WHAT IS DESIGN 21ST CENTURY?

What is Design 21st Century?

 

We are a not for profit charitable organisation dedicated

to the belief that Ireland can be a more prosperous,

innovative and happier country if we reawaken and tap

the spirit of creativity and imagination that runs deep in

our people and our history.

 

What is Design 21st Century?

 

We believe that the ‘big problems’ of the world, and

therefore Ireland, can be addressed in Ireland, if we

adopt new ways of thinking and collaboratively working

together.

 

What is Design 21st Century?

 

We believe that ‘design thinking’ is a big idea that fits

well with our natural capabilities and offers competitive

advantage as well as social cohesion. Design Thinking, is

a process for practical, creative resolution of challenges

that looks for an improved future outcome.

 

What is Design 21st Century?

 

We believe that Design Thinking can be taught as a set

of tools and competencies. Design Thinking offers new

and fast ways to innovate to solve social problems,

develop new products and services for business and

deliver effective public services.

 

What is Design 21st Century?

 

We see ourselves as ‘critical friends’ who inspire,

stimulate and enable projects in support of our beliefs by

working with local authorities, business development

agencies, public servants, academia and citizens to bring

about positive change through design thinking.

A QUICK HISTORY OF THE JOURNEY SO FAR….

It all started with a conversation in 2006…

Two people Jean Byrne and Jim Dunne shared a vision of a creative, innovative, happier and prosperous Ireland.

We shared a concern that although innovation and creativity was being talked about – not a lot was actually happening.

Developed a ‘thought paper’ and shared this with a 100 + people who agreed with our analysis.

Conversations continued in 2007…

We were struggling with the ‘levers’ to pull to get engagement and the change we desired.

We saw Massive Change in Chicago and encountered Bruce Mau and Vannesa Ahuactzin.

We were encouraged by some people to see our project as a campaign not an event – 5 years minimum.

We decided that Massive Change 2 was our ambition and Design Thinking was our ‘lever’.

We named our ambition and vision in 2008…

We became Design 21st Century, developed our vision and began to formalise our approach.

We persuaded Vannesa to join us and come to work with us in Ireland.

We found a small group of influential supporters and held an important Workshop in IMI.

We were invited into Creative Dublin Alliance by John Tierney, City Manager.

We made a big discovery in 2008…

We discovered we were having ‘great meetings’ but no change was happening.

We decided to take our own medicine and ‘run a project’ to prove concept, we had a few ideas we tested;-

• Ireland 100

• Learn Big

• Conversations with Citizens

• Dublin’s Identity

We decided to run Conversation with Citizens in Dublin and were about to launch in April 2008 when…….

We reframed our project and plan for 2009…

The IDEAS Campaign – Aileen O’Toole

In July 2009 we ran Wishes for Dublin..

1,500 Dubliners asked for their wishes…

Common threads uncovered…

Three World Café Workshops – Water, Waste, Community…

Multiple possible projects…

Reduced to five possibles…

Brought these to the City Manager for assessment…