True grit: could collective creativity change the game?

Change, willingness to innovate and continued digitalisation drive the need for new skills. The gaming industry is not the only sector in which there is a shortage of creative developers. Most regions and countries face the same challenge when digitalisation is in focus – the supply of skills needs to be strengthened. Surveys show a shortage of over 14,000 developers in Finland, and in Sweden it is estimated that the tech sector will suffer a shortage of up to 70,000 people in 2024. If the shortage is not remedied, it will be considered a threat to innovation and growth.

The tech education hub grit:lab, started by Paf, is an initiative to bring a new approach to learning and at the same time bring out the best version of the students themselves. Grit:lab is based on a new pedagogy that works completely without teachers and instead uses a peer-to-peer gamified learning platform where the focus is on the participants and practical projects. The students need to come with their own inner drive and the desire to learn something new and develop themselves. The word ‘grit’ encapsulates passion, courage, resilience and determination, which is exactly the qualities needed at grit:lab. Self-leadership, experimention and problem solving with others is top of the agenda.

Grit:lab has gained a lot of interest from all over the world. A large number of people have applied and secured a place on the two-year programme.

Stronger together

Paf and other tech companies express a need for self-driven problem solvers who are passionate about what they do. They also put emphasis on collaboration with others to find solutions to complex problems the companies face. This has already been happening during the first months at grit:lab campus among the 70 students, from more than 20 different countries and with completely disparate backgrounds and skills.

This is to witness collective creativity at its best. Students, with an age range of almost 25 years, demonstrate that diverse life experiences contribute to an enriched collaboration. Thanks to everyone’s differences but also because of the common challenges they face, a unique situation is created which drives the participants to help and complement each other, turn things around and ask questions to find solutions. Some have travelled halfway around the world to try something new, others have brought their family with them to the Åland Islands, and many have started without previous programming skills.

Of course, like anything worthwhile it is both challenging and sometimes frustrating for the participants, but it is precisely there, right at that point – in the space between frustration and solution – that learning takes place.

Not only will students be learning the very crucial soft skills from the collaborative environment but they will also be specialising in UX/UI, video games, AI and machine learning, blockchain and cryptocurrencies, cybersecurity and DevOps or in mobile and web application development. They will be learning how to be equipped and prepared for the constantly changing tech industry.

Grit:lab is also an educational journey in a deeper sense and from many perspectives. All involved – the society, the tech companies and the people – have the opportunity to grow by grabbing the chance to do so. A person who is motivated to learn and desires to make a positive impact on the world is a person who can accomplish it. There are no limits to what could be achieved together when diversity, collaboration, creativity and the grit mindset is at play.

Anna-Lena Svenblad is corporate development director at Paf, an international gaming company based in the Åland Islands. Svenblad is also currently co-director for the newly opened tech education hub grit:lab, a 100% project-based gamified learning platform focused around P2P interaction. Paf’s aim with grit:lab is to make a beneficial contribution to society by bringing in new talent and diversity as well as furthering the growth of the Åland tech and startup industry.