Light touchmatters presentation

ABSTRACT

Abstract Key project data Consortium Methodology Be involved Appendix

In Light.Touch.Matters, product designers and material researchers will collaborate to jointly develop a fully new generation of smart materials that combine touch sensitivity with luminosity, based on latest developments in polymeric piezo materials and flexible OLEDs. Manufactured on plastic substrates, these novel ‘light touch materials’ will be thin, flexible and formable, allowing seamless integration into products.

They promise to greatly expand design freedom and unlock totally new modes of product-user interaction, enabling us to take the next step in product design: using touch sensitivity and luminosity to produce simple, affordable and intuitive user interfaces so that eventually ‘the product becomes the user interface’.

Light.Touch.Matters focuses on products for care and well-being applications that can help consumers feel better, monitor or improve their health and increase comfort, such as rehabilitation aids, wearable alarms, and diet coaches, though we expect strong spin-off to other sectors. Analysis of results will include end user value, commercial value and environmental impact (LCA/critical materials).

SCENARIOS APPLICATIONS



FORESEEN MATERIALS The design-driven research on integrated piezo plastics and OLEDs can directly contribute to innovation and competitiveness in a large number of related sectors, many of which are strategic to the EU: not only design, (health)care and consumer goods, but also the chemical, automotive and printing industries, as well as mechanical-, electrical-, packaging- and systems engineering.

KEY PROJECT DATA

Design driven development of touch-sensitive luminous flexible plastics for applications in care & well-being.

FULL TITLE

novel materials and design-based solutions for the creative industry (NMP program, theme 4).

START&END DATE

EC RESEARCH CALL EC CONTRIBUTION


Feb 1st 2013 – July 31st 2016 (42 months duration)

3.98 Project type: collaborative research (CP-TP)

CONSORTIUM

UK: Lamb Industries Ltd // Minima Design Ltd // Brunel University // University College London NETHERLANDS: University of Technology Delft // Van Berlo BV // Holst Centre/TNO FRANCE: Studio Edelkoort SPAIN: Bax & Willems // Fjord Spain SLU // Fuelfor Design and Consulting SL FINLAND: Aito Interactive OySL SWEDEN: Mälardalens högskola DENMARK: Diffus Design IS GERMANY: Pilotfish GmbH ITALY: Grado Zero Espace Srl // Material ConneXion Italy Srl


Diffus Design IS Fjord Spain SLU Fuelfor Design and Consulting SL Grado Zero Espace Srl Lamb Industries Ltd Minima Design Ltd Pilotfish GmbH Van Berlo BV

Bax & Willems Brunel University Mälardalens högskola Material ConneXion Italy Srl Studio Edelkoort University College London University of Technology Delft

Aito Interactive OySL Brunel University Holst Centre/TNO University of Technology Delft

DESIGNERS MATERIAL SCIENTISTS

FACILITATORS


METHODOLOGY

how to get designers and material scientists to work together?

Light.Touch.Matters will use a proprietary design-driven research methodology based a comprehensive body of industrial product design knowledge that has been built up over the past decades. It consists of iterated cycles of materials-inspired and design-driven materials research with direct and prolonged design-researcher interaction, leading to a convergence of the conceptual designs and feasible materials in 4-6 interaction showcases.

convergence into 4-6 technology showcases


how to get designers and material scientists to work together?


input from materials R&D

feed into materials R&D

feed into materials R&D

BE INVOLVED

The Light.Touch.Matters project welcomes organizations and companies who are willing to actively speed up the industrial uptake of the new materials.


This can involve e.g. leading manufacturers of electronic equipment (medical or otherwise), but also national design agencies and contact points. Component manufacturers with a strong track record of integrating electronics into- or onto products are also invited. Several of such end users of the knowledge and technology we will generate have already stepped forward and taken place in our ‘end user panel’, including several renowned companies and influential organizations. Such involvement can be free of charge and be limited to attending several of our project workshops, but can also become more substantial (e.g. running manufacturing experiments). If you’d like to join, or would like to know more about your possible role, please contact the LTM Liaison Committee via [email protected]

END USERS



TECHNOLOGY SUPPLIERS

Similarly, the project welcomes suppliers of the key ingredients of the new smart materials, such as plastic resins, piezo-active compounds, flexible electronic components, etc. Again, several of such suppliers have already taken place in our ‘manufacturers panel’, but we are open to new participants. Involvement can be free of charge as above, augmented by supply of sample ingredients. Interested? Then contact the LTM Liaison Committee at the same address. Disclaimer: although we appreciate all interest, we reserve the right to admit only those companies or organizations who will actively speed up industrial uptake, whose involvement is genuinely two-way and whose interests do not conflict with those of panel members admitted earlier.

[email protected] www.light-touch-matters-project.eu

THANKS

APPENDIX PARTNERS

Technische Universiteit Delft Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering www.ide.tudelft.nl Delft University of Technology, founded in 1842, is the oldest, largest and most comprehensive university of technology in The Netherlands with excellent international rankings (e.g. ranking 18 in the 2010 QS World University Rankings – Engineering and Technology – and 5th in Europe). Two TU Delft faculties participate in the project: Faculty of Industrial Design and Faculty of Aerospace Engineering. TU Delft Industrial Design Engineering (DUT-IDE): The faculty of Industrial Design Engineering (IDE) is among the oldest and largest (>2.000 students, >75 PhDs, >300FTE personnel) university based design programmes in the world. It is regarded as one of the best D-Schools in the world, e.g. by Business Week and has a strong global reputation on research in its field. The faculty has an integrative vision on product design that covers user/consumer, aesthetics, interface, technology, business and organisational aspects related to product innovation. Its research objective is to foster sustainable wellbeing by exploring, generating and transferring knowledge and technologies for industrial design. Technische Universiteit Delft Novel Aerospace Materials at the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering www.fam.lr.tudelft.nl The second faculty participating in the project is the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering. The Novel Aerospace Materials (NOVAM) group was established in 2003 in order to provide the faculty of Aerospace Engineering at the DUT with a research group dedicated to the development of novel materials for aerospace and space applications, although materials for other applications are also developed. At this moment the group has 35 members led by 3 permanent staff. Research at NovAM focuses on five main lines: thermodynamic design of novel metallic systems; high performance polymers; piezoelectric materials; self- healing materials and coatings technology.

Trend Union is a trend forecasting agency created and directed by Lidewij Edelkoort. She and her team are creative minds who travel the world studying the evolution of socio-cultural trends before sharing this information with clients in industries as diverse as design, electronic devices, automotive, interiors, fashion, textiles cosmetics and food. Trend forecasts are published under the form of books, or analysed and synthetized in a made-to-measure approach by Trend Union following client's requests. Trend Union is also experienced in the preparation of exhibitions, publishing trend magazines and participating in a non-profit association to sustain handcraft techniques. Studio Edelkoort is Trend Union's department providing personal consultancy to industries, institutions or brands, based on lifestyle trend forecasting to visualize the evolution of society and the needs of the consumers. Its team possesses a long experience and expertise in trend forecasting and lifestyle research and its two creative directors have cooperated with Lidewij Edelkoort and Trend Union for more than 20 years. www.edelkoort.com

Diffus Design is a design office combining research and experimentation. Diffus is merging ubiquitous technology based on sensor technology and computing with the sensual properties of traditional materials, giving qualities of slowness and tangibility to the digital and changeability and interaction into the material. Diffus tries to make a continuum between the digital and the analogue in order to avoid the traditional bipolarity between the two. This "mix" of digital and physical materials results in unique hybrid material on its own right. By combining different materials and innovative technology in often unpredictable ways, Diffus creates poetical, playful and surprising spaces and artefacts with unconventional twists, which appeal to our emotions and open up to the sensibility of a large public but always with a strong concept and clear narratives. www.diffus.dk

Fuelfor is an innovation design consultancy specialised in health care. Founded in June 2008 the company is based in Barcelona and works with a team of world-class professionals to deliver integrated innovation services to global clients in the private and public sectors. With over two decades of industry experience, fuelfor's professional competences span from design research and experience design to product identity and implementation. They have worked across a spectrum of care contexts including oncology, labour and delivery care as well as chronic disease management and healthcare IT. Leading multi-disciplinary innovation design teams to deliver award-winning (health) care products, services and strategies for clients in USA, Europe and Asia. Fuelfor takes a 360° view that gives clients new ways to think about health. With a strong belief that researchdriven design and multi-disciplinary collaboration are essential for innovation, they empower clients to see sustainable growth opportunities with greater clarity, and respond with viable solutions and strategies that improve the way people experience health. www.fuelfor.net

Fjord is Europe's leading digital design agency, structured around innovation and pushing the boundaries of digital service and interface design. Fjord works with leading companies such as Nokia, HP, Orange, Telefonica, Vodafone, BBVA and The BBC. Fjord has a track record of analysing in depth the long-term underlying patterns of innovation and change in digital technology. That's how it helps clients to build real innovation into their interfaces and products. Every project is seen as a unique challenge, finding the best solution by starting from first principles, then collaborating through enthusiastic, reflective exploration. Fjord has a very deep understanding of the issues and complexities of designing compelling experiences. For every service on every platform the challenge is to create unique value through a design that is particular to the context of use. www.fjordnet.com

Pilotfish is a design and innovation consultancy based in Munich and Amsterdam, with a branch office in Taipei. Pilotfish is specialised in the development of intelligent products for the consumer, professional, medical and transportation industries, supporting clients with integrated design services that cover the entire product development process. Pilotfish also acts as hub of innovation for start-ups and technology providers looking for the right partners to realise their product or service ideas in meaningful ways for end users. www.pilotfish.eu

Lamb Industries is an industrial design consultancy based in Bath in the UK. Lamb designs products that provide enhanced experiences for consumers. Innovative products are built on and inspired by a strong understanding of the end user. Lamb Industries' ability to find out what the market needs allied with a strong technical background and a powerful creative spark results in products that work better and sell better. www.lambindustries.co.uk

Minima is an award winning design innovation agency that creates, develops and prototypes new products or services that generate brand value and commercial success. Minima's proven expertise goes beyond user-centred product development and creating world-leading innovation in their own prototype build facilities. They are experts in managing intellectual property and working in partnership to drive even the smallest spark of an idea all the way to market. Minima has a strong track record in a number of market sectors from healthcare to consumer product design and prototyping. www.minima.co.uk

VanBerlo is an international design agency based in Eindhoven, which has developed to become one of Europe's leading agencies in the area of strategy, communication design and implementation. This includes both product development and engineering as well as brand and reputation strategy and implementation. VanBerlo works with its clients to help them achieve tangible business value. Their innovative products, communication and brands have been creating the difference for their clients for over 30 years. During the past five years alone, their designs have been given twenty Red Dot Awards. www.vanberlo.nl

Grado Zero Espace SRL is an Italian SME involved in research, consulting and prototyping, specialised in transferring technological material and know-how from advanced sectors to other field of application like textile, building, automotive, sport and safe equipment and medical. It is a flexible and dynamic structure able to provide its clients with prototypes destined to markets of high technological content supporting these products with adequate communication plans. The following departments will be involved in Light.Touch.Matters: Research & Development, Industrial Design, Engineering, Prototype, Laboratory and Textile. www.gzespace.com

Aito is a software and engineering firm researching, developing and commercializing Man-Machine User Interfaces based on the piezo technology. Its core product is an Aito Chip which controls the Aito designed piezo touch user interfaces of various products such as Philips TVs, Siemens parking automates, Douwe Egberts coffee machines and Russell Hobbs toasters. Aito R&D (lead by Ph.D. Pauli Laitinen): will be the main department involved, but it will be strongly supported by Aito Application Engineering (lead by M.Sc. Jockum Lönnberg). Aito R&D focuses on developing piezo based user experience products and thus increasing the company's IP and Aito Chip product portfolio. Aito R&D is located in Finland. Aito Application Engineering (lead by M.Sc. Jockum Lönnberg): is dedicated to finding, customising and supporting customers/clients to realize Aito user interface solutions in their products by doing sales and offering application engineering and/or consultancy. www.aito-touch.com

Material ConneXion is the leading global platform for material solutions and innovations. Built on the belief that Every Idea has a Material Solution™, we are the trusted advisor for Fortune 500's, smaller forward-thinking companies, and government agencies seeking a creative or competitive edge through strategic material selections. With offices in New York, Bangkok, Beijing, Cologne, Daegu, Istanbul, Milan, Seoul, Shanghai, and Skövde Material ConneXion's international network of material specialists provides a global, cross-industry perspective on materials, sustainable alternatives, and their potential uses to help companies innovate. With a wide spectrum of material expertise and access to global material sources, we identify today's material solutions and provide insight into tomorrow's opportunities: we act as a catalyst for new material and product ideas; we create new opportunities for product development and optimization; we use our sustainable materials expertise to guide environmentally responsible material solutions; we provide a competitive edge through deep dive research on materials in development and untapped technologies; we find solutions to specific material challenge; we identify material trends for particular industries; we provide a comprehensive overview of today's innovative material solutions from various industries. www.materialconnexion.it

B&W is an Open Innovation consultancy that supports clients in defining and implementing their strategies related to R&D, innovation and new business development. B&W works across Europe with the full range of innovation stakeholders, ranging from Fortune 500 companies like BASF and Volkswagen to small high-tech start-ups and leading institutes such KU Leuven, ETH Zurich and TU Delft. B&W has a high level of affinity with design, having been founded by alumni of the Industrial Design Engineering Faculty of TU Delft. At the same time B&W has long-time experiencing in the creation and implementation of European RTD collaborations. www.bwcv.es

The Holst Centre is an international research centre founded in 2005 by the Belgian IMEC together with the Dutch TNO. It is situated on the High Tech Campus in Eindhoven (former Philips Research campus), which has existing high-class research facilities and infrastructure. The centre is in the midst of a number of companies in the key area of 'high-tech systems and materials'. TNO is a fully independent R&D organization with a staff of approx. 4570 employees. The turnover of TNO in 2006 was 570 M€. TNO's primary mission is to support industry, the authorities, and other groups of the community in technological innovation, and to assist clients in solving technological problems. TNO frequently participates in EU programs. www.holstcentre.com

Brunel University in West London is a dynamic institution with over 15,000 students and nearly 900 academic staff operating in a vibrant culture of research excellence. Brunel participates in the project with 2 centres: the Human-Centred Design Institute (HCDI) and The Wolfson Centre For Materials Processing (WMP). www.brunel.ac.uk

UCL is a London university with more than 8,000 academic staff and 25,000 students. It is dedicated to teaching and research across the full range of academic subjects from medicine to philosophy, from architecture to chemistry, from physics to anthropology. It is ranked seventh in the world by the QS World University Rankings (2011), and third in the UK overall (RAE 2008). The following department will be involved: Institute of Making: a multidisciplinary research institute bringing together experts in materials and making from UCL including materials scientists,engineers, physicists, chemists, architects, designers, anthropologists, archaeologists, artists, medics, humanities academics and many more. www.ucl.ac.uk

Mälardalen University (MDH) is one of Sweden's largest institutes of higher education. The University has over 13,000 students studying one of its approximately 68 programs and 900 courses. The School of Innovation, Design and Engineering (IDT) is one of Mälardalen University's four schools. IDT does research in Embedded systems and Innovation and Product Realisation. The Innovation and Product Realization group is a national leader in research in product realisation and hosts some major strategic initiatives in close cooperation with Swedish industry as XPRES and the industrial graduate school Innofacture. www.mdh.se