Design Sprint (DS) is a methodology for quickly and effectively solving design problems. It draws on design thinking, i.e. creative design of solutions to problems, products and services, as well as other practical methods used in business. It is our wish to apply the DS approach also in science to make researchers more sensitive to end-users needs at the earliest stages of materials and products design and production. The DS process consists of five following stages that use design thinking to reduce risk and negative consequences when bringing a new project/product: understand (definition of the project goal), sketch (sketching of new ideas), decide (selecting the best solution), prototype (raw version of the project) and test (collecting opinions, further works on the product). The DS allows for a fast and cheap prototyping of ideas and their subsequent implementation. This workshop is dedicated to scientists whose research covers all levels of the Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs) starting from observations of basing principles (basic research levels TRL1 - TRL3) by technology validation in relevant environments (development levels TRL4 – TRL6) to demonstrators of prototypes (deployment levels TRL7 – TRL9). During our Workshop, to address such challenges of binding basic scientists with researchers who work at higher TRLs levels under real products we will build multidisciplinary teams. An end-user approach will allow us to study real needs and visualize particular solution and final product that we all use every day. An example of our project may be finding an environmentally friendly heating system to heat up a flat in a tenement house located in an Old Town. For that, participants of our workshop will collect an interview with a flat inhabitant including her/his preferences, financial status, etc. To support our participants in real world solutions, we will focus also on studies of real cases.
You are cordially welcome to join us!
Dr Magdalena Wencka
Leader of the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in Material Science RAD