HCDI research has been showcased at a West London Innovation Lunch at the 2011 MADEBRUNEL show at Oxo Tower Wharf in central London.

The 2nd international Copenhagen Design Week is to be held from 1st to 6th September 2011. With the theme "Think Human" the Copenhagen Design Week will show the DNA in Danish design thinking. The programme explores how design can contribute to solving challenges in relation to the individual, to society and globally.

http://www.copenhagendesignweek.com

A new proposal by industrial designer Lulin Ding promises to add colour to women's lives, literally.

LED eyeshadow uses an LED bulb that bathes the eyelid in light thus "painting” it with colour. The makeup system involves an LED bulb, a frame, thin wires, a microcontroller and a balancing weight.

In Ding's words “I sought to translate the attributes of eyeshadow into a digital medium. I made the initial decision to use the light to paint the eyelids when you blink and close your eye.”

http://www.ecouterre.com/futuristic-led-eyeshadow-highlights-your-peepers-lit...

New research has been performed to better understand the Thai public healthcare sector and the Thai medical devices industry. The research captured both the direct and latent requirements of all the stakeholders in order to define strategic directions and products which leverage the existing skills and capabilities of Thai industry.

Instead of choosing a "hard system" approach which treats a system as an ontological entity, i.e. as a set of fixed items which exist in their real world form, a "soft system" approach was used which treats the system instead in an epistemological manner, i.e. as a mental construct used for purposes of human communication and understanding.

Significant among the research findings was evidence that non-surgical hospital equipments and basic rehabilitation devices held the highest potential for new business development which improved Thai public healthcare.

Ariyatum, B., Holland, R., Sirisalee, P, and Prommin, D. 2009, Identifying Strategic Directions for Design Development of General Hospital Equipment for Thailand, The Design Journal, Volume 12, Number 1, March, pp. 69-93(25)

A current hot topic in the design sector is the emerging trend of co-creation, a practice which involves users and other stakeholders in the design process from early inception. This recent evolution of the general practice of participatory design attempts to break through key organisational and psychological barriers within a business such as the reluctance to change, the reluctance to share information, short-term thinking, risk-aversion, stakeholder pressures, time and cost pressures, concerns about intellectual property, concerns about consumer reliability and a lack of belief in ordinary people’s ability to be creative.

New research suggests a strategic framework for co-creation based on six key co-creation stages: prepare, plan, manage, analyse, build and learn. Further, three key values of the co-creation process have been identified: stimulate, engage and inspire. The new framework and values provides a simple and clear strategic framework for use by businesses and other organisations who wish to perform co-creation.

Hamid, J. and Choi, Y. 2011, Co-creation between organisations and consumers, Participatory Innovation Conference (PINC 2011), Sonderborg, Denmark, 13-15 January.