…to our economists, managers and other human executives?
If so, can you imagine Nature frenetically cutting costs everywhere possible, to solve its self-created economic crisis, determining life with less air, less light, less land, less water?
You are currently browsing the archive for the Problem Solving category.
At the top of the waste hierarchy we have ‘Prevention’ and I share this vision of a world without waste.
Research suggests to achieve the target of “waste free world”, we require a system that designs out waste and designs in value. I see this is as an opportunity for innovation investments and business leaders, however the current barrier is lack of real financial return to not produce waste, since such value is not measured, whereas waste has gain increasingly trade value leading to profits.
In our journey to identify funding for an innovation platform dedicated to develop a new generation of packaging without waste, myself and Dr. Joyce Tsoi successfuly attracted interest from potential partners accross all packaging stakeholders, however we still had to demonstrate how such investment can create value (economic and financial). As a response to this challenge we found the need to develop a calculator (Negowaste©) that quantifies and converts the positive value of no-waste production into financial returns which would support the design of a new sharp tax system proposed by Nanako Kawauchi and myself. Read the rest of this entry »
Design Week’s Editor, Lynda Relph-Knight challenged designers to post ideas and enter a debate on how can design best help to increase awareness of its value.
Lynda’s challenge comes from a recent debate about public procurement to purchase design, and the issue that, despite the value of design to improve communication and services, and despite the existing funding for innovation, it (design’s value) still misunderstood by governmental bodies (or is the society in general?), and therefore not correctly procured. It seems a large majority of design stakeholders - inside and outside the design industry - still don’t know much about design and even less about new disciplines and roles of design, beyond traditional areas of the design of ‘things’, ‘messages’ and ’spaces’.
Ideally, and strategically we would need to replace the idea that design is just good to make things look pretty, or the tool to manipulate ‘perceived value’ of products and brands for a profit-driven aim.
My thinking: why not…Establish a VAD © stamp! (Value Added Design)
Should we question the need to produce waste?
Waste isn’t a problem, it is a consequence of human decisions.
Or a design fault.
So imagine if you were asked to opt between paying for management of your waste, or pay for not having waste, which would you chose? Read the rest of this entry »
London YNOT is my way of thinking, and this space is a way of sharing ideas. I am an entrepreneurial, idea-driven systems thinker as well as a strategist, mainly interested in Design for business innovation and social change. YNOT (why not) - is an approach for problem solving and London stands for diversity, complexity and innovation.Please see more…