About DfS
News 11-6: Arno Scheepers is interviewed by radio and TUDelta on his wooden bike (ReBicycle)
News 10-6: Successful start of minister Cramers Greenovator Tour in Delft
NEWS: JC Diehl is the most inspiring lecturer in the IPD Master.
NEWS: Pablo was on national television on saturday 5th of April in the program 'Eigen Huis & Tuin' (RTL 4) in which he was interviewed about Dutch Design meets Bamboo. Check the review.
Sustainability & Design
The worldwide-accepted need for sustainable development implies that mass consumption goods and their functional contexts should be characterized by continuously improving environmental, economic and social-cultural values. Therefore, the exploration, description, understanding and prediction of problems and opportunities to innovate and design products and product service-systems with superior quality with respect to sustainable development values is the central question of this programme.
Tools for Sustainable Design
The research programme comprises the systematic development, testing and international diffusion of methods and tools for the design of artifacts with superior life cycle eco-efficiency and -effectiveness (via intelligent materials and energy applications, via integration of emerging product-technologies and via financial-economic optimization). Particularly, the research focus is on modeling, actual application and demonstration of mobile electronic and new mobility (including automotive) products, departing from a life cycle design engineering perspective. In the DfS product realization lab, prototypes and small series are produced which are qualified for early market testing.
Business aspects
In addition, the programme focuses on the business aspects of design for sustainability, based on current reality and expected developments in the near future. Here, environmental aspects of products and processes are analysed in relation to traditional business factors like financial (omnipresent), legislative (end-of-life, toxicity), quality (environmental value and performance) and marketing (competitor analysis, benchmarking, consumer research) aspects.
Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Furthermore, the research takes into account the functionality aspect of products in their future user and systems context. Therefore, the programme involves the development of methodologies for the design of radical, user driven product service-systems that have a superior environmental life cycle performance. In addition, future scenarios are developed and potential technology collaborative agreements and entrepreneurship stimulated for sustainable product business development.
The challenge
The challenge is to generate knowledge supporting the innovation and design engineering of complex products and product service-systems with superior sustainability characteristics, in close connection with the dynamics of systems of living, travelling, working and making optimal use of networking and entrepreneurship as success factors for implementation. The proposed design solutions should be globally significant i.e. fit the 'bottom-of-the-pyramid' challenge as much as possible.
Maintained by Laura Talsma: 015-2782738
Last Update on 08/07/2009
