Design-entrepreneurship in the post-recession economy: Parsons ELab, a Design School Incubator

Abstract

Los procesos emergentes en la enseñanza y la práctica del diseño Año XVIII, Septiembre 2017, Buenos Aires, Argentina | 326 páginas descargar PDF ver índice de la publicación Ver todos los libros de la publicación compartir en Facebook Abstract: The "great recession" of 2008-09 in the U.S. was a watershed moment in the development of business practices that hold promise in driving the creation of a new generation of American companies and re-invigorating established businesses. These are i. the emergence of the sharing economy, ii. technological interconnectedness, iii. adoption of purpose-driven or cause-related value proposition(s) and iv. adaptability in the face of limited resources. This paper discusses the rise of design in the post-recession U.S. business landscape. We define attributes that designers share with entrepreneurs including adaptability, initiative, risk and failure-tolerance, ability to thinkand-work across disciplines, creativity and a problem-solving mindset. We describe these new roles and ways of working and discuss how they might be combined with intellectual capacities and resources available in higher education. Specifically, we present Parsons' Entrepreneurs Lab (ELab): a business incubator-design school hybrid that seeks to replicate the dynamic learning atmosphere of the post-recession American business landscape through a design-driven/socially-engaged networked model that addresses all four of the key dynamics driving start-up businesses in the post-recession environment. Keywords: post-recession business -academic design incubator -design-entrepreneur -sharing economy -lean strategynetworked economy. (*) Associate Professor of Design Strategies at Parsons School of Design (Associate Chair, Foundation, 2005-2008, Associate Director, Strategic Design and Management, 2016). Aaron is an artist, designer and educator with twenty years' full-time experience in the design education field, having previously taught full-time at threeDesign Strategies (SDS). She teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in marketing, portfolio design, integrative studio, management and strategic design. Her research interests include the convergence of innovation, entrepreneurship, product design and sustainable business models. Currently she is involved in projects focusing on the impact design thinking has on entrepreneurship, technology and the new economy will have on academia and traditional business models, the relationship between startup culture and resilience thinking and the fusion of design thinking with business rationale.(*3) Samar is a senior experience strategist at Wolff Olins with an extensive background in healthcare and pharmaceuticals. She is also an alumni of Parsons The School of Design where she was the operations and research lead at Parsons Entrepreneurial Lab. Samar has always been very involved in the innovation space .Very early on, she reinvented the chemotherapy drug preparation process as part her doctorate work and launched an in house dermatological line in Tunisia. Samar co...