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Cradle to Cradle

CRADLE TO CRADLE^® IN DESIGN AND BUSINESS

Seminar: Cradle to Cradle^® in Design and Business

About: NEW MASTER SPECIALIZATION of Industrial Design Engineering track at University of Twente

When: Friday March 9^th 2012

Time: 9:00 – 17:00

Location: University of Twente, Enschede

Building: Spiegel 1, Building Spiegel (route)

Registration: Closed

Cooperation: Rotterdam School of Management (RSM) and

Hamburger Umweltinstitut e.V. (HUI)

Seminar fee: An indemnification of € 100 for the costs will be asked from profit organizations an indemnification of € 50 will be asked from non – academic participants. Students have free admission.

Cradle to Cradle^® is an important topic for many Dutch companies and more and more enterprises are adopting this concept and following its business approach.

Consequently Cradle to Cradle^® is a topic for education at all levels, especially at Universities. Since 2010 Prof. Dr. Michael Braungart has held the academic chair “Cradle to Cradle^® in Industrial Design Engineering” at University of Twente. It is funded by the C2C ExpoLab of the region Venlo and supported by EPEA GmbH.

At Erasmus University the academic chair “Cradle to Cradle^® for innovation and quality” was established in 2009 and is currently based at the Rotterdam School of Management. As of January 2011, Prof. Dr. Michael Braungart is a visiting professor of Building Design Technology at the Faculty of Architecture at TU Delft.

Design is often recognized as an artifact of business, but in effect it is a consequence of business. Ninety percent of a product’s consequence is determined in the first ten percent of the design process. Today, with our growing knowledge of the living earth, design can reflect a new spirit. In fact, when designers employ the intelligence of natural systems; the effectiveness of nutrient cycling, the abundance of the sun's energy; they can create products, industrial systems, buildings, even regional plans that allow nature and commerce to fruitfully co-exist.

The question is: What is the role of the design professional and what are the responsibilities of that role?

Cradle to Cradle^® offers practical steps on how to innovate within today's economic environment.

DESIGN AS THE FIRST SIGNAL OF HUMAN INTENTION

In the Cradle to Cradle^® master track of IDE at University of Twente, students learn to expand their interests and responsibility beyond just aesthetics and understand the business approach. They study how we can and need to put more quality criteria in the design at the beginning and understand the link between total quality and total beauty. Overall with the Cradle to Cradle^® concept there is an opportunity for designers to become pivotal players in the industrial transformation, adding immense strategic value through a comprehensive strategy around biological and technical nutrient flows.

Cradle to Cradle^® Design makes products that are economically successful, healthy for users, and supportive of the environment and next generations. Their innovative Design addresses not only appearance and functionality, but also the definition of their composition. This enables a new dimension of quality and security for these products and their material flow cycle. By integrating economic, social and environmental aspects, they are superior to currently available products.