OREANDA-NEWS. June 04, 2013. In February of last year, a cooperation agreement was concluded between Tallinn University of Technology and Swinburne University of Technology, located in Melbourne, Australia.

The goal of the agreement is the exchange of knowledge and experience, as well as the inclusion of students, doctoral students and researchers from various fields in the execution of projects and operational research projects ordered by companies. Cooperation encompasses the innovation platforms of both universities, the Swinburne Design Factory and TUT'S MEKTORY initiative.

Cooperation in the field of innovation has now reached the first joint student project, in which students and doctoral students from Swinburne Design Factory and TUT Faculty of Information Technology are participating under the guidance of Dr. Sonja Pedell and Professor Kuldar Taveter. The topic of the project is the creation and prototyping of the concept of an interactive digital cookbook. The work has been ordered by cookbook publishers in Australia.

TTU students and doctoral students are creating the so-called intelligent digital assistant for cooking, which automates the processing of recipes and other cooking related information in the corresponding social network service, while at the same time the Australian side is dealing mainly with the creation of a new user interface and the visual side of the project. The joint project will be concluded from 23 May to 5 June in Melbourne, Australia, where Tea Varrak, Director of the Innovation and Business Centre, and Kuldar Taveter, professor of the Department of Informatics, will be travelling along with two TUT project team members.

The visit to Swinburne University of Technology will culminate on 3 June, with the final presentation of the Swinburne Design Factory student project for the current semester, in which our students and doctoral students will be taking part. During the visit, negotiations to expand cooperation between the universities and possible new joint projects will be held. Visits to other MEKTORY style organisations in Australia will also take place. We are grateful to our hosts, Professor Leon Sterling, Dean of the Faculty of Information and Communication Technology, and Dr. Sonja Pedell from the Faculty of Design at Melbourne’s Swinburne University of Technology.

The trip is being organised and financed by the MEKTORY innovation centre.