Design Konferentzia Mondragon 2020 event changed to online format on its tenth anniversary
Design Konferentzia Mondragon 2020 event changed to online format on its tenth anniversary
Design Konferentzia Mondragon 2020 event changed to online format on its tenth anniversary
Diseinu Berrikuntza Zentroa from Mondragon Unibertsitatea, researches and develops the designs of products and services focusing on people. In this conference, we reflected on their impact on society and industry
Diseinu Berrikuntza Zentroa (DBZ) of Mondragon Unibertsitatea annually organises the Design Konferentziak Mondragon conference, a meeting with the aim of expanding and disseminating research in the field of design. This year marked the tenth edition of the event, a program aimed at anyone with concerns relating to design. It was, however, carried out online due to the current health alarm situation.
At the event, four projects developed by DBZ in collaboration with other companies or institutions were presented, with the presence of representatives of these organisations. The meeting was held by videoconference, and the video of the conference is available for viewing (below).
Starting from the collaboration
This year, the conference focused on the presentation of four projects, developed with the support of the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa: Elkardesign, Ind-Servdes II, UAS, and Gerolab Eraikiz. These projects aim to influence Gipuzkoa-based companies, specifically in the field of people-centred design, and for this purpose, collaboration between the academic area and the company is essential.
Elkardesign
The goal of this project is to enable companies in Gipuzkoa to obtain and internalise Strategic Design skills. Different investigations have attested that companies that use design at strategic levels are more competitive, but the reality is that today, most of the companies in the territory have not developed these capabilities. The team of researchers from the Elkardesign project has focused on helping to implement two pioneering strategic design services in two pioneering companies in Gipuzkoa, and the experience gained has contributed to creating a useful guide for the rest of the companies in the territory. One of these experiences was exposed during the conference by a representative of the company Ausolan. The methodology of the project can be found on the DBZ platform, with the definition of necessary steps for integrating strategic design in companies.
Ind-Servdes II
This project is the continuation of the Ind-Servdes project and is aimed at industrial companies in Gipuzkoa that develop capacities for the design of advanced services. To achieve this, various design tools that are applicable to design processes are collected in a toolkit, a guide available on the DBZ platform. EFive companies have participated in this second edition, and based on the toolkit and with the aid of the DBZ research staff, 5 advanced services have been developed. Additionally, it has collaborated with the MUOVA Design Centre of Finland, which has allowed us to reflect on methodologies used in the design of advanced services for companies in Gipuzkoa and Ostrobothnia. In the videoconference, representatives of HRE Hidraulic and MUOVA shared their own experiences.
UAS
Urola Advanced Services, a project that seeks to develop Urola’s service strategy with the collaboration of Mondragon Unibertsitatea and the support of the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa. Specifically, the advanced services Urola Performance and Urola Design have been developed, with Urola’s experience in the advanced services sector being explained during the conference.
Gerolab Eraikiz
This project seeks to face the collaboration between emancipation, economic independence and intergeneration to address one of the challenges of Gipuzkoa. To do this, the goal of meeting the future challenges of politics and public services is pursued through the vision of the students of the Master’s Degree in Strategic Design. This was carried out by solving a challenge from the Municipality of Vitoria-Gasteiz and another from the Municipality of Eibar. The video summarizing the project carried out by the students of the Master’s Degree alongside the Municipality of EIbar available on the platform.