PhD content in brief

Internationalization of design research and education centers.
Promotion of international design networks
Valentina Auricchio

Today, small enterprises and artisans are facing a difficult moment in which they are not able to understand how to survive in a evermore competitive and global market. They no longer have contact with final users, which often live in other territories and belong to different cultures, and do not have the tools to connect and innovate at an international level.
Since the early 70’s, designers around the world have been working in this arena with the aim to help artisans reach new markets and learn how to develop autonomous innovative processes. Through transfer of knowledge and support in creating networks, designers have shown unique capabilities that can support internationalization processes of territories worldwide by:
_identifying new markets and interpreting cultures (EXPORT);
_identifying new technologies (CO-PRODUCTION);
_identifying new cultural context (CO-DESIGN).

In this scenario, design research and education institutions have had a fundamental role in engaging new research paths and developing education programs in the fields of design management and strategic design in order to support international competitiveness. The strive for internationalization has pushed design institutions to enlarge their networks, connect with territories and give students and staff the opportunity to widen their view. By doing so, they have become strategic entities for the internationalization of their countries.
In the knowledge based society, education and research institutions have become important actors in supporting the international competitiveness of their territories by developing innovative researches and forming new professional profiles.
Therefore, design research and education institutions have become gateways for companies interested in connecting and competing internationally.

The main aim of the research is to identify projects in which design institutions have supported the internationalization of productive territories in order to stimulate an international debate in this area.
The area of reference of the research is Social Design and it historically refers to those projects in which designers have had an important role in connecting the periphery with the center. Victor Papanek, Gui Bonsiepe and Victor Margolin have been the main design theorist in this area.
The research developed has aimed to collect projects that have been carried out in the past ten years in this field. Projects that have been developed by design centers, institutions, individual designers that demonstrate that design can have a strategic role in social and economical development. These projects are mainly lead by the desire to help artisans and small producers to reach new markets and to build connections with partners worldwide.
The research has been lead through on field research and interviews of actors involved in the debate and in the projects detected. The projects collected have been saved in an “online platform” (blog of the research www.innovstrategy.blogspot.com) which has been the a first interface with the research community.
Fifteen projects selected out of the many projects collected in the blog have been briefly explained through graphs and maps which give a general understanding of the state of the art in this field.

The analysis of the project has been done at different levels:
_geographical map of territories and actors involved;
_chronological map of the projects;
_role of the design actors in the projects;
_results respect to the internationalization of the territories involved;
_aims and objectives of the projects;
_project phases.

The final analysis of the projects aims to give a future view on the trajectories taken by the actors involved, the lessons learnt and the suggestions on how to take forward a debate in this field in order to develop new research and form professionals.
Today, there is a large amount of design centers, institutions and professionals who believe that design can have a strategic role in helping artisans and small companies in building global value chains. This belief has been demonstrated through real projects that show that designers are capable, not only in developing new products and services, but also in building global value chains that allow artisans to access new markets. Through these projects, designers transfer innovation capabilities to communities, enabling them to connect with partners worldwide.
However, this field is still not recognized as a research field in design and there are very few courses which aim to form professionals capable to replicate successful experiences in other contexts. This is also due to the fact that, up to today, design tools applied have not yet been codified.
Although the methods and tools identified in the projects still require confrontation and verification in other contexts, the catalogue of projects collected throughout the research is the first of its kind and the hope is for it to be a starting point for an international debate on design methods and tools applicable in this research area.

CASE STUDIES

The following list of posts are a collection of interesting articles which have been collected during the PhD research. Some of them are Design Centers, others are projects, others are links to websites.
Of these posts, 15 case studies have been picked out to be analysed in depth.

TO ADD PROJECTS OR LINKS PLEASE WRITE TO:
valentina.auricchio[at]polimi.it

Friday, 25 January 2008

DESIGNWORKS




In today’s business world, it’s no longer enough to simply outperform the competition. To thrive in a world of ceaseless and rapid change, business people have to outimagine the competition, by learning how to think – and become – more like designers.

To promote the principles and practice of design thinking, the Rotman School established designworks™, a centre for design-based innovation and education. Part of the Rotman Design Initiative, designworks™ is the result of an innovative collaboration with Stanford University’s Institute of Design, headed by IDEO founder David Kelley, and the Illinois Institute of Technology’s Institute of Design, headed by Patrick Whitney.

The program fuses the strengths of its academic and industrial partners to provide a working model for inspiring innovation across a wide range of design-related disciplines. By providing design coaching, innovation workshops and other customized programs, the centre aims to shape corporate culture and groom a new generation of business designers.
BY Vale at 05:14 0 COMMENTs

Wednesday, 23 January 2008

DESIGN FOR THE WORLD



Design for the World is an international humanitarian organisation whose objective is to match the skills and commitment of volunteer designers with the needs expressed by disadvantaged populations and the organisations that serve them worldwide. Design for the World unites graphic designers, industrial designers and interior and architectural designers around one common idea: voluntary design for people in need.Design for the World believes that people disadvantaged by poverty, war, disability, age or environmental conditions deserve equal access to practical design solutions that will improve their day-to-day lives. Design for the World seeks to extend the benefits of design to populations without access to adequately designed materials, objects, tools and living environments.
BY Vale at 01:02 1 COMMENTs

Friday, 11 January 2008

CREAR ARTESANIA



CREAR artesanía, colección de piezas
El proyecto Crear Artesanía, generado en el marco del programa URBAN y cofinanciado por la Comisión Europea, apuesta por conjugar los valores tradicionales de la artesanía con diseños más actuales acordes a las necesidades de nuestra sociedad.
Ya en el año 2005 presentó las primeras piezas elaboradas partiendo de elementos iconográficos propios de Sanfermines y Camino de Santiago, piezas diferentes, en las que la calidad, la creatividad y el diseño convivían con el carácter artesanal de las mismas.
La etnografía ha sido el motivo elegido en esta edición. El trabajo conjunto de investigación entre profesionales del diseño y de la artesanía, ha permitido, partiendo de productos tradicionales, incorporar nueva formas, usos, materiales y funcionalidades que permiten mejorar la competitividad e innovación de los talleres artesanos.
El trabajo desarrollado es un aliciente y un motivo de satisfacción para las personas y entidades involucradas, pero, sobre todo, un reconocimiento a la labor de los artesanos y diseñadores de Pamplona y de Navarra, gracias a los cuales, los valores tradicionales de nuestro pasado permanecen aún hoy vivos entre nosotros.
http://www.crearartesania.com
BY Vale at 02:37 0 COMMENTs
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