Spatial exploration of economic data – methods of interdisciplinary analytics Erasmus Project

Project Title

Spatial exploration of economic data – methods of interdisciplinary analytics

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for higher education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2016

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Research and innovation; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; ICT – new technologies – digital competences

Project Summary

The importance of economic data analysis is indisputably a key factor in a decision making process. With the help of modern ICT tools (e.g. from business informatics), such analysis brings valuable insights in data and reveals information behind them more effectively. If we complement the analysis with a geospatial component (e.g. location), we can achieve complete and comprehensive knowledge about studied phenomenon. Therefore added value of bringing geospatial aspects in economic data analyses is highly appreciated. The project established a deep interdisciplinary and international cooperation and research sharing among the four institutions from three countries – Moravian Business College Olomouc specialising on economy, Department of Geoinformatics from Palacký University Olomouc focusing on spatial analyses (both from Czechia), Geomatics group from Ruhr-Universitaet Bochum (Germany) dealing with geography and remote sensing, and Faculty of Economics and Business from University of Maribor (Slovenia) with its business informatics and quantitative methods.The aim of Spationomy was to improve students’ interdisciplinary skills by interconnecting above-mentioned fields. In three consecutive year cycles of the project, students learnt, adopted, and most importantly applied joint methodologies/techniques/tools in practice. Moreover, students went through a simulation game-based learning, which motivated them to use their newly gained competences. This “serious learning” approach represented the most successful part of the project. Students participated in two short-term intensive courses (so called “drill” and “summerschool”), where they met in person in order to learn new skills from economics/business and (geo)informatics, which they mastered in practical assignements in during and in between the courses. A novel feature for most of the participant was represented by a virtual part (distant team-work on students projects) in each year’s cycle. All learning activities were carried out in a sense of blended learning. Students appreciated a mix of teaching methods making the Spationomy attractive and relevant also from a pedagogical perspective. Besides perfecting their teaching skills during courses, Spationomy staff members developed a deep collaboration in research and scientific agenda via Scientific Laboratories, where they identified and further explored possibilities to boost their professional carriers (three staff member were academically promoted during the project).
All the key objectives of the project were fulfilled, i.e. 1) to bring students from different contexts together, through blended mobility, where students adopted novel approach in spatial economic data analyses, 2) to bring scientists with different background together to establish a new cooperation within “spatial economics” domain, 3) to assess the potential of playful, experiential and simulation game-based learning, 4) to devise an interdisciplinary and multinational course facilitating the interconnection between economics and geomatics, 5) to develop an open access methodology of the spatial exploration of economic data, and 6) to establish a simulation game scenario in order to model real world problems and their solutions.
In total, there were 85 students (28 per year, with 1 more student in the last cycle) and 12 academic staff (4 more than proposed) supported by the grant. The project delivered all the proposed results, i.e. 1) Annual Spationomy courses, 2) Methodology of the spatial exploration of economic data – methods of multidisciplinary analytics (Spationomy methodology), 3) Spationomy learning and teaching materials (handbooks, manuals, guides, e-learning, multimedia etc.), 4) Significant research results (scientific papers and publications), 5) Simulation game-based learning conceptual framework, 6) Innovation of the participating institutions’ curricula, and 7) Conference proceedings. Spationomy project created a unique annual interdisciplinary and international programme producing educated experts in “spatial economy”. Moreover, as an intagible outcome, Spationomy created an exclusive spatial-economic knowledge platform, and helped students to start their new carriers. On top of it, Spationomy was selected as a case study for the Study on the impact of Erasmus+ Higher Education Partnerships and Knowledge Alliances at local, national and European levels on key Higher Education policy priorities, and also included into the program of TCA Conference “Fostering Erasmus+ Cooperation Projects Impact” in Bologna (Italy) in 2019.
All the project results were presented to more than 100 people on the project final conference at the end of the project. All the materials and outputs (where possible) are available as an open-access on the project website and on the Erasmus+ Project Results Platform. As intended, Spationomy delivered activities that are maintained after its end, and could also be adopted by anyone interested.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 184070 Eur

Project Coordinator

MORAVSKA VYSOKA SKOLA OLOMOUC O.P.S & Country: CZ

Project Partners

• UNIVERZA V MARIBORU
• UNIVERZITA PALACKEHO V OLOMOUCI
• RUHR-UNIVERSITAET BOCHUM