INDEX: Views Summit – Copenhagen & Malmö, 25-28 September 2005
Imagine how many problems around the world we can begin to solve if we use our insight into human needs, combine it with all our available knowledge and technology, and make use of our creativity…
INDEX: believes that new design processes are an invaluable tool for such “human centred innovation”. The purpose of the INDEX: Views Summit is to show how we can use these potentials of design – and to inspire the participants and other representatives from business, government and society to develop new designs that improve human life.
INDEX: Views Summit is a new design & innovation conference: Instead of talking about design and innovation, the participants use new design processes to create ideas for design and innovation to improve human life during the Summit.
30 creative leaders
INDEX: Views summits 30 international creative leaders - prominent innovators, creative thinkers and leaders in e.g. design & architecture, research & development, business & society. During the Summit, they work closely together with teams of talented young designers, researchers and students from leading universities on 5 challenges to human life around the world – one from each of the 5 INDEX: categories of Body, Home, Work, Play & Community. Altogether, 100 people participate directly in the work. In addition, 100 key stakeholders, incl. leaders and experts from interested companies and organisations, contribute with their thoughts and reflections on the 5 challenges during the Summit.
5 challenges
The INDEX: Views Summit challenges include:
- Body: How we care for our personal health – e.g. our eating habits and eldercare.
- Home: How we live at home and in our cities – e.g. our personal housing and urban development.
- Work: How we work and learn – e.g. our development of workplaces and educational institutions.
- Play: How play enhances all of life – e.g. our attention to play and use of recreational tools.
- Community: How we live together sustainably – e.g. our use of resources and social well-being.
A design process
The Summit participants have to develop new approaches, ideas and suggestions of how we can improve life in each of the 5 areas. To do so, they will use the methods of new design processes that combine insight into human needs, scientific and technological expertise, scenarios and visualisations with creative thinking to develop practical solutions. The Summit process is organised by international design- and innovation experts from The Idea Factory.
Don’t tell it, show it
The ambition of the INDEX: Views Summit is to present an exciting showcase of the use of new design processes – and to provide concrete inspiration for how to improve human life. Accordingly, the INDEX: Views Summit is based on an open-source principle: The outcomes are made freely available to all interested companies, organisation and public authorities.
Following up
The Views Summit forms the basis for an INDEX: Charter published in November 2005 presenting all outcomes, recommendations for their further use as well as examples of new design tools for innovation. In addition, INDEX: organises a range of follow-up activities – incl. lectures for students, network seminars for young designers and workshops for companies, public authorities and organisations – based on the Summit.
