It is important for the current small and medium sized companies to innovate and thereby still to be able to compete with the cheaper companies from the east. Within Fontys University a project has been started to develop an innovative education for its future curricula. More attention is paid to competence learning and 'learn to learn'-principles instead of cognitive learning. This has resulted in a so-called 'major-minor' system. In the Netherlands this system of education is commonly used at the Universities. The major, at Fontys, is a three-year primary education, which aims to develop the student's discipline. The minor are two education entities restricted, for the size of 30 ECTS, which students can choose. Within the Fontys University a study has started to develop a minor education on the topic "strategically decision-making on innovations in a SME". Fontys wants to train its students for this task in the SME, because it is assumed that many higher educated personnel will find work in the SME. Furthermore it is assumed that there is a growing need for higher educated personnel in possession of competences about strategic decision-making and implementing an innovative organisation. In the autumn of 2006, as a result of the present developments, a minor will be started on the topic 'strategically decision-making on innovations'. This paper describes the progress of the developments of the minor.
The paper arguments that a design approach will be essential to the future of e-democracy and e-governance. This development is driven at the intersection of three fields: democracy, information technology and design. Developments in these fields will result in a new scale, new complexity and demands for new quality of democracy solutions. Design is essential to answer these new challenges. The article identifies a new generation of design thinking as a distinct new voice in the development of e-democracy and describes some of the consequences for democracy and governance. It argues that, to be able to design new solutions for e-democracy successfully, current approaches may be too narrow and a broader critical reflection is necessary for both designers and other stakeholders in the process.
Design en onderzoek zijn twee kennisgebieden die elk hun eigen tradities, methoden, standaarden en praktijken hebben. Deze twee werelden lijken behoorlijk gescheiden, waarbij onderzoekers onderzoeken wat er is en ontwerpers visualiseren wat er zou kunnen zijn. Dit boek slaat een brug tussen beide werelden door te laten zien hoe design en onderzoek geïntegreerd kunnen worden om een nieuw kennisveld te ontwikkelen. Dit boek bevat 22 inspirerende beschouwingen die laten zien hoe de unieke kwaliteiten van onderzoek (gericht op het bestuderen van het heden) en ontwerp (gericht op het ontwikkelen van de toekomst) gecombineerd kunnen worden. Dit boek laat zien dat de transdisciplinaire aanpak toepasbaar is in een veelheid van sectoren, variërend van gezondheidszorg, stedelijke planning, circulaire economie en de voedingsindustrie. Het boek bestaat uit vijf delen en biedt een scala aan illustratieve voorbeelden, ervaringen, methoden en interpretaties. Samen vormen ze het kenmerk van een mozaïek, waarbij elk stukje een deel van het complete plaatje bijdraagt en alle stukjes samen een veelzijdig perspectief bieden op wat toegepast ontwerponderzoek is, hoe het wordt geïmplementeerd en wat de lezer ervan kan verwachten.
In recent years, ArtEZ has worked on a broadly supported strategic research agenda on the themes New Ecologies of Matter (ecological challenges), Social Equity (social-societal issues), (Un)Learning Practices (educational innovations) and (Non)CybernEtic Fabric (technological developments). Building on these strategic themes, the ArtEZ Research Collective as developed an international research strategy to become a valuable partner in the relevant Horizon Europe (HEU) areas of Environment, Industry and Social science and humanities. With its specific knowledge position and approach from arts and creativity, ArtEZ is convinced that it can play a distinctive role in European consortia to tackle various challenges in these areas, in particular from the perspective and research topics of the professorships Fashion and Tactical Design. To achieve its ambitions and goals in its targeted research topics, ArtEZ is convinced that a combination of international connections and local applications is key for successful impact. Building upon existing relations and extending the international research position requires extra efforts, e.g., by developing a strong international framework of state-of-the-art research results, impacts and ambitions. Therefore ArtEZ needs to (further) build on both its international network and its supportive infrastructure. With this proposal ArtEZ is presenting its goals and efforts to work on its international recognition as a valuable research partner, and to broaden its international network in cutting-edge research and other stakeholders. With regards to its supporting infrastructure, ArtEZ has the ambition to expand the impact of the Subsidy Desk to become a professional partner to the professorships. This approach requires a further professionalization and extension of both the Subsidy Desk organization and its services, and developing and complementing skills, expertise and competences to comply to the European requirements.
This project develops a European network for transdisciplinary innovation in artistic engagement as a catalyst for societal transformation, focusing on immersive art. It responds to the professionals in the field’s call for research into immersive art’s unique capacity to ‘move’ people through its multisensory, technosocial qualities towards collective change. The project brings together experts leading state-of-the-art research and practice in related fields with an aim to develop trajectories for artistic, methodological, and conceptual innovation for societal transformation. The nascent field of immersive art, including its potential impact on society, has been identified as a priority research area on all local-to-EU levels, but often suffers from the common (mis)perception as being technological spectacle prioritising entertainment values. Many practitioners create immersive art to enable novel forms of creative engagement to address societal issues and enact change, but have difficulty gaining recognition and support for this endeavour. A critical challenge is the lack of knowledge about how their predominantly sensuous and aesthetic experience actually lead to collective change, which remains unrecognised in the current systems of impact evaluation predicated on quantitative analysis. Recent psychological insights on awe as a profoundly transformative emotion signals a possibility to address this challenge, offering a new way to make sense of the transformational effect of directly interacting with such affective qualities of immersive art. In parallel, there is a renewed interest in the practice of cultural mediation, which brings together different stakeholders to facilitate negotiation towards collective change in diverse domains of civic life, often through creative engagements. Our project forms strategic grounds for transdisciplinary research at the intersection between these two developments. We bring together experts in immersive art, psychology, cultural mediation, digital humanities, and design across Europe to explore: How can awe-experiences be enacted in immersive art and be extended towards societal transformation?
The impacts of tourism on destinations and the perceptions of local communities have been a major concern both for the industry and research in the past decades. However, tourism planning has been mainly focused on traditions that promote the increase of tourism without taking under consideration the wellbeing of both residents and visitors. To develop a more sustainable tourism model, the inclusion of local residents in tourism decision-making is vital. However, this is not always possible due to structural, economic and socio-cultural restrictions that residents face resulting to their disempowerment. This study aims to explore and interpret the formal processes around tourism decision-making and community empowerment in urban settings. The research proposes a comparative study of three urban destinations in Europe (The Hague in the Netherlands, San Sebastian in Spain and, Ioannina in Greece) that experience similar degree of tourism growth. The proposed study will use a design-based approach in order to understand tourism decision-making and what empowers or disempowers community participation within the destinations. Based on the findings of primary and secondary data, a community empowerment model will be applied in one the destinations as a pilot for resident engagement in tourism planning. The evaluation of the pilot will allow for an optimized model to be created with implications for tourism planning at a local level that can contribute to sustainable destinations that safeguard the interests of local residents and tourists.
