As applied design researchers we are sensemakers: we are digesting society’s complexity and set out to improve it in meaningful ways. With our practices, we aspire to be catalysts for societal transformation. We apply our imaginative abilities to come up with alternatives for the status quo and we materialise …

Applied design research thrives in and even flourishes in complexity. It is more than just a methodology, a lens or a problem-solving approach—it is a transformative practice that shapes, nourishes and intertwines technology, societal structures, and professional knowledge ecosystems. Rather than avoiding …

In this co-design project, we wanted to better understand how leverage point theory could be applied to the social design field. We also wanted to develop an alternative perspective on and language for the different systemic levels design needs to tackle to contribute to societal impact and long-term …

Two years ago, in an economically underprivileged neighbourhood, designers and researchers collaborated with residents to investigate how local community challenges could be supported by initially hypothetical autonomous urban robots that later became known as “hoodbots” (Jaskiewicz & Smit, 2024). The …

Collaboration in experimental learning, innovation, and transition environments such as Living Labs can be complicated to carry out in practice. Designers and design researchers are often involved in these processes based on their intrinsic emphasis on transformation of the status quo towards new ways …

Emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and augmented/virtual reality come with many ethical and societal questions. In order to develop applications based on these technologies responsibly, businesses, governments and knowledge institutions are increasingly working together, and sometimes …

Living Labs are ‘open innovation ecosystems’, offering unique opportunities for conducting scientific experiments ‘in the wild’. Yet, Living Labs also support the generation of other, informal, types of knowledge: often tacit and difficult to capture and share, acquired outside of rigorous academic research …

Due to their unique mindset and skills, designers are particularly apt to facilitate transformation processes in Living Labs, especially those that have social innovation as a goal. However, existing literature geared to the practice field runs short when designers interested in taking on such facilitation …

Today’s applied design researchers are where the action is. They have always operated as a catalyst of change: propelling and steering design and society into brighter futures. But now, more than ever, design researchers teamup with a broad range of stakeholders to get things done. They surround themselves …

Municipalities collaborate with citizens to find locally adapted ways to deal with the energy transition. Industry clusters work together with regional governments and knowledge institutions to develop and test new sustainable materials. Universities co-create with students and industry to find a more …