Published on 09.01.2020 under Advisory, Open Innovation, Training
Workshop: "Empathy and Participatory Design"
On September 11, 2019, participants met for a workshop in the FabLab of the Ruhr West University of Applied Sciences in Bottrop "Empathy and participatory design: more effective assistance systems through the use of design thinking and digital manufacturing".
The interest in developing new strategies for inclusive design and design concepts through empathy and in gathering or deepening initial experience in the field of digital manufacturing methods was very great. Business processes were analyzed in order to develop initial approaches for the digitization of processes or product ideas.
The aim of this workshop was to bring people together in order to promote the exchange of experiences in the field of additive systems. Due to the wide range of participants and the description of the individual needs, it became clear what an important role the individualized assistance systems should be assigned in the professional and private environment.
Individualized assistance systems are becoming more and more accessible today due to the possibilities of digital technologies, also for small and medium-sized companies. However, this also poses new challenges for the application of the technology in various areas, such as engineering, architecture, fashion and design.
The systems should, for example, make it easier for employees to do their work or improve the user experience of their products for customers, regardless of whether they are people with or without disabilities.
In the FabLab, after the theoretical Design Thinking part, all participants were given the opportunity to quickly implement their first ideas using digital prototyping tools. At four stations, new assistance systems were developed and prototypes were made with the help of 3D printers, 3D scanners, laser cutters and knitting machines.
In this film you can see impressions of the workshop day:
Empathy, creative self-confidence and the use of new technologies create new things.
With a personalized computer mouse and a bottle opener developed to make it easier for people with reduced mobility to carry out this activity, it became clear that products can only be improved with an understanding of the problem. The conductive and interactive material produced, which can be used in clothing, as well as the light sensor built into a closet, prove the diversity of the embedded systems.
At the end of the workshop it became clear that empathy, creative self-confidence and the use of new technologies create things that revolutionize the world of work and make the desire for a self-determined and easier life, with or without a handicap, possible.
The Emscher-Lippe project4 promotes the digitization of small and medium-sized companies in the region. The focus is on innovative solutions with which you can use the potential of digitization for your company and your employees (with and without disabilities). The Innovation advice from the matrix offers, with various workshops, first insights into digital manufacturing and innovation methods and makes them tangible in the FabLab.
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