Reach Global Design Research Network

Tendril, a startup based in Boulder, CO, has developed a device that converts existing electrical meters into smart meters that can track customers’ energy use as frequently as once every few minutes. Working with utility companies, Tendril plans to introduce it to thousands of homes this year.

The device could help speed the spread of the so-called “smart grid,” a network of sensors and controls that could reduce energy consumption, enable the large-scale use of renewable energy, and save consumers money. Smart-grid projects will receive billions of dollars in funding under the stimulus bill signed into law in February. Tendril’s device could be used by utilities to introduce variable-pricing schemes that discourage the use of electricity during times of peak demand, reducing the need for the most expensive and most polluting power plants. Eventually it could be used to help the electricity grid accommodate more electricity from variable sources of renewable electricity, such as wind and solar. Read more..

There are several easy ways to reduce your home’s digital footprint, and save money while you’re at it.

A recent column of Graeme Philipson on energy consumption in the IT industry raised a lot of interest. It said that this year might be the year of green IT – the year corporate computer users become aware not only of the energy consumption of their IT function, but of the important role IT has to play in reducing the carbon footprint of the whole organisation. Read more..

Products traditionally are created in rich nations and repackaged for emerging ones. But General Electric, Nokia, and others are reversing the process . This month, General Electric’s (GE) health-care division will begin marketing a first-of-its-kind electrocardiograph machine in the U.S. Although packed with the latest technology, the battery-powered device weighs just six pounds, half as much as the smallest ECG machine currently for sale. It will retail for a mere $2,500, an 80% markdown from products with similar capabilities. But what really distinguishes the MAC 800 is its lineage. The machine is basically the same field model that GE Healthcare developed for doctors in India and China in 2008. Read more..

Fuelfor – Lekshmy Parameswaran and Laszlo Herczeg (principals) – Barcelona (ES) and Budapest

Fuelfor is an innovation design consultancy specialised in health care. Founded in June 2008 by Lekshmy Parameswaran and László Herczegh, the company is based in Barcelona and serves global clients in the private and public sectors.
Fuelfor offers clients a 360° perspective on health to identify viable new opportunities for growth and translate them into tangible health care solutions and strategies that improve the health care experience.
With a strong belief that research-driven design and multi-disciplinary collaboration are essential for innovation in healthcare, fuelfor provides innovation consulting, design research and experience design services.
Clients include: hospitals, regional and national healthcare systems, healthcare policy makers, pharmacy chains, medical device manufacturers, psycho-social services, patient organisations.

Lekshmy is an innovation design consultant whose specialist skills include: strategic thinking and facilitation to help clients define and implement successful innovation strategies, and delivering compelling qualitative research to make sure these strategies align with people’s needs. Prior to founding fuelfor, Lekshmy enjoyed a 10-year career at Philips Design in London, New York and Eindhoven. As Innovation Director of the global healthcare team she created and led programs to generate and translate insights into new value propositions for Philips Healthcare supporting their Care Cycle strategy and Ambient Experience business. She learnt how to use design to shape and embed an innovation process and mindset within a leading global healthcare business.She holds a Master of Engineering degree from Cambridge University and a Master of Arts from the Royal College of Art in London.

László is an experience design consultant whose specialist skills include: translating human insights into design solutions and strategies that apply product, service, interaction or spatial design, and defining design qualities that powerfully communicate the human and business value of new propositions.
Prior to founding fuelfor, László spent 8 years as a senior design consultant in the global healthcare team of Philips Design. He led several award-winning innovation projects and developed concepts including Ambient Experience, a paradigm-shifting contribution to the healthcare industry that won an IDSA gold award in 2005. A key learning from this project was how to overcome the challenges in bringing an innovation design concept from vision to business reality. He holds a Master of Arts degree from the Academy of Arts and Design in Budapest, including study at the University of Arts and Design in Helsinki.

For more information see www.fuelfor.net

Contact Lekshmy Parameswaran
lekshmy.parameswaran@fuelfor.net
+34672252681
Skype: fuelfor

STBY – Geke van Dijk and Bas Raijmakers (principals) – London (UK) / Amsterdam (NL)

STBY (Standby) is specialized in consumer research during the early stages of innovative service design projects, when designers, engineers and marketeers need to discover what matters to the people they are developing new products and services for.

STBY offers a wide range of research activities that contribute to this multi-disciplinary, exploratory process of consumer centered-innovation. Some examples of these services: qualitative consumer research, ethnographic studies, Lead User research, Open Innovation workshops, youth studies.

STBY is based in London and Amsterdam, and was founded in 2002 by Geke van Dijk and Bas Raijmakers. Previous to their involvement in STBY, Geke and Bas both worked as managers and user experience consultants in the internet industry. They founded and successfully developed the first usability company in The Netherlands, ACS-i media research & projects (1993-2000), which was acquired by Lost Boys.

In 2007 they both completed a Phd research in London. Bas in Design Interactions (RCA) and Geke in Human-Computer Interactions (OU). Their work for STBY greatly benefits from this research.

Some of the clients they have worked for: Reed Elsevier, Philips Design, BBC, HP Labs, Intel, France Telecom, KLM and ING Bank.

For more information see www.stby.eu

Contact Bas Raijmakers
bas@stby.eu
+44 7787334123 (UK)
+31 6 5515 7794 (NL)
Skype: basraij

When traveling from Paris to the Alps by highspeed train this winter we found this sticker above our seats.

It looked like a shy mobile phone to me at first, but it’s true meaning became clear when I needed to visit the toilets later on and came across the yellow sticker.

It was above a cosy bench in the corridor between carriages. A special corner for making calls! So this is how to do it:

The only tricky bit is that your cosy bench is doubling as a baby change unit. I’m not sure the babies will stand in line until you finish your call. If not, close your nose!