Algonquin College and UPES University launch World Design Challenge

Posted on Monday, March 20th, 2023

(OTTAWA – March 20, 2023) – Algonquin College, UPES University in India and World Design Organization (WDO)® have partnered to collaboratively host a World Design Challenge to design interventions that address the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). Launched on March 6, 2023, the international competition includes learners from Algonquin College’s School of Media and Design and UPES School of Design. Participating programs from Algonquin College include Graphic Design, Interior Design, Interactive Media Design and Interdisciplinary Studies in Human-Centred Design.

WDO supports over 190-member organizations worldwide, representing designers and their contributions to economic, social, cultural, and environmental development. Both Algonquin College and UPES University are WDO members.

Jed Looker, Principal Investigator of the Human-Centred Design Lab, created this project in collaboration with UPES University after connecting with a UPES colleague at a WDO networking event.

“The first week of the challenge is in-person at Algonquin College and UPES respectively, where students come together to form teams, define expectations and learn about the challenge themes. From there, students collaborate virtually over Zoom to develop their projects before making their final pitch to the panel of industry judges in week three,” said Looker.

Each team chooses one of three themes related to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the 33rd WDO World Design Assembly theme, Design Beyond. The first theme focuses on health care from an Indigenous perspective, such as access to products and services as well as environmental factors. Sustainable furniture is the next theme, comprised of design and manufacturing methods as well as local businesses and economies. The third theme is human transportation, including topics that range from planes, trains and automobiles to human trafficking.

Over the next three weeks, learners from both institutions will work in teams to produce innovative design solutions and pitch their results to a panel of industry experts. Working together across two continents and multiple time zones means participants in Canada and India hold meetings together at 7 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., respectively. These geographical barriers contribute to the challenges of international collaboration.

The teams are tasked with proposing innovative solutions focusing on design research and strategy. Evaluation criteria is based on methods used to map the problem space, how the solutions landscape is defined, and the strategic response used to address the problem space.

Faculty, industry experts and design professionals will act as mentors to the teams throughout the challenge. Participants have the opportunity to work and network with professionals from international organizations such as Aether Learning, BMW, Delta Airlines, Mask Architects, Design for Winning and Andreu World, many of which are WDO members.

WDO piloted the World Design Challenge initiative in March 2020, in the early days of the pandemic when designers were sheltering in place and looking for ways to contribute their skills. It was adapted to cover themes and engage an international group of designers working together online towards common goals.

“We are so pleased to see two of our WDO members working collaboratively on a World Design Challenge. WDO has had the opportunity to work with UN Women Asia Pacific, the International Space Station, and the World Packaging Organisation on World Design Challenges since 2020,” stated Bertrand Derome, WDO’s Managing Director. “The quick way in which designers are adapting to remote work and online collaboration opened many opportunities for us to explore ways of working together that would have been mired in paperwork and high financial costs. Using WDO’s World Design Challenge framework, Algonquin College and UPES were able to drive interest among their faculty and staff that will be valuable for both parties and beyond as they contribute to these important issues.”

As this is the first iteration of WDO’s World Design Challenge led by two academic institutions, Looker hopes to expand the event to include more post-secondary institutions and industry sponsors in the years to come.

“WDO has an impressive membership. Learners who are participating in this year’s challenge have the unique opportunity to connect with leading industry professionals,” said Looker. “We hope to continue to expand on the World Design Challenge program to include more institutions from countries all over the world. Ideally the challenge would be open to any institution who would like to participate.”

Team pitches and winner announcements take place on March 27, 2023. After the presentations, remarks will be given by Chris Janzen, Senior Vice President Academic at Algonquin College, Ram Sharma, Vice Chancellor of UPES University and David Kusuma, WDO President.

For more information

Kim Blackburn
Communications Officer
Algonquin College
613-291-6581
blackbk@algonquincollege.com

Dorothée Bolade
Community Engagement Officer
World Design Organization
514-448-4949
dorothee@wdo.org

Siva Ganesh Babu
Deputy Director, (AM)
School of Design
UPES University
+91 (735) 669 6026
sivaganesh.babu@ddn.upes.ac.in

About Algonquin College

The mission of Algonquin College of Applied Arts and Technology is to transform hopes and dreams into lifelong success. Algonquin College, an Ontario public sector community college, does this by offering hands-on, digitally connected, experiential learning in more than 185 programs. Algonquin College is the largest polytechnic institute in Eastern Ontario, with campuses in Ottawa, Perth, Pembroke and AC Online.

 


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