskus Energy fitness centre to carry out well-being training that pays comprehensive attention to the role that physical activity, ergonomics, nutrition, sleep and recovery play in people’s everyday lives.
Towards new networks
Although Smart Visionary Solutions is currently operating strongly within Finland’s borders, the company may extend its operations to the international scale in the future with the introduction of new content and language versions. For example, the company’s training material can accompany equipment manufactured in Finland and exported abroad, and the end users can be trained remotely from Finland.
“We became Kuopio Health members after hearing that Kuopio has a cluster focused on health. We felt that thanks to our technology, we have a lot to offer to companies working in health promotion. We believe there is major potential in introducing the technologies into practice and training patients in self-care methods and devices. Potential applications include the treatment of various chronic illnesses, such as high blood pressure and diabetes. We’re anxiously waiting to see what this new cooperation will bring and see our involvement in the ecosystem as a positive new opening”, Kärkkänen points out.
Flexible turns with entrepreneurship
“The best thing about entrepreneurship is that you’re not running into limits too easily. Nearly everything is possible and you can keep constantly developing and testing things. It’s also important to be quick and efficient. We can introduce the best practices immediately if necessary. It’s also great to contribute to enabling things with our solutions and talk to others about what we’ve accomplished. We aim to accommodate our customers in any way possible and make sure that the threshold to contact us is low and we can communicate openly”, Heiskanen explains.
“If a customer has an idea of how virtual and digital solutions could benefit their organisation, we’re happy to discuss more about it and offer our help. When you want to communicate in an emotionally appealing way, give us a call or visit us in person. Although we operate in the digital world, we’re happy to meet and get to know you in person. The hashtag we’ve launched, #tekeminennäkyväksi (“making what you do visible”) also reflects authenticity, which is one of our driving forces. If you know any great stories your company would like to make visible and share with others, we’d be happy to be part of your projects, and we’ve also produced various videos for special occasions”, Kärkkäinen and Heiskanen conclude.