For the first time, the ME310 Sugar Global KickOff Week took place outside the North American university of Stanford and Porto Design Factory was the place chosen to host this great event dedicated to innovation. This was also the beginning of the post -graduation ME310 STANFORD - Product Innovation, a prestigious course at Stanford University, where a global network of designers, engineers and creatives are challenged by a spectrum of concrete problems. In the week of October 24th to 28th, 146 students were organized into teams to work on challenges launched by companies, national and international. These projects are designed for real companies, real projects, real designs. There are several disciplinary fields, academic competencies and interests converging towards innovation. And companies are attentive. This is the second year that Ana Silva, from the Innovation and Emerging Technologies Department of SONAE, has been present at this event. "In 2015 we launched two challenges, one for Worten and another for Berg Cycles, and this year we are going to launch two new challenges." And there were results. Berg's challenge to students at PDF and Swinburne University in Australia was to develop a functional prototype of a distinctively designed city bike in the 2017 pipeline. "Events and initiatives like these are important to those on the company side" because it objectively obliges the students" to innovate always thinking from the point of view of the consumer ", concluded Ana Silva. The week was filled with a variety of activities, from workshops and seminars to a PaperBike Race, the result of various prototypes created in design.
"We all share a passion for learning and innovation," said Rui Coutinho, coordinator of PDF. And Porto was the perfect place for a great KickOff.
