Date

02 December 2022

In this hackathon, called "IED4NEB", participants have applied Design Thinking and Sustainability tools for problem solving, and have reflected on NEB's values of beauty and togetherness.

On Thursday, December 1, the Istituto Europeo di Design in Madrid experienced a day of meeting and work promoted by the New European Bauhaus (NEB), a creative space created by the European Commission which vocation is to build bridges between science, technology, art and culture.

The NEB seeks to be an invitation to address complex social projects taking advantage of green and digital challenges from the prism of interdisciplinarity and co-creation for designing. In accordance with this vision, the IED stands as a more than adequate institution to implement this vision of new ways of thinking and working, given the diversity of the thematic areas on which it trains there, the diversity of its students and with venues as spaces designed precisely for the exchange and dialogue of people from different disciplines. This is in addition to its European and international vocation, with offices in three countries and two continents.

This hackathon has been named "IED4NEB". The three guidelines of the activities that have been developed have been beauty, union and sustainability; in the words of NEB, "three strongly interconnected drivers in a circularity of cross-references, which unite and integrate".

Thus, part of this hackathon was based on Design Thinking and Sustainability tools. Guidelines and methodologies through which they sought to work creatively to find innovative solutions to complex problems and assumptions taken from reality that were setting out. The objective was to help students, individually and collaboratively, to deepen their knowledge of the aforementioned tools and to develop skills applicable in day-to-day life for future creative projects focused on sustainable solutions.

In this session, the concepts and considerations revolving around the idea of "Beauty" were also rethought from various points of view, while reflecting on the New European Bauhaus values of beauty and togetherness. Participants were asked to explore multi and interdisciplinary approaches, and to delve into the concepts of beauty and aesthetics in relation to diversity and cohesion, according to the priorities of Generation Z in order to, from there, work on values and thematic groups that will become the common thread of future IED4NEB activities.
 
The IED's commitment within this ambitious project is to become a knowledge platform and apply an approach with a perspective of innovation in creative economies through the training it provides in its centers. All this in tune with NEB's themes and priorities for action, sharing values, methodologies and tools. A vision that NEB wants the professionals of the present and the future to apply from the Euro-Mediterranean strategic space in which we are framed to the system of international relations.

This hackathon is part of an inter-group activity as a result of the partnership of the Istituto Europeo di Design with New European Bauhaus. Each of these activities is held independently at each location. In each of them the format is the same: 2 alumni of that school are in charge of mentoring, and 10 students from that location participate: 2 from each thematic area and 2 from the master's degree.
 
The mentors of this day have been Diego Lara, Graphic Design Alumni and professor of Fundamentals of Stamping and Printing at the School of Visual IED Madrid, and Fernando Montiel, Alumni of the Master of Design and Innovation. The work has been developed in teams and using fully digital work tools. The hackathon, which lasted from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., took place in the events and exhibition hall of the Altamira headquarters. In addition, the progress and conclusions reached were shared with the different IED schools that are also part of this project.

An activity that have served to work on critical and systemic thinking, teamwork and co-design and to promote analytical and communicative skills and abilities. A great working session and a unique experience in which the knowledge that has been shared will help the people who have participated to grow and to know how to face new challenges.

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