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Join the sixth edition of the Distributed Design Awards!
The Distributed Design Awards celebrate the creative, mind-shifting and responsible design responses to the post-industrial design paradigm. We recognize multidisciplinary, innovative and sustainable designs from Europe’s makers, designers and creatives.
We’re looking for design projects that take the following into account:
? Distributed Design principles
Open source and transparency, allows for adaptation and/or customization.
? Circular economy principles
Local production, smart manufacturing, responsible materials, convivial tool making, product life cycle and afterlife.
? Social challenges and human wellbeing
Both of the end-user and potential co-producers are included in co-creation or design (socioeconomic business models, regenerative systems, etc.)
APPLICATIONS NOW OPEN
WHO IS IT FOR?
This award is open to anyone working in the creative disciplines dealing with Design and Making: creative players, makers, designers, artists, architects, scientists, students and others.
We promote diversity, equity and inclusion. Inviting everyone, with Europe based projects, independent of their origin, ethnicity, creed, culture, gender identification or religious background to join!
A broad definition of ‘emerging creatives’ is adopted to include designers and makers who apply the Distributed Design concept to diverse applications, this could include platforms, deployments or products for example. This call is open to those of any background or experience, independent of present academic involvement.
? Applications Process
Open for Entries ? May 25th
Submissions Deadline ? Sunday, July 16th
?? Entry Guide & Rules
Before submitting your project, please read the detailed application guidelines:
AWARDS CATEGORIES
Project Excellence Award
This presentation will tackle all four core principles of the distributed design model: Open, Collaborative, Regenerative, Ecosystemic.
? The winner will be awarded 2.000€ in funding to further develop their project.
Future Thinking
Design for a better future, considering social and cultural challenges and human wellbeing.
? The winner will be awarded an immersive mentorship session with Futurity Systems to learn tools, frameworks, and intelligence for a successful futuring practice.
Responsible Design
Design that engages circular design principles such as responsible materials. It draws on the capacity of local materials and/or knowledge, including craft or specialist processes.
? The winner will be awarded an online tailored mentoring session with Materiom.
Adaptable & Open Design
Design that is made open source, is transparent and/or allows for adaptation and/or customisation.
? The winner will be awarded mentorship sessions with Batch.Works who will pair them with a member of the staff that has the most relevant skills to help them with their journey into the world of Distributed Design.
People’s Choice
Design recognised by people and the Distributed Design network online/ the most voted entry.
? The People’s Choice winner will be awarded a Dutch Design Week 2024 Pro Ticket including access to all locations and exclusive extras.
THE JURY
This year’s jury is made up of international distributed design experts on each assessing round, representing 17 high-profile cultural and design institutions in total. These are Pakhuis de Zwijger, P2P Lab, Re:Publica, Happy Lab Vienna, Danish Design Centre, Knowledge Center Vestmannaeyjar, Maker, Espacio Open, Polifactory, Politecnico Milano, Ars Longa – Fab City Store, Fab Lab Budapest, Open Dot, Politécnico de Lisboa, MAO, Fab City Foundation, Global Innovation Gathering and Design & Crafts Council Ireland.
First Round Jury
Second Round Jury
Nadya Peek
HCDE
Guillaume Charny-Brunet
SPACE10
Liza Chong
The Index Project
Daniel Charny
Forth
Primavera De Filippi
Berkman Klein Center, Harvard
Indy Johar
Dark
Matter Labs
Kate Armstrong
Strategic advisor for the Distributed Design Platform
AN INITIATIVE OF
The initiative is organized by Distributed Design, a project co-funded by the European Union. It fosters the role of emerging Makers and Designers as part of our new digitized world. It celebrates, supports and inspires these professionals from across Europe and provides opportunities to support the mobility and circulation of their work to connect them with new, digital markets.
SUPPORTED BY
Fab Lab Barcelona is the research and innovation centre, situated inside the Institute of Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC). It focuses mainly on Research, Education, and Services, pushing the boundaries of what Fab Labs can be and do in neighbourhoods, cities, and regions. It’s also the headquarters of the Global Coordination of the Fab Academy program and leads the Fab City Project, an initiative that aims to develop a new model for locally productive and globally connected self sufficient-cities.
The Distributed Design Platform is led by Fab Lab Barcelona at IAAC.
Batch.Works is a Circular Manufacturing company. Its mission is to change the way things are made, creating practical and viable circular manufacturing practices through smart technology and sustainable methods. Batch.Works’ vision is to be the leading supplier of sustainable production and manufacturing capabilities to brands and designers around the world.
Futurity Systems is a future-focused design and deeptech firm using data science and artificial intelligence to shape the future. Its unique approach combines scientific rigor with an imaginative design, enabling organizations to navigate uncertainties and build better futures at scale.
In just two years, Futurity Systems has won numerous awards, including the Innovation by Design Award 2022 – Experimental, Gold Lovie Award – Weird and Experimental, Design Intelligence Award, Celo Community Award, and more. CEO Cecilia Tham has also been recognized with the AWS Global Disruptor Award and the UN Women Entrepreneur Day Pioneer Award.
Materiom is an innovation platform specialising in regenerative materials R&D. It provides open data and AI software to help scientists, producers, and brands design, make, and use materials that have a net-positive impact on the planet.