The printing company Océ, part of the Canon Group of Companies, invited CRISP members of project PSS101 and CASD for a kick off meeting for a new research project called Incubator 2.5! The research will focus on the new Océ High Resolution 3D printing technology, not yet on the market. The goal is to create professional business to business services related to architecture.
The team of Incubator 2,5 will consist of Karianne Rygh who was last year a Research Associate of PSS101. Karianne developed the Value Pursuit for her first research associateship to explore how different stakeholders in a programme contribute to a network they work in and what they gain out of it. The game is a tool to align expectations. Karianne will stay another year at the Readership at Design Academy Eindhoven (DAE) to work on this new research project. She will team up with a brand new DAE Research Associate, Cynthia Hathaway who will be part of the CASD team. Hathaway is an experienced designer who runs many design and architectural projects and was Artistic Director of a Master department called the FunLab at Design Academy Eindhoven. The two researchers are coached by Giulia Calabretta (CASD), Bas Raijmakers and Danielle Arets (Design Academy Eindhoven, Readership Strategic Creativity). From Océ Guide Stompff, design thinker (and part of the CASD-team) and Klaas Jan Wierda, Research and Developer within Océ and member of CRISP PSS101, will be part of Incubator 2.5.
Bas Raijmakers, Reader at Design Academy Eindhoven explains that this project is explicitly set up to build a solid bridge between CRISP projects to share knowledge and expertise. In addition for Design Academy Eindhoven, these research projects also help the Academy to understand what the approach of "thinking through making" can contribute on a strategic level and not only to create better products but to help companies make better decisions. Also CASD project leader Giulia Calabretta stresses for the project that it is essential that design professionals not only provide design but also strategy and management tools. “The innovation facilitator doesn’t have to convince the manager, but help the manager take a good decision. They can think together with them so it comes to the best solution.”
But this does not prejudice that good design outcomes are crucial. As Guido Stompff points out: “We are eager to see what the machine can do. We have a gut feeling that it might bring some really valuable assets to the field of architecture, but maybe you will surprise us with other insights.“
Also Klaas Jan Wierda thinks Incubator 2.5 could help the company with disruptive innovations. “Océ is very good in printing technologies. Over the years we succeeded in printing better, faster and cheaper and we made a huge progression in going from analogue to digital. We are driven to innovate and come up with new strategies.” Guido adds: “The difficulty is not only to come up with new things, but also with innovations and strategies that are commonly shared within the different divisions of the company. Last year, we developed the Tomorrow Project, a design approach, to develop ideas for new business. With the overriding question, "how can people know what they want, until they see what exists?" Océ designers and researchers explored if they perhaps should not design printers or services but a portfolio of end products. Therefore, they ran a shop for a week. Guido: “We prototyped the business and the production and built a shop to see how people would respond.“
The aim for Incubator 2,5 is to bring the Tomorrow Project to the next level. Both Guido and Klaas Jan are convinced that designers can support disruptive innovations by their appealing designs, by communicating on another level (with new narratives or by creating experiences) and to get the network together in order to build a successful multidisciplinary team. The project team of Incubator 2,5 is eager to get started!