Design from idea to market

Design from ideas to market is a project of the Politecnico di Milano – Department of Design – Polifactory in collaboration with Fondazione Politecnico, Polihub and three Lombardy SMES: Manerba Spa, Lux Solar and Mobilitaly Brianza Scrl. The project has been funded through the Creativity Manifesto: events and places for fashion and design innovation. The development of the project took place through the technological enhancement of Polifactory and the organization of the Interactive Furniture hackathon. The initiative has demonstrated the potential of Polifactory in developing new collaborative processes between universities and Lombardy enterprises and designers.

The technological enhancement of Polifactory was completed in February 2016 through the purchase of machines and tools for digital fabrication, making and physical computing. The hackathon was held at the makerspace from 23rd to 25th September 2015. During the 3 days of experimentation, 15 designers and makers (under 35) and three Lombardy companies (wood-furniture and lighting sectors) cooperated to materialize new products that explore the relation between design and digital technologies, in the land of interactive furniture. Each company has made available its own product that has been hacked by a group of designers. Hence three prototypes were born. They have been selected and presented to the  European Maker Faire 2015 edition in Rome. These projects integrate sensor systems and  hardware-software solutions transforming common furnishing elements in smart things.

Joey ( Lux Solar lamp hacking ) was born from the experimentation with new interactivity modes for outdoor lighting appliances (public and private) making them configurable and customizable according to the place characteristics, to weather variability and the activities of persons arriving; with the aim of creating inspiring luminous landscapes. The prototype has a support with infrared ray sensor, the original hacked lamp and an appropriately shaped dome, hosting the electronics.

Trick_Eco ( Manerba SpA desk hacking) The prototype explores the theme of workstations shared use, a phenomenon seen in both large multinational enterprises and in coworking spaces.
The result is a table-system composed of  analog and digital modules which have different functions (e.g. lockers, charging modules for technological device, calendar modules, …) The idea is that the modules are also customizable or producible on user-specific, workspace-specific demand.

Master UP 2.0 (Mobilitaly Master up sofa hacking) is the prototype of a product-service system which reconsiders the conception of the padding, transforming it in the physical location containing various incorporated technologies, offering  new and customized use experiences inside your living room. The prototype proposes two interactive cushions: one is dedicated to listening to music with speakers, and connected to an interactive cube that allows you to manage the music with external devices, while the other is a lighting cuscion that reacts to environmental input.