Industry-Changing Forces Shaping Mobility

by Asha Sumputh for Dassault Systèmes

After a successful, content-packed day in Milan yesterday focused on Living in a Sustainable World, Design in the Age of Experience today featured another pivotal focus: Moving in a Sustainable World – an integral part of the event’s overall theme: Design for Life.

Moving in a Sustainable World

Dassault Systèmes was honored by the presence of passionate and creative designers spelling out how they are rethinking mobility with a clear-cut focus on design and sustainability. This second day was dominated by three significant sessions covering the themes of Design Revolution, Design Empowerment and Urban Mobility.

Design Revolution

Design Revolution got off to a high-spirited start as design-lovers assembled in the morning on Via Tortona. Kicking the session off, Renault’s Senior Vice President, Corporate Design, Laurens Van Den Acker made it clear that the future evolution of transportation and mobility is driven by the convergence of a series of industry-changing forces. He demonstrated the “Renault Design Thinking Process” developed to address these challenges.

In the same fashion, BMW Group’s Daniela Bohlinger – an advocate of EcoDesign – is tackling the global stakes in the automotive industry by “thinking in sustainable terms.” Bohlinger also added that “it does not limit design, it actually opens up a new world of possibilities.”

Design Empowerment

CATIA CEO Philippe Laufer opened the Design Empowerment session with a bang, sharing Dassault Systèmes’ R&D vision.  He talked about how design has not always played a key role in the transportation and mobility industry; it has been focused mainly on basic functionalities of the product. Michel Serafin, COO and co-founder of NEWRON MOTORS, a high-end motorcycle brand, confessed that engineers today “agree that they need to review their work processes and think outside of the box by embracing design from the beginning.”

Moving to the Rail industry, Alstom  – a world leader in transportation –  is equally “responding to the increasing challenges presented by smarter mobility.” The French giant has recently started to integrate design in its processes. Luigi Lugaro, Alstom’s PLM Senior Project Manager, officially announced a partnership with Dassault Systèmes to conceive the “first ever train configurator to be used at an industrial level in the railway sector.”  An exciting adventure for both partners in bringing the digital technology closer to the final user!

Urban Mobility

User-centric approaches were at the heart of the Urban Mobility session. Urbanization is one of the major challenges facing our world today. Design and cutting edge technology must come together to not just produce captivating work but to solve problems linked to urbanization and address new customer expectations.

Carlo Ratti from MIT, a celebrity-designer here in Italy, acclaimed by the audience at SuperStudio Piu, shared that he enjoys “merging design with cutting-edge digital technologies” so as to contribute to the creation of architecture “that senses and responds.” Ratti is currently involved in a variety of global projects, embracing every scale of intervention – from furniture to urban planning. If you are in Milan, swing by the Garden Pavilion on Piazza del Duomo to contemplate his work, created especially for Design Week!

Xavier Allard asserted the notion of “meeting new customer expectations by working on the design right from the beginning of the project.”  Alstom’s Design & Styling VP talked about how they are transforming the Experience of Train Transportation. He went on to share the approach of “involving the customer into the design process to design smarter infrastructures in trains and rethink the train travel experience.”

It was exciting to conclude the Urban Mobility session by taking a trip into the future with Transpod Hyperloop, one of the few companies taking up the call to test hyperloop technology. CEO Sebastien Gendron presented the technology revolutionizing the mobility landscape, conceived by Elon Musk. While still in the testing phase, his vision is to “develop the next generation of affordable and sustainable ultra high-speed transportation for a better connected and fossil fuel-free society.”

Moving in a Sustainable World ended with Anne Asensio and Wesley Goatley. Asensio, Head of Design at Dassault Systèmes, expressed herself on Design Futuring, whereas Wesley Goatley presented Atmospheric Elusive Disturbances. His collaboration with Superflux reflects on “how we can foster new, embodied understandings of the world around us, and the data created from it, through critical art and design practices.”

It was certainly another enlightening day at Design Week in Milan!

As we mentioned in yesterday’s recap post, Dassault Systèmes’ Design in the Age of Experience event during Milan Design Week 2018 is putting a spotlight on what it means to Design for Life, exploring a different theme each day including Living, Moving, Consuming, Dwelling and Educating in a sustainable world.

Up tomorrow: Consuming in a Sustainable World.  The agenda will explore the question: can we change how we consume by co-creation and customization to make it more meaningful and sustainable? Join the discussion at SuperStudio Piu or visit us here  tomorrow for an update!

Asha Sumputh is an Entrepreneur, TV Journalist and Emcee with a background in Economics and Finance. Graduated from both Cambridge University and Sorbonne University, she started her career as a TV journalist on a French news channel.  @AshaSumputh