Include 2007 was sponsored by the Audi Design Foundation.
Conference supporters were the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and Design Science and conference partners were Design Business Association (DBA), the Cambridge Engineering Design Centre (EDC), i~design and the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce (RSA).
The Audi Design Foundation is very proud to sponsor the fourth Include conference and be part of a global network that provides a forum for all aspects of user-centred design. As it enters its 10th anniversary year, the Audi Design Foundation is embracing new themes around sustainable and inclusive design with a variety of programmes. We hope that our financial support will allow individuals and organisations within these fields to produce exciting and ground-breaking work.
Our Designs for Life programme supports designers by funding the development of physical prototypes for inclusive and/or sustainable products. The annual fund of £75,000 allows exceptional designers to develop ideas and produce practical solutions with users at the heart of the process. Designs of Substance, another of the Foundation’s core initiatives, challenges UK students to work to design briefs set by developing world communities. Undergraduates consider using their design skills to improve the lives of disadvantaged people, rather than for aesthetically pleasing, high-value items. 2007 will also see two overseas students begin an MA by Research (Sustainable Design) as part of an Audi Design Foundation bursary programme in conjunction with Kingston University, London. We hope that the experience gained through a world-renowned British design education will be applied in the students’ home country.
The Cambridge Engineering Design Centre (EDC) was established within the Cambridge University Engineering Department in 1991. Its aim is to undertake fundamental research into the engineering design process and to couple this research with industrial practice. The EDC’s particular skills are research through observational studies, theory integration and rapid prototype software development – bringing together a range of research knowledge and skills.
The Design Business Association (DBA) exists to promote professional excellence through productive partnerships between commerce and the design industry to champion effective design which improves the quality of people’s lives.
Design Science is a Philadelphia-based consultancy that specialises in conducting research and providing design support to optimise the human interface of products. Specific services include ethnographic field research, human factors support and graphic user-interface design, all for new product development. A particular area of focus is inclusive design, especially for home-healthcare products.
Recent projects include research for and design of interfaces for blood-glucose monitors, insulin pens and other drug-delivery devices, home dialysis systems, and systems for cardiac patients. Design Science’s staff of 20 includes designers, systems engineers, psychologists, anthropologists, and other social scientists who work in integrated teams. This multidisciplinary approach is designed to optimise the validity of research and the accessibility of research findings, as well as the visual elegance and usability of product interfaces.
The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) is the main UK government agency for funding research and training in engineering and the physical sciences, investing around £650 million a year in a broad range of subjects – from mathematics to materials science, and from information technology to structural engineering.
We operate to meet the needs of industry and society by working in partnership with universities. The knowledge and expertise gained maintains a technological leading edge, builds a strong economy and improves people’s quality of life.
We actively engage in and encourage partnerships and collaborations across disciplines, boundaries and the world. We have a long-standing interest in inclusive design and associated research areas, supported through such initiatives as EQUAL (Extending Quality of Life), SUE (Sustainable Urban Environment), SPARC (Strategic Promotion of Ageing Research Capacity), Designing for the 21st Century, New Dynamics of Ageing and Lifelong Health and Wellbeing.
Funded since 2000 by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), i~design is a research collaboration between the RCA Helen Hamlyn Centre, the Engineering Design Centre (EDC) at Cambridge University and other partners. Now in its third phase, the current consortium includes the Cambridge Interdisciplinary Research Centre on Ageing (CIRCA), Loughborough University Ergonomics and Safety Research Institute (ESRI), and the universities of York and Dundee. i~design aims to establish a knowledge base for inclusive design and provide tools, guidance, information and user-centred methodologies to help industry, designers and those who commission and manage design, deliver effective and inclusive products and services.
The RSA was set up in 1754 to bring together a broad range of individuals to encourage sustainable enterprise and release human potential. It continues to do this through projects and initiatives, and with the help of its 26,000 Fellows.
