Paul Gardien of Philips Design on the importance of meaning in technological innovation
Bruno Giussani reports from the second European Futurist Conference in Lucerne, Switzerland on a pre-conference presentation by Paul Gardien, the director of new solutions at Philips Design.
Gardien stresses the importance of meaning in technological innovation: “design must start with observing and understanding people”.
Philips uses an innovation model called “the alchemy of growth”, which is based on three horizons: extending and defending the core business; building emerging/new businesses; and create viable longer-term options. “As a company, you need to be able to manage these three horizons simultaneously”.
Gardien then cites an interesting example of this approach: the Nebula design project that aimed at figuring out “whether we can make the waking-up experience more pleasant”, which was then turned into an ambient experience in MRI scan rooms for children (pictured).
[…] La ricerca centrata sull’utente è un modo per comprendere i bisogni e le esigenze di chi ha a che fare con la sanità : pazienti, ma anche medici, infermieri e familiari. Analisi delle attività , osservazioni e altre tecniche permettono a Nurture (una struttura creata da Steelcase) di capire “l’esperienza della sanità ” e di migliorarla. La pensa allo stesso modo Paul Gardien (Philips Design) che all’European Futurist Conference, parla dell’importanza del significato nell’innovazione tecnologica. Il design deve partire dall’osservazione dell’esperienza delle persone. Un’applicazione del pensiero di Gardien è la stanza per le risonanze magnetiche per i bambini. […]