Swinburne Design Factory launched

The Hon Louise Asher MLA, Minister for Innovation, Services and Small Business, and Minister for Tourism and Major Events has formally launched the Design Factory at Swinburne University of Technology.

Joining the Aalto University Design Factory in Finland and the Tongji University Design Factory in China, the Design Factory model enables teams of students to work on research-led collaborations with external partners. It is the first ‘Living Lab' dedicated to design in Australia.

The Swinburne Design Factory brings together researchers, companies and end-users in the early stage of product development to experiment with concepts, leading to innovations for businesses and society.

Students and scholars from a range of disciplines will be collaborating with industry partners on challenging projects that result in people-centred business, technological and social innovations. They can add new dimensions to products as well as proactively identify opportunities to reduce costs.

Ms Asher toured the university's Advanced Technologies Centre at the Hawthorn campus and inspected a student design exhibition.

"The Victorian Coalition Government sees the collaboration between government, universities, and business as an ideal model to address challenges in Victoria," Ms Asher said.

"The Design Factory model brings together multiple perspectives to develop creative solutions to address these challenges."

Swinburne students have already been working at the Aalto Design Factory. In September, three industrial design students travelled to Helsinki for one month to take part in the internationally recognised Product Development Project program.

From 2012, participation in Design Factory projects will be extended to engineering, business, marketing and information technology graduates.

Staff exchanges are also taking place, with regular visits between Helsinki and Melbourne to collaborate on industry-relevant research in areas including product and service innovation, design anthropology and design thinking.

The Design Factory is currently operating at Swinburne's Prahran campus. When housed in Swinburne's new $100 million Advanced Manufacturing Centre (AMC), set to open in 2013, it will provide students with a purpose-built teaching and learning environment reflecting Aalto Design Factory's unique mix of flexible teaching, meeting and social spaces.

Its inaugural business partners include the Melbourne Metropolitan Fire Brigade (MFB), Stonnington City Council and the Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment. Students working on the MFB project are developing online resources for a primary school fire education program.

Businesses interested in partnering with the Design Factory should contact designfactory@swin.edu.au

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