Design for a circular economy                                                                       

How do you keep a product that has minimum impact on the environment but high economic value in circulation for as long as possible? For that, you have to look beyond just the design and start looking at value drivers and business models. After working at Philips for 25 years, Ruud Balkenende has now been professor of circular product design since 2015.

Passengers at the centre for enhancing flight experience

Increasingly more people are choosing to go on holiday by air, often resulting in long queues, delays and annoyed passengers. Although we must guard against the fallacy that science can solve all problems with overcrowded airports, researchers from the Faculty of IDE are certainly doing their bit.

'Medical consultations should be like a symphony orchestra'

'Internet of Things is all about valuable data'

As professor 'Internet of Things' at the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, Gerd Kortuem specialises in the interaction between humans and computers, smart cities and data-enabled design.

Can things design things?

All objects that we use on a daily basis are connected to each other and designers should be conscious of that. That’s the point of departure of the Connected Everyday Lab of Elisa Giaccardi, Professor and Chair of Interactive Media Design. She studied philosophy in Turin (Italy), but soon found herself immersed in the world of new media, interaction and design.

‘Service design without technology is no longer an option’

Dirk Snelders is professor of Organising Product and Service Development. At IDE his research focuses primarily on the future of service design. In 2011 he published articles with PhD student Fernando Secomandi about the essence of service design. As it turns out, Snelders was years ahead of his time.