Series of events "Material shapes Product"

With the series of event series “Material shapes product”, the Hessian Ministry of Economics wanted to raise awareness of the potential of new materials and nanotechnologies. They’d like the designers, users, material developers and product specialists to work closer together. Innovative materials are all the rage. This is shown not least by the numerous libraries, databases and trade fairs that have successfully developed on this topic in recent years. Whereas in the past you had to develop new materials with a special functionality for a problem, today we have such a wide variety of materials and manufacturing processes that almost everything seems technologically feasible. This has far-reaching consequences for our traditionally technology-oriented understanding of innovation. Because what is often missing in successful innovation processes today is not the technological innovation in the sense of a functional quality, but the successful and above all fast transfer of an innovation into a marketable product.

Events

Opening conference: “From material to a marketable product. The meaning of creative industry for material based innovation process”, 24.06.2010 at HfG Offenbach
1st evening event: “Multifunctional construction material for designers and architects“, September 16, 2010 at the Kassel University, Atelier K 10
2nd evening event: “Innovative lightweight construction for interior, elevators and architecture“, November 18, 2010 at Formvielfalt in Groß-Umstadt
3rd evening event: “Reactive and optical materials“, January 27, 2011 at Designhaus Darmstadt
4th evening event: “Sustainable materials for architecture and design“, April 14, 2011 at Formvielfalt in Groß-Umstadt
Final forum: “Material shapes product – A faster way into the market with new material“, May 24, 2011 at the exhibition “Material Vision” in Frankfurt

image: Micronal (source: BASF)