A Empirical Study of Industrial Design Contribution to Advances in Timber Materials Science

Abstract

Materials Science typically engages research expertise from fields such as engineering, chemistry and physics. This paper will examine how industrial design successfully contributed to timber materials science in the initial phases of basic research. Research from two PhD studies, completed in conjunction with the Australian Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) for Wood Innovations, will be used as case studies. These case studies discuss examples from research projects investigating new Microwave Modified Timber (MMT) materials development along with surface modified timber. Findings concur that industrial design research was beneficial to early scientific experiments.

Expanding industrial design’s contribution to manufacturing SME’s in Hong Kong by introducing a Balanced Scorecard for industrial design management

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