[Acer notes] Educating the next generation of creators with ConceptD

The author of this magazine article is Cristina Pez, Acer EMEA Senior Manager for Education, Sales & Marketing.

Here at Acer, we believe that the future is in the next generation’s hands and it is the current generation’s responsibility to support and nurture their potential.
That is why we strive to provide the education community with the best possible tools for the next generation to acquire the skills they need to make the world a better place—and by tools, we do not mean just the latest devices.
Research has shown that encouraging students to think creatively today will make them better workers tomorrow: let’s have a closer look at why the importance of creativity is steadily growing in the current labour market and what steps Acer is taking to promote it.

ConceptD: why creativity matters

Being creative is one of the few things that still separate human intelligence from artificial intelligence: you can program a robot to build almost any product, but it is not nearly as easy to program one to design it, a difference that 74% of educators have shown to know in a recent survey provided by our partner Adobe.
The ability to solve problems creatively is also an asset that not only guarantees greater job security in the face of automation, but also tends to pay better: an axiom of the modern world that educators are even more aware of, with 85% of them agreeing with the statement. Showing your prospective employer that you can think outside the box and be flexible and creative when faced with unexpected problems is more likely to put you on a fast track to a senior level career with much better salary prospects than a lower-level job that relies on following instructions more than on independent thinking.
Even outside of these practical concerns for their students’ future, however, an overwhelming 97% of teachers acknowledge that creative problem-solving is important for them to learn in school, for their own accomplishment if not for better results in standardised testing. In a world where creativity is more and more important, in fact, even the content of international testing is undergoing a shift: leading organisations such as UNESCO are advocating for the promotion of creativity in schools and even PISA (OECD) will assess the test-takers’ “creative thinking” starting in 2021, rather than stopping at skills such as mathematics and reading comprehension.

Making dreams come true with ConceptD

Thanks to the new premium brand ConceptD, Acer is taking steps to support creativity in education by offering a full portfolio of mobile and desktop solutions designed by creators, for creators, along with a designed vertical ecosystem that promotes collaboration with several partners, so that design students can make their dreams come true in more ways than one.
ConceptD is primarily conceived with the aim of making creative concepts a reality. With ISV (Independent Software Vendor) partnerships as one of the greatest strong points of the extensive network of alliances, ConceptD can be a great tool for design students to gain valuable experience using professional software (among them, Adobe, Autodesk, Dassault Systemes, and Magix) that may one day help them advance in their ideal careers.
For an example of the benefits such an ecosystem may bring, look no further than IED (Istituto Europeo di Design), whose students have spent the past few months participating in the Design Innovation Lab, making the most of their new ConceptD products to conceive and develop new usage scenarios and an innovative design language for the future Acer Creator notebooks. Here’s a sneak peek of “Litterae”, the winning project from team DEM!
But this is only a small fraction of what it means to be a part of ConceptD’s unique vertical ecosystem, which also includes our community of channel partners as well as alliance partners so as to offer complete, market-leading solutions for specific objectives and ensure the education community receives the finest value-added solutions.

Are you a design school or a professional reseller interested in our ConceptD ecosystem? Feel free to reach out directly to me at cristina.pez@acer.com.