Top-expertise for education in sustainability: Innovative ICT-approaches to ‘connect’ students & experts

High schools are increasingly concerned about educating and engaging their students in sustainability issues. Consequently, curricula in many schools are being redesigned in order to focus upon these issues and their consequences. The project ‘Scholen voor Duurzaamheid’ (Schools for Sustainability, SvD), for example, is being used as a springboard in Dutch high schools to gain experience in Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). This paper presents the outcomes of research conducted in the period January-September 2010. The objective of this research was to investigate how Information and Communication Technology (ICT)-tools can support the effective integration of experts’ tacit knowledge into high-school sustainability projects, such as SvD. The main research method used within the performed study was case research, which involved literature reviews, interviews and direct in school observations. The literature review examined the areas of ESD, experts’ knowledge and ICT-tools. Underlying theoretical aspects of these three areas were connected through the construction of a conceptual model. This model consequently formed the basis for the creation of different propositions, which were used to focus and guide the empirical data gathering. In order to gather empirical data, case studies were performed at high schools and ESD programmes working with ICT. Examination of these cases was designed to assess if the contributions of experts are considered to be valuable for the educational process, in which ways experts are contacted with the help of ICT and what kind of difficulties could arise through the use of ICT-tools. The findings of the research formed the foundation for several recommendations for different actors that are involving, or may wish to involve experts and ICT in improving the effectivity of high school ESD education.Industrial Design Engineerin

Teaching PSS in business practice: A win-win-win approach

This paper presents the findings gained through the implementation of the renewed Product Service Systems (PSS) course within the Design for Sustainability curriculum in 2010. Based upon the outcomes of our recent PSS research projects in practice and evaluation of the earlier PSS courses a new setup was proposed. The main starting point for restructuring the course was the conclusion that co-operation and mutual understanding between “creative” designers and “commercial” entrepreneurs are important conditions for success of a new PSS. The course setup is based upon a structured step-by-step approach (www.d4s-sbs.org) in combination with an interactive character by which the students have frequent meetings with the company representatives who gave the assignments as well as with the involved PhD-candidates of the current research projects within the faculty. It was concluded that interaction of students with real life actors increases the feasibility of developed projects (benefit for the companies) and the engagement of students with a real life context (benefit for the students). In addition this new teaching approach delivered valuable research materials (benefit for the PhD-candidates).Industrial Design Engineerin

A Multilevel Design Model: The mutual relationship between product-service system development and societal change processes

Change actors like designers play a strategic role in innovation and transition processes towards a sustainable society. They act at all levels of society and need help to find their way through increasingly interrelated innovation systems. To support their efforts, there is a need for a design supportive model that (1) can provide insight into the development of new products and product-service systems, as well as in developments that occur in society as a whole; (2) can provide insight into the relationship between functional problems on the one hand, and more abstract societal problems on the other; (3) describe design processes, change processes and transition processes in a consistent, mutually comparable manner that can potentially be used to structure future design-based initiatives. In this paper a Multilevel Design Model (MDM) is discussed, combining two specific functionalities: First a cyclic iterative design approach that may be generic enough to describe both the design of physical artefacts and the design of product-service systems, as well as the way that complex societal change processes may occur. Second a hierarchical systems approach, where on each aggregation level a similar description of the design, change or transition process is applied. The MDM is discussed by means of a simulated case example in the area sustainable transportation and electric transport, explaining the model may indeed be useful to describe and potentially explain some of the dilemmas that occur during the course of complex design processes.Design EngineeringIndustrial Design Engineerin

Ideas transformed into business enhancing entrepreneurship exploring the "best idea of The Netherlands" case

In 2004 a private initiative started in the Netherlands, to stimulate innovation and the cooperation between students and industry. This resulted in the development of a television formula "The Best Idea of the Netherlands", in which students and Dutch citizens in general are challenged to enter in an annual competition with their new ideas. The competition has been presented in a series of prime time and partly live television shows with increasing popularity. In 2004 110 ideas entered the competition; in 2008 this number has reached 1836. The research question is: does this new television formula indeed foster new product and business development, how is the innovation process organized and what are the outcomes so far? The rationale behind and justification for the development of the TV-formula is that product innovation has to be stimulated. Failure rates are high and The Netherlands lags behind on innovation in comparison to other European counterparts (Lisbon council, 2008). European countries have embraced this goal in the Lisbon treaty as their primary objective for 2010: to become leader in innovation worldwide. Innovation is a driver for national economic growth (Smits, 2006) and for continuity and company growth (Brezet, 2004; Harkema, 2004). Sources of innovation stem from companies as well as research education institutes, including students. The BIN television formula as presented in this paper is a mechanism through which co-operation between SME business and academia is fostered. The first results of the study indicate that the BIN-formula has triggered a new, very popular approach for product innovation in the Netherlands. Several stakeholders seem to profit from this phenomenon: Vacu Vin Ltd. as the first European TV-based product innovative company, IdtV and SBS6 as TV-producers and the general public as co-creators of their ‘own’ new products. The platform resulted in 14 products which were launched on the market and 100 in development. The television show also triggered educational institutes to set up new courses to stimulate creativity and to participate in the television program. In the next phase of the project, a theoretical reflection and refining of the model are envisaged.Design EngineeringIndustrial Design Engineerin

Innovation and distributed economies for sustainable development: The example of the Northern Netherlands

The issue that is discussed in this paper is: what strategy can regional policymakers adopt to revive their regional economies with regard to international competition? The province of Fryslân, a North Netherlands economically peripheral region, aims to revive its economic structure. For this purpose an investment program in energy saving and renewable energy was elaborated using the specific regional qualities. The program is framed by an agreement with the national government and the EU inter-regional co-operation program. The investment of \u80 2.6 billion is based on 29 activities that were derived from workshop interactions, and in which more than seventy businesses, experts and authorities are involved. The program may realize a reduction in fossil fuel use of roughly 21% compared with the present situation. The activities focus on energy saving and renewable energy in housing, mobility, wind energy on industrial parks and closed greenhouses, as well as the production of biofuels from biowaste. Business opportunities for the regional companies are assessed. The regional and local policy instruments are indicated for the program implementation. The efficiency of the regional and local instruments is assessed and found to be superior compared to the national output-subsidies. The implementation of far reaching energy saving and renewable energy programs is attractive and feasible at regional level, according to the models used. The findings are supported by similar developments in Scandinavia and Australia with the so-called Distributed Economy model.Industrial Design Engineerin

Sustainable value chains for bamboo working communities: Integrating the tenets of sustainability through the Rhizome Approach

There is a growing demand globally for products which impact sustainability positively. Bamboo fulfills these criteria, since it is a highly renewable timber replacement material which does not cause deforestation. It simultaneously has the potential to create livelihood opportunities for both the urban and rural poor. The eco-friendly potential and image of bamboo has led to various designed sustainable products, which are made from industrially processed bamboo. Though this approach frees the product from common negative connotations associated with bamboo products, such as ‘low cost’, ‘rustic’ etc., actualizing these designs requires industrial production facilities. Consequently, bamboo producer communities are pushed lower in the value chains of these products. From being final stage producers, their role becomes limited to growing the raw material, and at the most primary processing of bamboo inputs. This focuses on the role of design as an enabler to achieve holistic sustainability in the bamboo value chain in general, and in the instance of the Kotwalia community in particular. There is a growing demand globally for products which impact sustainability positively. Bamboo fulfills these criteria, since it is a highly renewable timber replacement material which does not cause deforestation. It simultaneously has the potential to create livelihood opportunities for both the urban and rural poor. The eco-friendly potential and image of bamboo has led to various designed sustainable products, which are made from industrially processed bamboo. Though this approach frees the product from common negative connotations associated with bamboo products, such as ‘low cost’, ‘rustic’ etc., actualizing these designs requires industrial production facilities. Consequently, bamboo producer communities are pushed lower in the value chains of these products. From being final stage producers, their role becomes limited to growing the raw material, and at the most primary processing of bamboo inputs. This focuses on the role of design as an enabler to achieve holistic sustainability in the bamboo value chain in general, and in the instance of the Kotwalia community in particular.Industrial Design Engineerin

Future living studio: Socio-technical experiments in sustainable design

Local creative community and design engineers are key stakeholders in initiating a local discourse on sustainability that includes considerations of production and consumption issues. The role of designers is increasingly changing to that of a strategic or facilitator role. Aligned with this global development, we developed Future Living Studio (FLS) as a platform for intercultural exchange to influence strategic design input on sustainable design and production issues for Vietnamese companies branded products. FLS is a series of 3-month design collaborations between local and foreign designers developed in Vietnam to promote reciprocal learning on sustainability through a studio approach. Vietnamese designers (during each studio, respectively), external designers, and local companies collaborated, in a learning-by-doing process. The collaborations’ design visions and product concepts embody aspects of the learning process. In this paper, we reflect on the first two editions of FLS, developed through an action research approach. Between the iterations we experimented with the different stakeholders involved and project framing. Training curriculum and developed facilitation tools aimed at improving collaboration processes based on our experience from the first studio. The aim of this study is to investigate how design can support learning processes to improve international design collaborations in Vietnam. We compare evidence for first and second order learning within the two studios with a focus on the Vietnamese designers involved. We found that learning was improved with the second iteration. The results suggest that designing with first and second-order learning in mind is a promising approach for introducing sustainable design in Vietnam. Focusing on valorizing and representing knowledge of stakeholders involved supports learning and the collaboration processes. A learning approach creates a better foundation to potentially take the next step towards a longer-term transition to sustainability, which relies on local context and knowledge to pursue inclusion into lasting global discourse and processes.Design EngineeringIndustrial Design Engineerin

Designers as change agents in emerging economies - An insider-outsider approach to collaborative product development with Vietnamese smes

This paper, written for the doctoral colloquium of IASDR 2011, calls for explicit consideration of ethics and culture in design for emerging economies. A theoretical framework combining collaborative stakeholder approaches with insider-outsider dialectics is proposed as a way to operationalize the ethical element of sustainable development within emerging economies. Three replication case studies are planned to develop and test the validity of the theoretical framework within the context of product innovation projects with Vietnamese SMEs.Design for SustainabilityIndustrial Design Engineerin

Developing new products and services in entrepreneurial contexts

Design EngineeringIndustrial Design Engineerin

Teaching pss in business practice: A win-win-win approach

This paper presents the findings gained through the implementation of the renewed Product Service Systems (PSS) course within the Design for Sustainability curriculum in 2010. Based upon the outcomes of our recent PSS research projects in practice and evaluation of the earlier PSS courses a new setup was proposed. The main starting point for restructuring the course was the conclusion that co-operation and mutual understanding between \u93creative\u94 designers and \u93commercial\u94 entrepreneurs are important conditions for success of a new PSS. The course setup is based upon a structured step-by-step approach (www.d4s-sbs.org) in combination with an interactive character by which the students have frequent meetings with the company representatives who gave the assignments as well as with the involved PhD-candidates of the current research projects within the faculty. It was concluded that interaction of students with real life actors increases the feasibility of developed projects (benefit for the companies) and the engagement of students with a real life context (benefit for the students). In addition this new teaching approach delivered valuable research materials (benefit for the PhD-candidates)