MA Design for Industry 5.0

Underpinning this industrial design course are principles of human-centred design, and by extension, multispecies design, combined with design-led social entrepreneurship, circular economy and open innovation. This is enabled by digital transformation along with fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0) technologies such as Artificial Intelligence and Machine to Machine communication. This course experiments in merging physical and digital space. It explores equitable futures for manufacturing through the creative and ethical application of data-driven machinery and intelligent software in dialogue with existing design and manufacturing processes.

The course title, MA Design for Industry 5.0, draws on  the EU’s concept of Industry 5.0 : [it] “provides a vision of industry that aims beyond efficiency and productivity as the sole goals and reinforces the role and the contribution of industry to society... while respecting planetary boundaries” (2021). The course prepares you to shape a planet-centric industry that reinforces its role and contributions to society.

Care for the individual, society and planet are embodied in teaching and learning and applied to design challenges. Considering the historic context of industrial design, where care has seldom been considered throughout the manufacturing chain, caring approaches and technological opportunity will allow us to disrupt and innovate manufacturing paradigms. The concept of ‘Matters of care' is therefore both subject and method on this course. Care is defined as an attentiveness and sensitivity to the impact and effect of the design intervention. The definition of ‘Matters of Care’ for this course is drawn from Maria Puig De La Bellacasa. She takes philosopher Tronto’s definition of care, which encompasses everything we do to ‘maintain, continue and repair our world’ to create an environment where we can all live well ‘in a complex, life sustaining web’ (2017:217). This is inflected with a multi-species approach, that sees care, and caring, as a disruptive force that can engender positive change.

We see the designer as a critical social actor who works and co-operates with others across disciplines to research, generate and develop new products, systems and services. We promote an interdisciplinary culture, one that brings together diverse interests in design and production to examine and articulate production in terms of its benefits to human and non-human stakeholders.

By engaging with new creative opportunities provided by decentralisation, automation and data exchange in manufacturing, MA Design for Industry 5.0 promotes the entrepreneurial use of intelligent, data-driven technologies applied with social purpose and ambition.

On this course, you will be defining a future for industry. You will generate and visualise new ways of collaborative working at the confluence of design, entrepreneurship, technology and manufacturing.