On 24th April, the fourth Design Review of the Dutch national innovation programme CRISP took place in Amsterdam. Halfway the four-year programme, this design review session was focused on sharing mid-field research results, knowledge and experiences from within the CRISP network, with a particular interest in establishing cross links between the eight different CRISP projects.
The ambitious CRISP programme (which stands for Creative Research Industry Scientific Programme), is a collaboration between Design Academy Eindhoven, the Technical Universities of Delft, Eindhoven and Twente, the University of Amsterdam, the Vrije Universiteit, and over sixty industry partners. Its aim is to develop a knowledge infrastructure which consolidates the leadership position and continued growth of the Dutch Design Sector and Creative Industries. The main focus of the programme is research and design for ‘Product Service Systems’, with the objective to develop the knowledge, tools and methods necessary for designing complex combinations of intelligent products and services, with a high experience factor.
For the past two years, STBY has been one of the founding participants and sponsors of the programme, with our Creative Director Bas being a member of the CRISP Programme Committee that monitors all eight projects, and STBY being one of the industry partners in the PSS 101 project – together with TU Delft, Oce, Exact and ZuidZorg. In his role of Reader in Strategic Creativity at the Design Academy Eindhoven, Bas also acts as the main supervisor of a team of Research Associates who are actively involved in various CRISP projects. And our Strategic Director Geke is a member of the Board of Creative Professionals, who review the progress and intended outcomes of the projects on behalf one of its main target groups – the wider creative industry.
‘Don’t you design chairs anymore?’
The first issue of the CRISP magazine ‘Don’t you design chairs anymore?’ was launched at the design review session on 24th April 2013. We’re particularly proud to have articles by both Bas and Marie featured in the magazine. The article by Marie discusses the use of early research results in a workshop for practice, and Bas’s piece describes the symbiotic collaborations between the academic world and practice and specifically how design skills can be used to solve complex problems.
The publication as a whole represents and discusses CRISP-related issues concerning the changing role of designers due to their involvement in strategic issues and the challenges that are involved in developing complex product service systems, like robots in healthcare. It also looks into creating a body of knowledge concerning the design of product-service systems. These leading two themes are explained in columns and cases by scientist and design practitioners that cooperate within CRISP on eight different research projects, presented in the form of scientific essays, case studies and personal reflections.