Enabled by Design

Enabled by Design is a joint research project between EPFL and ECAL, funded by Gebert Rüf Stiftung, which aims to foster collaboration between young entrepreneurs involved in technological projects and designers.

Over recent years, EPFL has identified a genuine need for design expertise to successfully transform laboratory technologies into products that are available to users. Design is now a crucial resource in innovatory projects because of its user focus, strategic vision, iterative methodology and creativity. Collaboration with designers offers added value to products/services and allows the young entrepreneurs to reduce uncertainty, validate market opportunities and communicate a coherent and persuasive message to potential customers and investors.

The research team has created a web-based platform to create links between entrepreneurs and designers seeking to collaborate on technological projects. The platform offers different design missions (UX/UI, industrial design, graphic design, video, animation and photography), displays the findings from a variety of collaborative projects and provides a series of tools and articles to facilitate collaboration.

There is currently a design center within the EPFL Startup Unit which offers this service to start ups on an ongoing basis and seeks to transform emerging technologies into usable products.

Duration
March 2019 – October 2020