[ALTERNATIVE] DESIGN MODES: Transdisciplinary design

Miles Pennington is Professor of Design Led Innovation and helps direct a unique international innovation lab at The University of Tokyo – the DLX Design Lab. The lab brings designers and scientists together to create deployable innovation ideas. Projects have explored various themes from the future of bio-intelligent machines to citizen science projects to involving more people in ocean monitoring. The lab also develops Science x Design methods to make this interdisciplinary activity more effective and impactful. Alongside his on campus work he is also co-director of the educational initiative DLX Design Academy. Previously he was at the Royal College of Art in London and was Head of Programme of the Innovation Design Engineering (IDE) joint Masters programme with Imperial College - he is an alumnus of the IDE programme and graduated in 1992. He was also founder and head of the international exchange programme Global Innovation Design (GID). In the past, in parallel to his academic work he was a Director of the London office of the innovation consultancy Takram. He has worked in industry across various market sectors from packaging to autonomous vehicle technology. He moved to Japan in September 2017 to join The University of Tokyo.

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Keynote Title: Crossing Boundaries: Science x Design

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At the Institute of Industrial Science (IIS) of The University of Tokyo, we want to use Design to create value from Research. However, as designers and scientists usually use very different tools and methods, it is not obvious how both disciplines can work together. Through the Science x Design project we have been exploring the different phases of the collaboration and, from this understanding, propose tools and methods to support fruitful collaborations. This experience builds on earlier activities at the Royal College of Art in the Industrial Design Engineering programme where the challenge of crossing boundaries between the rigour and precision of engineering and the creative aspects of design were the focus. Using the combined power of different disciplines to deliver meaningful educational experiences and (sometimes) impactful societal opportunities is the goal.

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Keynote Date:

6 Dec (Mon) 17:00 HKT

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