Designing Social Innovation

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Driven by sustainability, the ‘third industrial revolution’ signifies new research and innovation opportunities in green technology and ICT. However, the social, cultural, and gender aspects of sustainable development indicate the need for an interdisciplinary and international approach. Addressing such industrial and societal issues, Designing Social Innovation will be led as a collaboration between the Interactive Institute and the Institute of Design at the Illinois Institute of Technology. Aimed at advancing interaction design research directed at sustainable technology development, the project will result in theories, methods, innovation models and demonstrators. The project will grow research groups in both locations and an international academic and industrial network.

The project is motivated by the need for

  • Research foundations Interaction design is a recent but rapidly growing field – there is a pressing need to develop academic foundations, including theories and methods applicable to sustainable development. This collaborative project will contribute to developing a more substantial consideration of user research methods and critical theories from the social sciences.
  • Innovation demonstrators With a heritage in industrial design and engineering, traditionally focused on electrical and electronic products, interaction design retains certain material- and energy-intensive logics of mass-production. In this project, we will develop existing – or new – innovation processes and commercialization models for alternative value propositions and modes of consumption.

The project will be conducted through
• Expert interviews and case studies
• A pilot study at the IIT Institute of Design
• Research and innovation seminars

Designing Social Innovation is led by Ramia Mazé and is funded by VINNOVA (The Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems) through the VINNMER–Marie Curie program for international qualification. It will start in April 2010 and last for 3 years. The faculty advisor at the IIT Institute of Design is Dr. Judith Gregory.

Read the press release here (in Swedish): Forskare på Interactive Institute får finansiering för treårig internationell forskarmeritering.