SCESAL 
Within the project, one of the goals the Security Academy has set for itself is to develop further its research activities. As a starting point for this, all the research center staff of the Security Academy and the Finnish colleagues from JAMK and POLAMK analyzed the current situation together.
For understanding the current state of affairs, the Finnish experts first got acquainted with existing background documents, which are quite many: laws, regulations, statutes, and orders that are guiding Research, Development and Innovation activities (R&D&I) at SA. The background documents helped the Finnish colleagues to understand the formal basis for R&D&I activities.
Nevertheless, the discussions with the staff of SA put things alive and enlightened practical matters.
Accordingly, in the shared online workshops held, the SA research center staff provided insights on how R&D is currently organized in SA, what the capacities of SA staff are in R&D, and what the current needs for improvement of staff skills and development of procedures of R&D&I are.
One of the guiding ideas to process the information was to use diverse collaborative tools. Thus, the Finnish colleagues brought in online questionnaires, SWOT, and Canvas tool that the SA staff utilized in the group works to analyze the current situation in a compact format.
Within the project, the results of the analysis will be utilized in forthcoming project activities where the strategical approaches will be discussed. Furthermore, there will be some training for staff members. It was concluded that more SA staff should be engaged in R&D&I activities.
Text and photos: Irmeli Maunonen-Eskelinen, JAMK University of Applied Sciences, Finland.
