Research

Well-being involves people and organizations and can have many shapes, such as satisfaction, comfort, security, happiness and involvement. This well-being is not unconditional; it must consider the interest of other people, cultures and organizations. Sustainable well-being has to address the importance of the ecological, social, cultural and economic contexts in which we operate. Sustainable well-being is not reached by diminishing unsustainability, but by a radical change in our way of thinking. 

Research approach

With research-driven innovation as our tool, we develop knowledge and technologies for the designer and the design process.  The outcome of our research should contribute to solving concrete problems encountered by people and society.  Therefore, rather than conducting fundamental research, we need to bridge knowledge between fundamental science and industrial product development. We consider these three methodological approaches instrumental to this: 

• Research in design context aims for insights and rules through research methods of design-related disciplines (e.g. engineering, psychology and ecology)
• Design inclusive research, also known as research through design, involves design as a research tool to generate knowledge that cannot be obtained otherwise
• Practice-based design research concerns research towards general principles and patterns, exploring and generalizing knowledge based on design activities and products

These approaches support our scientifically rigorous, yet designerly way of conducting research.