As a technological university, TU Delft has an indispensable role to play in transferring theoretical knowledge into economic value for society at large, especially with regard to the design of objects and processes.
How this can be achieved within the university and in partnership with small and medium sized enterprises was the focus of the recent ‘Delft Science in Design Congress’.
The ‘Delft Science in Design Congress’ is one of the activities that the Delft Design Platform organizes to promote the exchange of design knowledge between the university and industry. The thinking is that all parties involved in the knowledge exchange process will benefit from the cross-fertilization of the diverse range of information and knowledge that is continuously being generated at the university.
Piet van Genderen, the platform’s chairman, explains: “More often than not, activities in other sciences, once properly understood, may stimulate new ideas, approaches and solutions in one’s own scientific field.”
The congress consisted of an array of lectures given by representatives of the various TU faculties, with the issues under discussion ranging from the traditional and visual aspects of design – as undertaken at the faculties of architecture and industrial design – to the TPM Faculty’s design of decision-making processes.
According to Professor Margot Weijnen, chairperson of the TPM Faculty’s Process & Energy Systems Engineering department, design is a core activity of any technological university, and design methodology is the common ground between the various departments.
“In an academic perspective, the congress again illustrated that the various departments basically share the same methodological principles and values, but that we apply our design principles at widely different system levels,” Weijnen says.
Although the concept of design is the common denominator for university faculties, it is not imbedded in a shared language. Weijnen sees the design congress as one of the many valuable activities needed to arrive at a shared design language: “By making more explicit efforts towards developing a shared vocabulary and interconnecting across the different system levels, a shared engineering design methodology may emerge that has the potential to greatly enhance TU Delft’s internal cohesion.”
A shared design language would moreover greatly enhance the process of communication between the diverse sets of professionals who are working towards the design of a specific object or process.
The congress’s focus however was not merely on the exchange of science on design between university staff and students. Equally important was the effort made to connect with industry – specifically, to small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Small- and medium-sized businesses play a key role in transforming scientific discoveries into new and innovative products and processes, and this is intrinsically linked to the science of design. The SME sector is, moreover, the main contributor to the Dutch economy.
In his keynote address, Loek Hermans, chairman of the Dutch Federation of Small and Medium Enterprises, and a former Minister of Education, Culture and Science, said: “The key to the increased utilization of valuable scientific knowledge for creating added economic value is that both parties should reach out to each other.” Hermans added that currently this doesn’t happen often enough.
Hermans would like to see much closer relationships between SMEs and academia in the design of successful business applications.
Knowledge vouchers
Most SMEs – which on average employ only eight employees . are primarily concerned with surviving in a fiercely competitive global marketplace. Because SMEs have relatively small financial resources, they simply cannot afford attend congresses or hire personnel who are solely responsible for knowledge management, Hermans explains. In addition, although scientific knowledge is publicly available, the number of channels through which it’s divulged is small. Scientific breakthroughs are, as a rule, only presented in academic journals.
“A more fundamental problem in this respect is that the majority of the employees of such firms haven’t had any kind of higher education, and consequently reading and understanding academic journals becomes – even if they try – a cumbersome exercise,” Hermans says.
Hermans believes that universities are responsible for making scientific knowledge more readily accessible to non-scientists: “Such information can then be used by entrepreneurs for translating an idea into a successful business opportunity, which is their main competency.”
Weijnen argues that although universities cannot be held responsible for the actual utilization of knowledge, they are indeed responsible for “presenting the knowledge to practitioners in such a way that they can absorb and use it.”
Weijnen says that one way of encouraging a university’s research staff to make scientific knowledge more accessible to industry is by rewarding them not only for scientific publications, but also for professional publications. She also believes that while universities can stimulate more entrepreneurial spirit among its researchers, “it’s not realistic to think that all our researchers should become entrepreneurs.”
A major hurdle in the process of converting new knowledge to successful business applications is the fact that both parties have different frames of references: The private sector thinks in terms of business value, and universities in terms of scientific value. Weijnen says that although several mechanisms exist to bridge this gap, it’s “by no means an easy task.”
One option for SMEs to gain access to knowledge institutions is by applying for ‘knowledge vouchers’, which have a monetary value of 7,500 euro and are used to purchase knowledge. As for what specifically can be done at universities, Weijnen says: “Stimulating undergraduate students to conduct their MSc thesis projects at SMEs is an option, and I also know of many examples of PhD students working with SMEs.”
Both Weijnen and Hermans agree that building university-polytechnic alliances will help to translate academic knowledge into knowledge that can be utilized successfully by the SME sector.
Hermans is convinced that more profound collaborations between academia and SMEs will result in win-win situation for both parties. By making scientific knowledge more accessible, universities will benefit from income received through contract-research, and the SMEs will enhance their competitive edge in the global economy, with the end result being much more value for Dutch society as a whole.
Professor Margot Weijnen. (Photo: Sam Rentmeester/FMAX)
The ‘Delft Science in Design Congress’ is one of the activities that the Delft Design Platform organizes to promote the exchange of design knowledge between the university and industry. The thinking is that all parties involved in the knowledge exchange process will benefit from the cross-fertilization of the diverse range of information and knowledge that is continuously being generated at the university.
Piet van Genderen, the platform’s chairman, explains: “More often than not, activities in other sciences, once properly understood, may stimulate new ideas, approaches and solutions in one’s own scientific field.”
The congress consisted of an array of lectures given by representatives of the various TU faculties, with the issues under discussion ranging from the traditional and visual aspects of design – as undertaken at the faculties of architecture and industrial design – to the TPM Faculty’s design of decision-making processes.
According to Professor Margot Weijnen, chairperson of the TPM Faculty’s Process & Energy Systems Engineering department, design is a core activity of any technological university, and design methodology is the common ground between the various departments.
“In an academic perspective, the congress again illustrated that the various departments basically share the same methodological principles and values, but that we apply our design principles at widely different system levels,” Weijnen says.
Although the concept of design is the common denominator for university faculties, it is not imbedded in a shared language. Weijnen sees the design congress as one of the many valuable activities needed to arrive at a shared design language: “By making more explicit efforts towards developing a shared vocabulary and interconnecting across the different system levels, a shared engineering design methodology may emerge that has the potential to greatly enhance TU Delft’s internal cohesion.”
A shared design language would moreover greatly enhance the process of communication between the diverse sets of professionals who are working towards the design of a specific object or process.
The congress’s focus however was not merely on the exchange of science on design between university staff and students. Equally important was the effort made to connect with industry – specifically, to small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Small- and medium-sized businesses play a key role in transforming scientific discoveries into new and innovative products and processes, and this is intrinsically linked to the science of design. The SME sector is, moreover, the main contributor to the Dutch economy.
In his keynote address, Loek Hermans, chairman of the Dutch Federation of Small and Medium Enterprises, and a former Minister of Education, Culture and Science, said: “The key to the increased utilization of valuable scientific knowledge for creating added economic value is that both parties should reach out to each other.” Hermans added that currently this doesn’t happen often enough.
Hermans would like to see much closer relationships between SMEs and academia in the design of successful business applications.
Knowledge vouchers
Most SMEs – which on average employ only eight employees . are primarily concerned with surviving in a fiercely competitive global marketplace. Because SMEs have relatively small financial resources, they simply cannot afford attend congresses or hire personnel who are solely responsible for knowledge management, Hermans explains. In addition, although scientific knowledge is publicly available, the number of channels through which it’s divulged is small. Scientific breakthroughs are, as a rule, only presented in academic journals.
“A more fundamental problem in this respect is that the majority of the employees of such firms haven’t had any kind of higher education, and consequently reading and understanding academic journals becomes – even if they try – a cumbersome exercise,” Hermans says.
Hermans believes that universities are responsible for making scientific knowledge more readily accessible to non-scientists: “Such information can then be used by entrepreneurs for translating an idea into a successful business opportunity, which is their main competency.”
Weijnen argues that although universities cannot be held responsible for the actual utilization of knowledge, they are indeed responsible for “presenting the knowledge to practitioners in such a way that they can absorb and use it.”
Weijnen says that one way of encouraging a university’s research staff to make scientific knowledge more accessible to industry is by rewarding them not only for scientific publications, but also for professional publications. She also believes that while universities can stimulate more entrepreneurial spirit among its researchers, “it’s not realistic to think that all our researchers should become entrepreneurs.”
A major hurdle in the process of converting new knowledge to successful business applications is the fact that both parties have different frames of references: The private sector thinks in terms of business value, and universities in terms of scientific value. Weijnen says that although several mechanisms exist to bridge this gap, it’s “by no means an easy task.”
One option for SMEs to gain access to knowledge institutions is by applying for ‘knowledge vouchers’, which have a monetary value of 7,500 euro and are used to purchase knowledge. As for what specifically can be done at universities, Weijnen says: “Stimulating undergraduate students to conduct their MSc thesis projects at SMEs is an option, and I also know of many examples of PhD students working with SMEs.”
Both Weijnen and Hermans agree that building university-polytechnic alliances will help to translate academic knowledge into knowledge that can be utilized successfully by the SME sector.
Hermans is convinced that more profound collaborations between academia and SMEs will result in win-win situation for both parties. By making scientific knowledge more accessible, universities will benefit from income received through contract-research, and the SMEs will enhance their competitive edge in the global economy, with the end result being much more value for Dutch society as a whole.
Professor Margot Weijnen. (Photo: Sam Rentmeester/FMAX)
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