In December, representatives of the communications industry from teaching and practice met for an international exchange at the edcom conference in Brussels. FHWien der WKW was part.
At the edcom conference in Brussels, lecturers as well as practitioners of the communication industry from all over Europe met for a biannual exchange. FHWien der WKW, as a member of this organization, was also represented by Leyla Tavernaro-Haidarian. She is the International Course Manager at FHWien der WKW and is also responsible for the English-language Bachelor’s program in Corporate Communication .
Exchange between theory and practice with “4 Cs”
In the first part, the conference participants dealt with the “4Cs”, Challenge, Collect, Collaboration and Connect. Under the title “Challenge”, teachers and practitioners discussed how students can be further challenged and supported, e.g. through a TedX Edcom conference. The topic “Collect” then dealt with the question of how research work can be made accessible to the wider public and the economy. “Collaboration” focused on working together and with other stakeholders from the industry and “Connect” provided an opportunity to talk about tools and platforms that could optimize communication and collaboration.
During the exchange of best practices from the various universities, lecturers presented their highlights, such as the Creative+ Entrepreneurship and Innovation Hub at Panteion University in Greece, which brings together education, business and practice.
AI as a new way of creative expression
Our lecturer also spent a day at the EACA (European Association of Communication Agencies) conference, where a wide range of communication agencies and agency associations such as Havas, Kantar, the International Advertising Agency, Google Creative Works and many more were represented. Focusing on AI and its impact on the media industry, the keynote speeches (including Alex Connock from Oxford University) and several panel discussions dealt with the topics of human, soul, creativity and how AI can be seen less as a threat and more as an expression and tool for the human mind.
Finally, the CARE Awards were presented, which recognize outstanding marketing achievements and motivate social action. Unforgettable was the suicide prevention campaign by adam&evenDDB, which moved everyone present to tears and took first place.
Many thanks to Leyla Tavernaro-Haidarian for sharing her impressions of the edcom conference with us!