On 8 July, second-year UT students of the Industrial Design Engineering programme pitch their new products in front of a jury of potential investors. During the Virtual Product Development project, design teams developed their own product without an immediate client. The students conclude the project with a kind of Kickstarter campaign in which investors have to be persuaded to invest in the product.
"As a designer you can create a truly great product, but if it's much too expensive and no one buys it, you're not getting very far," explains Industrial Design teacher Roy Damgrave. The students were told to develop a product-service combination. This means that a physical product that can be used in the public space has to be combined with a digital service. "We see a wide variety of products and services," says Damgrave. "For example, products for shared payments of bills in restaurants, collective maintenance of public greenery, or a system for car rental. The students are very creative and realistic, but they need a bit more than that."
T-shaped professionals
The second-year students are given a lot of freedom in this module and within the design team (six students) can select from several 'tools'. They're working on website development, 3D visualization, virtual reality, service management and journalism. Damgrave: "T-shaped professionals have the future and that's how we want to educate the students. A varied set of skills, strategic collaboration and entrepreneurship are crucial. These dynamics are all part of this education module."
In the assessment of their project the students are partly judged on their pitch to the investors. "Technically speaking they are a design agency without a client and they have to try and get venture capitalists, investors and entrepreneurs with funds interested in their product," Damgrave explains. "The teams have to know exactly how much time, money and (human) resources are required, what the return on investment is and what the risks are. The students have to show how the service behind their products has to be managed and what's expected of the investor in this. The entire company vision and business model has to be in line with the product."
Jury of 'investors'
The students pitch their products to the 'investors' on 8 July (11:00 - 13:00) in the Amphitheatre of the Vrijhof building at the UT campus. The jury consists of UT President of the Board Victor van der Chijs, CTW Dean Geert Dewulf, Bas van den Berg (manager Rabobank Enschede-Haaksbergen) and Henk Herkink (entrepreneur advisor Chamber of Commerce).
There are a total of 13 project groups, who will first assess each other. The top 4 is allowed to pitch their project to the jury. Damgrave: "In addition, for the final assessment we don't want lengthy reports but a digital explanation, such as a Kickstarter campaign or YouTube channel.
