Representatives from a diverse range of industries, including fashion, automotive and architecture, are invited to attend a major Europe wide event considering how design is driving innovation across sector boundaries.
Led by the University of Liverpool, the Pan-European Design Network, has developed a two day symposium to be hosted in London by the Design Council from October 24 – 25.
Transdisciplinarity
Organised in collaboration with partners at Italy’s Istituto Europeo di Design, Germany’s Hochschule Anhalt/DIA and The Netherland’s MVAVD, the symposium is open to designers, industry representatives and educators interested in the development of a pan-European network on the topic of transdisciplinarity.
It will feature provocations, presentations, best-practice examples and interactive moderated sessions, and involve representatives from across European automotive, industrial, fashion and architectural design, as well as design technology developers and design educators. Business organisations and existing design and innovation networks will also participate.
Co-organiser Dr Tuba Kocaturk, Reader in Digital Architecture at the University of Liverpool, said: “As professionals and society we are facing the pertinent question of what role design (and designers) will play in shaping the future at a time when the digital economy is disrupting ways of thinking, living, working and doing business.
“How will this disruption change the processes, products, methods and business of design?
“While technology has become integral criteria to be factored into design thinking (and making), design itself has become a driving force for technology development.”
The symposium will be broken down into four sessions, led by chairs Dr Riccardo Balbo, from Istituto Europeo di Design; Professor Alfred Jacoby from Hochschule Anhalt/DIA; MVAVD’s Marcel Vroom; Dr Kocaturk and University of Liverpool’s Professor Richard Koeck.
The first session, titled Confluences, will look at the changing role of design in a global context. Next, Transitions will consider emerging skills, practices and business models. Convergences will analyse blurring roles and competences, before the final session, Prospectives opens the discussion on future policies and pedagogies.
Radical change
Co-organiser Professor Richard Koeck, Director of the University’s Centre for Architecture and the Visual Arts (CAVA), added: “While ideas of transdisciplinarity are not entirely new, over the last decade we have seen a radical change in the impact of transdisciplinary thinking and methods.
“Design automation, mass-customisation and rapid prototyping are among many examples of emergent transdisciplinary concepts, where designers from diverse industries are cross-fertilising ideas and methods to drive innovation in distinct disciplines.”
Emerging Models Of Transdisciplinarity, a two day symposium, takes place from October 24 – 25 at The Design Council, Angel Building, 407 St John Street, EC1V 4AB.
To find out more, please visit www.design-network.org or email Dr Tuba Kocaturk on kocaturk@liverpool.ac.uk or Professor Richard Koeck on rkoeck@liverpool.ac.uk
