Archive
Discover here some completed projects of the last 15 years.
Trans-regional project for innovation and promotion of design - II
The ambition of the "Transregional project for innovation and promotion of design-II" was to make this region a model for SMEs who want to become more competitive in new markets and want to achieve this goal by using design resources.
Our main challenges were:
- To emphasise the integration of design elements as a lever for value creation in companies, as design is too often reduced to an aesthetic element,
- To assist companies in the valorisation (ROI) of their investments in design,
- Promoting cross-border cooperation and meetings between companies (and researchers) and designers with a view to higher value creation,
- Develop and disseminate an effective guidance methodology based on shared resources, even though our design practices are different.
The TRIPOD II project aimed to provide a pertinent and efficient answer to the previously defined needs and to successfully address cross-border challenges. Therefore, it focused on the two essential parties of any design project:
- companies and start-ups, especially SMEs with medium to high growth potential
- the designers (freelancers or agencies) who with their expertise and know-how set up and implement innovative design projects.
Within this project, Designregio Kortrijk tackled locations in public space in an original way in cooperation with companies and designers according to the 5x5-principe and this within the broad region of Kortrijk.
This project was carried out in cooperation with cross-border partners in order to optimise the exchange of expertise and know-how.
Partners: Lille Design (FR, lead partner), Aditec Pas-de-Calais (FR), CCI Grand Lille (FR), Ruches d'entreprises Nord de France (FR), Designregion Kortrijk (VL), Flanders Inshape (VL), Design Innovation (WA), Progress/Maison du Design (WA), IDETA (WA), Héracles (WA), Wallonie Design (WA)
Associated partners: Université de Mons (WA), Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Douai - Incubateur APUI (FR).
The project started on 1 October 2016 and ran until 30/09/2020.
The management of these activities took place in regular consultation with the operators of other projects within the GoToS3 portfolio.
This project was realised "Avec le soutien du Fonds européen de développement régional - With the support of the European Regional Development Fund" - Interreg V France-Wallonie-Vlaanderen.
DESIGN IN
DESIGN'IN aimed to strengthen and stimulate the development of businesses in the region's town and community centres, using design methods, in a cross-border operation in 4 regions: Kortrijk, Mons, Tournai and Lille.
Duration: 01/01/2019-31/12/2022
Partners:
Associated partners:
- Stad Kortrijk
- LEIEDAL
- Tournai Centre-Ville
- Gestion Centre Ville Mons
- Comité d'organisation Lille Métropole 2020, Capitale Mondiale du Design
AVEC LE SOUTIEN DU FONDS EUROPÉEN DE DÉVELOPPEMENT RÉGIONAL -
WITH THE SUPPORT OF THE EUROPEAN REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT FUND
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Design Thinking for Business Model Innovation helped SMEs develop innovative business models through design thinking community events, guidance in applying design thinking methodologies and dissemination of design thinking tools.
Activities included:
Awareness raising through experience sessions and showcases
Guidance through transformation workshops
Dissemination through design thinking publications
Duration: 01/02/2019-31/01/2021
Total budget: €675,000
ERDF support granted: €270,000 (40%)
C2L3PLAY
C2L3Play (Cross Border Living Labs) was THE living lab in the cross-border region of Hauts-de-France/Wallonia/Flanders for the sector of "Industries Culturelles et Créatives" (CCI). The aim was to economically "boost" the CCI sector by offering product and/or market expertise through prototypes or technological building blocks that could be valorised by third companies/industries.
To achieve this objective, the partners of the Cross Border Living Lab supported selected projects through a dynamic of complementary expertise, which contributed to value creation in the interregional area. The project partners of the three cross-border regions—Design Regio (Kortrijk), Leiedal (Kortrijk), Le Fresnoy (Tourcoing), Louvre Lens Vallée (Lens), Transcultures (Charleroi), TWIST (Liège), UMONS - Institut Numédiart (Mons) - project leader, UPHF - Université Polytechnique des Hauts-de-France (Valenciennes)—were involved in the project. Other associated partners also involved in the project included Mundaneum (Mons), SCV (Villeneuve d'Ascq), Pictanovo (Tourcoing), Les Rencontres Audiovisuelles (Lille), Lille Design (Tourcoing), le Phénix (Valenciennes), the Communauté d'Agglomération de la Porte du Hainaut (Valenciennes), and the Université de Lille (Villeneuve d'Ascq). Since the end of 2016, the project supported 15 initiators (individuals, entrepreneurs, startups) active in the cultural and creative industries, a sector with great potential for the economic development of the cross-border area. On a macro level, the objective of the project was to establish a cross-border network based on existing physical structures (project partners) working in a "living lab" dynamic, around the theme of cultural and creative industries. Themes related to cultural and creative industries were elaborated to focus the projects on innovative solutions that could respond to entrepreneurial or "research" issues. The 9 partners launched calls for projects three times a year in the cross-border area to reach entrepreneurs, artists/creatives, and individuals looking for professional and multidisciplinary support to successfully implement their projects. The support of the C2L3Play project took place before the development of a business (end goal: a natural prototype for the initiator or a technological building block to be developed).
C2L3Play support lasted between 4 and 8 months and was based on the Design Thinking / Double Diamond approach (new in 2019). This made it possible to create new coaching and ideation initiatives thanks to the technical-creative consortium that was set up. The partners' resources and equipment were put at the disposal of the initiators: experts (engineers, researchers, business or digital art experts, designers, fab managers, design thinkers), cutting-edge technologies, access to a fab lab, and exceptional infrastructures... with the sole aim of taking the initiators to the prototyping and maturation of their project.
Researchers, citizens, creatives, entrepreneurs: all these actors worked together to enable innovation, artistic or entrepreneurial creation, in service of the supported projects.
The project also offered "Flash WorkOuts," which allowed projects to be accelerated over approximately 10 days, thanks to the intensive work of engineers, researchers, experts, developers, and creative people. These workshops were used alternately in each of the project regions.
C2L3PLAY was an Interreg cross-border cooperation project between France-Wallonia-Flanders, co-financed by the European Union West Flanders, the Walloon Region, and the Haut-de-France region.
COM³ in the Leiedal region: IMAGINEERING OF DATA
A region in digital transition.
Besides the well-known economic challenges such as continuous growth, competitiveness, improving cost-efficiency and on top of that the challenges of Covid-19, SMEs were also facing social challenges in the field of climate mitigation and adaptation, sharing and circular economy, dealing creatively with scarce raw materials, bottom-up participation,... Many of the solutions to these challenges can be found in data, through data collection in a data warehouse, data processing and data analysis by applying algorithms to the data, etc. Can you hear the thunder in Cologne now, or have you already taken steps to start working with your own data? Leiedal offered SMEs the chance to embark on a free one-year journey guided by experts who think design and data.
With the COM³ project "Imagineering of data", Intercommunale Leiedal, in collaboration with Designregio Kortrijk, wanted to seize the spearheads of the proposed policy 20-25 and get to work with companies that wanted to create added value for their business with data. Their own data, enriched with open data or available data from other interested companies in order to develop an innovative, socially and economically responsible product, service or process, the existence or even possibility of which they had not yet dreamed of.
By bringing together SMEs from the region, municipalities and relevant organisations in a process of co-creation guided by a qualified designer, we wanted to create a unique valuable community. By means of 8 workshops and the involvement of qualitative data experts, the participating companies faced a common challenge over a period of 2 years: extracting added value from the available data. Through a qualitative, guided design process - for which our region is renowned - we wanted to bring the wildest, most progressive, imaginative combinations and ideas into reality.
A key element of this pilot was the development of an open data platform that integrated relevant regional, geographical and statistical information. This 'data-as-a-service' platform had various functionalities such as data capture, data transformation, data publication, data visualisation and data analysis. To support potential users of the data platform from all possible sectors, a coaching programme was developed. Regional expert coaches were responsible for raising awareness and building the competences of local municipalities and companies to effectively use the data for the development of innovative products and services.
POP-IN STORE
Under the umbrella of the INTERREG project DESIGN IN, Kortrijk, Lille, Mons and Tournai decided to join forces with the common goal of supporting the cross-border development of the DESIGN-CREATION sector.
Through the POP-IN STORE project, we wanted to offer designers temporary sales outlets in Mons, Tournai, Kortrijk and the Lille Metropole so that they could test the market on the other side of the border. These sales points could take the form of a stand at a design market, a pop-up shop or, a corner shop: part of an existing shop made available to a designer.
Makers
Makers was a magazine for entrepreneurs who wanted a taste of creativity. It gave a platform to entrepreneurs, products and services from the region in the context of product development, creativity and innovation. The objective was to inform regional entrepreneurs about the added value that product development can offer.
With interesting cases telling the story of regional companies that apply product development, we wanted to sensitise and stimulate the readers of Ondernemers van Voka-West-Vlaanderen to implement creative design. Through a mix of interviews, portraits and stories from companies, the reader was informed in a very accessible way about the world of product development. Both short articles and extensive case studies helped to create an image for the reader. Stylish photos, graphs and other nice visual material also contributed to this.
In Makers, it also became clear how organisations such as Designregio Kortrijk, Voka and other parties could help and support this implementation. In other words, this hands-on section was not only for the design connoisseur but also for the entire readership of Ondernemers.
Makers was published twice a year as a supplement to the magazine Ondernemers (Entrepreneurs) of Voka West-Vlaanderen.
SPURT – Young entrepreneurs in the starting blocks
In 2016, the city of Kortrijk launched SPEK, a platform to stimulate entrepreneurship among students. The city received support for this from the European Regional Cooperation Fund.
That project is now being expanded and also given a new name: SPURT.
In 2019, SPEK 2 SPURT - Young Entrepreneurs in the Start Blocks was launched to help spread the word about entrepreneurship among young people in the Kortrijk region. The project will be extended to all higher education institutions in Kortrijk. All players have joined forces to turn the brain drain into a brain gain and to stimulate new forms of entrepreneurship within one strategy.
Together with the Hangar K-based design & innovation group Leap Forward, the focus of the project was determined in collaboration with all stakeholders and the target group, and guidelines were set out for the new branding.
Follow-up to SPEK
SPURT is the sequel to SPEK which ran from September 2016 to August 2018. Student Platform Entrepreneurship Kortrijk laid the foundation for a collaboration between the colleges VIVES and Howest and the universities of Ghent and Kortrijk and a number of youth organisations. The intention was to stimulate entrepreneurship in the courses of the university colleges. In concrete terms, the colleges and universities organise events and accompanying workshops for students interested in entrepreneurship.
Ecosystem shifts up a gear
"With SPURT, we are now shifting up a gear. The project is being extended to all higher education institutions in Kortrijk. This is a new and very important step," says Kelly Detavernier, alderman for education. "In addition, there will be a network of entrepreneurial coaches in all courses who will actively guide student entrepreneurs. All relevant players are joining forces to present one joint, complementary and innovative annual plan, via a visual digital platform."
The City of Kortrijk undertook this project together with the educational institutions Howest, VIVES, UGent Campus Kortrijk and KU Leuven Campus Kulak Kortrijk. They joined forces with Designregio Kortrijk, the youth radio station Quindo, but also worked closely with VOKA, Vlaio, Vlajo, Unizo, TUA West and an advisory group of young entrepreneurs.
682,642 euros were made available for this project, of which 44,877 euros were paid by the city. Howest and VIVES contributed € 48,720, UGent Campus Kortrijk € 20,732 and KU Leuven Campus Kulak Kortrijk € 19,397. The city could count on financial support from Europe, the Flemish Minister of Economy, Hermes and the Province of West Flanders.
ERDF Flanders contributed € 273,056.50 in financial support, the Flemish Minister for Economy (Hermes Fund) € 204,792.50 and the Province of West Flanders € 22,527.
Kortrijk Creates
Kortrijk Creëert wanted to make the image of Kortrijk as a design region more visible, both to inhabitants and to visitors. 15 entrepreneurs and 3 designers made Kortrijk even more of a city of creation and innovation.
Make Kortrijk a city full of creation and innovative products
A project for all inhabitants, shopkeepers, hospitality managers, students, entrepreneurs, designers, visitors, ... who want to make Kortrijk (even more) the city of creation and innovation.
Of course we are a region of makers and doers, but do you see this sufficiently in our city? With "Kortrijk Creëert" we want to highlight our identity even more in the cityscape.
How do we go about it?
STEP1: BRAINSTORMING
In a first phase, we brainstorm for ideas: how and where can we make it more clear that Kortrijk is the city of creation and innovation?
STEP2: CREATING
From the brainstorming we then choose 3 ideas that will help to really put Kortrijk on the map as a creative manufacturing city.
From December 2014 to February 2016, we will work out the 3 ideas in concrete terms, together with regional companies and designers.
Of course Kortrijk is a region of makers and doers, but do you see and experience that in the city? 16 companies, 2 colleges and 3 design bureaus accepted an invitation from the city of Kortrijk, Designregio Kortrijk andVoka - Chamber of Commerce West-Vlaanderen to co-create in the project 'Kortrijk Creëert'. Mission and goal: to make Kortrijk even more of a city of innovation and creation.
There were 3 project lines:
1 'Create a wow-feeling for those who enter the city'.
2 'Create a mobile unit that gives a temporary function to an undeveloped area.
3 'Create an experience that reflects the DNA of the region.'
In January 2015, the monthly co-creation sessions started. The many ideas were concretised into 3 projects. 10 months later, the co-creators are proud to present their prototypes to the general public during Design Week. At the same time, they are collecting feedback.
Co-creators: De Eenhoorn Wielsbeke, FFF Design Kortrijk, Howest Kortrijk, Outdoor Wood Concepts Avelgem, Q-Lite Kortrijk, Verilin Kortrijk, A3 Ontwerpbureau Kortrijk, Allaert Aluminium Harelbeke, Beltrami Harelbeke, Group De Keyzer Menen, Viva Sara Kortrijk, Unilin Panels Izegem, Vives Kortrijk, Abka (Ergodome) Kortrijk, Fotorama Wevelgem, Het Salon by Marcel Kint Kortrijk, Monavisa Roeselare and Saey Home & Garden Kortrijk.
Coordinating design agencies: Pilipili Productontwerp Kortrijk, TEN Group Kortrijk and CREAX Kortrijk With thanks to: Verlimas Wevelgem, Clem Kortrijk, Halte R Kortrijk and Multiprox Aalst
STEP3: SHOWTIME!
From March 2016, the final results of our brainstorming and creation exercises will be actively visible in the cityscape.
This project was part of "TAK27", a collaboration between the cities of Tienen, Aalst and Kortrijk with the aim of raising their profile, respectively as 'city innovating in the food of tomorrow', 'hotspot for care' and 'city of creation and innovation'. In the three cities, three opportunities were worked out by means of three design techniques. The aim of the project was to create a stronger image. The project focused strongly on cooperation with companies. The project was supported by the Enterprise Agency.
In Kortrijk, on the initiative of the city council, many actions have already been taken to put Kortrijk on the map as a 'manufacturing' city and a city of innovation and creation. Examples are the Biennale Interieur, the Hogeschool West-Vlaanderen and the UGent Campus Kortrijk with its bachelor and master programmes in industrial design, the Week of Design, the realisation of meaningful public buildings and high-quality public spaces. Despite the clearly present DNA and the efforts of the city, it remains difficult to make this identity clearly visible in the cityscape. The TAK27 project offers the city a unique opportunity, together with businesses and the population, to profile itself as a city of innovation and creation through very concrete and visible actions.
The results of the project were presented to the public for the first time at INTERIEUR 2016 with the concept UNDER THE BRIDGE.
The monumental K is an eye-catcher in the city. On the occasion of Interieur 2016, the sculpture was given a sensational makeover with prints by the internationally renowned West Flemish illustrator Carll Cneut. The illustrations are from two picture books published by publishing house De Eenhoorn from Wielsbeke.
After Interieur, the K-TOTEM will get a permanent place in the city. The covering of the sculpture will change and will each time be the result of a collaboration between a company and a designer.
50 plastic building block modules are available to the city services and can be used as benches, flower boxes, fences. The modules are also adaptable on their own. For example, they can be filled with water or lighting can be placed in them. In this way, an area is transformed in no time into a playground, a football pitch, a kiosk, ... or, as in the period of Interieur, into a trendy pop-up bar. The building blocks are quick to assemble, easy to maintain and 100% recyclable.
Let the inhabitants themselves decide what is worth discovering, visiting, experiencing,... in Kortrijk.
Since September, Kortrijk residents have been able to give their tips for visiting and staying in Kortrijk via a survey in the city newspaper. The must sees and hotspots will be visible on a city map on www.kortrijk.be/fijnsteplekje.
