Complexity and an ever-faster pace in technology, the economy and society are making considerable demands on industrial design. The elementary challenge for the discipline is to create confidence, benefits and meaning in a world of digital, economic, social and ecological upheaval. The third Work Conference at the Design Center Baden-Württemberg explores the crucial success factors for product development and industrial design. Which technologies are currently changing industrial design? Which methods and processes will industrial designers need to master in future? How can they live up to the responsibility they have towards their fellow humans, resources and the environment?

Target groups

The conference is aimed at both managerial and junior staff from marketing, product and quality management, corporate social responsibility, development/design engineering, industrial design, innovation and design management.

Each topic will be the subject of talks and workshops by renowned experts who will explain some of the intriguing and game-changing aspects that industrial design will face in the future.
 

Reinhard Karger

Spokesman of the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence, Saarbrücken
 

Photo: Christian Krinninger
 

As a result of AI, deep learning and artificial neural networks, the world (of work) is facing serious upheaval. Thanks to their ability to detect patterns, algorithms are making processes more flexible and procedures more agile; all in all, they have the potential to make many tasks easier. But this development also opens up some surprising prospects, as Reinhard Karger will explain in his keynote talk. Because according to the corporate spokesman of the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence, DFKI, we are only now beginning to understand the full emotional, social and physical complexity of the human traits that machines are simulating. And that is leading to a new awareness of ourselves as unique objects of fascination.
www.dfki.de / www.facebook.com/DFKI.GmbH 
 

Dr Matthias Peissner

Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering IAO
 

 

Researchers have long been working on technologies for facilitating the real-time recognition of emotional and mental states. Dr Matthias Peissner of the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering IAO is one of Germany’s most eminent authorities in the research field of neuro-adaptive technologies. His vision: adaptive systems that can respond intelligently to the user’s state of mind and culminate in attractive products and services.
In an interactive workshop, he will explain the opportunities and prospects that neural interfaces offer for the future of work, mobility and health – and why it’s essential not to ignore the potential risks and pitfalls.
iao.fraunhofer.de
 

Prof Philipp Thesen

Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences, Human-System Interaction
 

Photo: Marina Weigl
 

In the age of AI and Industry 4.0, design is facing a whole new set of challenges and has to reposition itself in the midst of the digital and cultural transformation – above and beyond questions of form. This paradigm shift calls for a new (self-) understanding of designers within their individual professional field.
In his workshop, designer, strategist and professor of human-system interaction Philipp Thesen explains what impact the current development is having on both industry and the individual. Together with the workshop participants, he will also explore how industrial designers can redefine their role in the changing world of work.
www.fbg.h-da.de/team/professoren/prof-philipp-thesen/ 
 

Roman Rackwitz

Centigrade GmbH
 

 

Roman Rackwitz works for Centigrade GmbH and is one of the most renowned gamification experts in the world – and as such, he knows all about the benefits of pooling the cognitive skills of individuals into a single collaborative whole. So why not transpose a behaviour that scientists claim is intrinsic to our nature and acquits itself splendidly in the gaming arena into everyday working life? The Munich-based expert will explain all this in a workshop during which he will break gaming down into its individual parts and transfer the resulting elements into the participants’ business context. The aim: the efficient and long-term elimination of obstacles in order to play the “reality game” to maximum advantage.
centigrade.de
 

“BEYOND THINGS: PRACTICES, EXPERIENCES AND TRANSFORMATION”

Dr. Matthias Laschke
 

Post-doctoral researcher of the Ubiquitous Design working group at the University of Siegen

When is the point of technological saturation reached? And what alternative innovation potential arises as a result? Dr Matthias Laschke, a post-doctoral researcher in ubiquitous design at the University of Siegen, is convinced that industrial design will increasingly have to factor in criteria such as well-being, happiness and motivation. Therefore, products should contribute to an altogether more joyful and meaningful way of coping with everyday practices.
The goal of his workshop is to give participants a theoretical and practical understanding of the approaches used in experience design and discuss the resulting challenges for the design sector.
www.design-for-wellbeing.org
 

Daniela Bohlinger
BMW Group
 

 

Sustainability is the order of the day; and due to its complexity and urgency, it calls not just for genuine visions but for patience, optimism and a clear attitude when developing new products and services. In her workshop, Daniela Bohlinger outlines both the opportunities and the problems that sustainability poses. The BMW Group’s head of sustainability design will also be taking questions from participants and showing how sustainability-related barriers can be successfully overcome within corporate structures.
www.bmwgroup.com/de/verantwortung/im-gespraech-mit-experten.html
 

Tina Kammer
InteriorPark, Stuttgart
 

Photo: Andreas Körner
 

Conserving resources by recycling materials, individual components or even entire products: in many companies, the circular economy mindset has long since established itself as a habit. Industrial designers have a special role to play in that, because in order to meet the requirements for keeping materials in circulation they have to think products through from the end, so to speak. In her workshop, Tina Kammer – co-founder and managing director of InteriorPark – will present the background to the circular economy, examine the status quo of sustainable design and discuss the potential it holds for the design process.
www.interiorpark.com 

After the keynote and welcome, the topics and experts will be introduced in the plenary chamber. Afterwards, participants will attend the intensive workshops, each of which will last around 60 minutes. Each workshop will be held twice in rotation so that attendees can put their own individual programme together. The event will conclude with an overview of the key learnings from the workshops in the plenary chamber.

Flyer Transforming Industrial Design #3