How can design create conditions for people to act sustainably in their daily lives and at work? Using design methodology inspired by psychology and sociology, we explore people's behaviours, everyday activities and social practices and develop design solutions that enable ecological and social sustainability.
Purpose/Benefit:How we live our lives, both privately and at work, has a major impact on both the planet and other people. It is therefore important to create preconditions for a sustainable everyday life. In recent years, designers have started to use models and methods from psychology and sociology to create designs that enable sustainability. Three different perspectives for understanding and designing for sustainability in everyday life are usually highlighted:
With this service, we offer expert support and training to help you and your organisation understand, and create conditions for, a sustainable everyday with behavioural design, activity-centred transformation or practice-oriented design. As all three perspectives have different strengths in different contexts, we also help you understand which perspective is best suited to your organisation.
Method (what/which methods are used to perform the service):If you need help with practical work to enable sustainability, we can support you in ongoing development work and in design processes, or by organising design sprints. We use a design process that is divided into four main steps: concretising the challenge, exploring the challenge, creating design concept and evaluating design concept. In consultation, we decide whether you want help with all or part of the process. In addition, we help you choose the appropriate perspective for your challenge, for the type of solutions you want to create and for the resources available. Examples of activities where we can support you:
If you want to develop your team's skills, we can offer courses to either give you a broad introduction to all three perspectives for understanding and designing for everyday sustainability, or to delve into the perspectives that are most relevant to you. All programmes consist of five two-hour sessions with a mix of lectures and group discussions. The introductory programme includes two general sessions and three sessions focusing on each perspective. The in-depth courses include one general session and four sessions focusing on each part of the design process: concretisation, exploration, creation and evaluation.
The book Sustainability through Everyday Designs, written by Anneli Selvefors and Sara Renström at RISE and Helena Strömberg at Chalmers University of Technology, is used as a basis for both practical design activities and training programmes. Read more about the book here
Delivery (what does the client get after performed service – e.g. a report, certificate etc.):Through this service, you and your organisation will gain knowledge about how you can work to create the conditions for a sustainable life, both in private and at work. You also get to know the design tools you can use in your process and an understanding of which tools can help you with what. If we have worked together practically with design activities, the delivery can also include:
Other results can also be produced by RISE by agreement, for example a visual overview, a presentation, a report or similar.
Area:
Preparation needs vary depending on the activities. We will jointly agree on how best to prepare to get the most out of the service.
Certification and marking: Not applicable Type of service: Not applicable Instrument: Not applicable General area: Not applicable Order information: For more information and booking please contact us at RISE. Contact details can be found further down the page. Divison (OLD):
Hubs such as train stations and bus stops are filled with visual information. In these environments, navigating can be difficult and all the impressions conveyed can cause visual stress, especially for groups with impaired orientation abilities. This project aims to increase understanding of how we can design hubs that are more intuitive.
What is a pleasant and simple visual search and movement for one person may be challenging for another. Adding another level of design to the exchange point based on functionality can take into account what happens in the human brain and emotional life, which can vary greatly among individuals.
In this project, we aim to: 1) create a cross-functional team with stakeholders focusing on visual search and movement in exchange points, and 2) develop a plan for a pilot project to test new designs and measure the experience before and after implementation.
Project approach is to investigate how to combine qualitative and quantitative methods to understand people's behaviors and experiences at exchange points. In doing so, we aim to clarify research questions regarding how measurements of people's movements and behaviors at exchange points can correlate with the perception and understanding of visual information, and thus be used to objectively evaluate different measures. Proof of Concept phase: implement developed solutions in a real environment and test and refine method(s) to describe and follow up on the design of more self-explanatory exchange points.
RISE leads the project and contributes expertise in behavioral science and mobility solutions. Additionally, the project group includes technology providers Viscando and Tobii, which can measure people's movements and individual behaviors, as well as product design studio Boid and lighting expert Fagerhult. The stakeholders are Borås City and a range of actors contributing to the reference group, but the idea is that the principles can ultimately be applied in other cities and at other hubs.
We help you create life in virtual environments and Extended Reality (XR) solutions, from scanning environments to building interactive solutions.
Purpose/Benefit:We offer different solutions that suit your specific needs, from geometrically correct scans with advanced equipment for complex needs to simpler solutions based on technology such as iPad with Lidar technology and software that makes it possible to transform data into digital models. We help you avoid the most common pitfalls and create virtual environments and XR experiences that are not only impressive, and that people want to return to, but also practical and compatible with many different VR/AR glasses, displays and devices.
Method (what/which methods are used to perform the service):The first step is to scan the objects or environments you want to use for your solution. It can be an object, such as a tool, machine or vehicle, or an indoor/outdoor environment. The scan is processed and imported into a game engine where we help you create interactive solutions. We will jointly determine what suits you and your needs upon contact. The packages below can be seen as a start for such a discussion.
We build interactions and solutions in the Unreal Engine game engine. We use the scanned 3D data or ready-made environments or object models that you already have. If the requirements are very simple, we can also use scans you have made yourself with, for example, an iPad with Lidar. We can also create 3D objects manually based on descriptions or drawings. As an independent research institute, we are also happy to share our knowledge. We always use open-source tools, which means you will not be locked into a specific tool or system.
We are always exploring and developing the possibilities of 3D technology, scanning and game engines. In our research, we constantly discover new problems and opportunities. We want to have a conversation with more people who are interested in development in the field and therefore offer work hops to co-create, explore, and help each other take full advantage of the digital environments in a new way. Since we are an independent research institute that wants to inspire the creation of digital environments that benefit industry and society, we have no secrets and are happy to share our experiences and knowledge.
Delivery (what does the client get after performed service – e.g. a report, certificate etc.):We will jointly arrive at what the delivery should look like in dialogue with you as the customer. The suggestions above can be seen as examples. If you are curious but have not yet had time to explore the possibilities and limitations, we offer a demonstration. If several actors are interested, we create a joint symposium with our demonstrations.
Most often, we deliver a VR solution as an .exe file that runs with VR connected to a computer. If there is a need, we are happy to process scanned material (as described in the examples above) so that it is possible to launch the experience on, for example, an Oculus Quest 2 or 3. By packaging APK files and OBB files, we can then also guide you through the procedure to get the VR application published on platforms like App Labs where you can share it with your customers through an invite link.
Delivery time:According to agreement
Area:
This interdisciplinary research aims to offer new perspectives on how integrating the participation of the autism community in public transport planning processes can help initiate and improve the social participation of individuals with ASD in society.
The quality of life for individuals with Autism is highly influenced not only by societal attitudes and the level of support provided by local and national authorities, but also by the spatial aspects of their surrounding environments. Spatial accessibility is a key factor that contributes to shaping the quality and range of social experiences available to individuals with autism and their families.
In line with the sustainability goals of fostering an inclusive society, this project offers new perspectives on how integrating the participation of the autism and autistic communities in public transport planning processes can help initiate and improve the general conditions around the social life of autistic individuals.
The project results aim to enhance the participation of the neurodiverse communities in the urban and community planning processes, thereby reinforcing the ideal of an inclusive, equitable and diverse society as the required conditions for living ‘together-in-difference’ in spatially just urban areas.
The project "Safe chauffeurs in safe and healthy multimodal driver information environments" (SCREENS II) aims to solve problems related to the increasing automation in the information environment, and to increase safety in traffic.
The project aims to address challenges associated with increasing automation in the driver's environment, ultimately enhancing safety on the roads. It seeks to achieve this by:
The project aligns with the safety goals for road users, defined by Vinnova's program for strategic vehicle research and innovation (FFI):
1. Focus on developing driver assistance systems and HMI designs that increase road safety and reduce accident risks.
2. Investigate the health effects of new digital technology in the driver's environment during short and long exposure.
3. Enabling methods with applications for the development and deployment of safe automation by developing a common method and evaluation platform for user studies for characterizing the driver environment.
This can reduce planning and implementation time by approximately 20% and contribute to efficient development and verification of digitalization
The three-year project (2023-09-01 – 2026-08-31) is coordinated by RISE. The project is a continuation and expansion of the SCREENS project (dnr 2020-05129). Partners in the project are Volvo Cars, AB Volvo, Scania, and Smart Eye. The budget is a total of SEK 32,596,900, and Vinnova is seeking SEK 16,298,450.
This project examines and demonstrates how sound interaction and digitalization can improve accessibility and user experience of shared mobility services. The aim is to increase traffic safety, efficiency, and utilization of the services regardless of individual conditions.
Aim and goal
Projektets huvudsakliga mål är att utveckla en demonstrator som visar hur guidande ljud kan nyttjas i framtida mobilitetstjänster i olika typer av användningsfall. Demonstratorn utvärderats i en realistisk miljö med användare med olika typer av funktionsförutsättningar. Projektet kommer även ta fram de systemarkitekturskrav krävs för att realisera en produkt som bygger på projektets resultat.
Challenge
The main goal of the project is to develop a demonstrator that shows how guiding sounds can be utilized in future mobility services in various types of use cases. The demonstrator will be evaluated in a realistic environment with users with different types of functional conditions. The project will also develop the system architecture requirements needed to realize a product based on the project's results.
Solution
The project will develop a headphone-based prototype with 3D sound that can guide the user and enhance the user experience in all parts of the journey, from the time a transport is booked until the user reaches a destination. The work will answer the following overarching questions:
Solutions will be developed for a broad public, but with a particular focus on individuals with visual impairments. The work will concentrate on various types of user scenarios. At least one scenario will focus on a journey to a tourism industry. In this scenario, the project will explore how the services of the tourism industry can be integrated with transportation to create new types of valuable and positive experiences.
Effect
The project aims to make shared mobility more attractive and safer, so that more people can and will want to use the services in the future. This will contribute to more efficient resource use, as well as reduced traffic congestion and environmental impact. The project will also contribute to the development of new business models for inclusive mobility services. Services that focus on supporting the user during the journey and creating a better experience prior to arrival at the destination or the next mode of transport.
Photo:
Alfa Laval
Alfa Laval, global provider of products in the areas of heat transfer, separation, and fluid handling, has been part of the Application Center for Additive Manufacturing at RISE since it started. Eager to accelerate their adoption of additive manufacturing (AM), they frequently utilize the centre to test new solutions.
“We have been very active in the centre, and keen to enter new collaborations and projects. This has taken us very far in our own implementation of additive manufacturing. To us, it’s a natural advantage to embark on this journey together with other companies. It speeds up the process, which is of great value for Swedish competitiveness,” says Per Gabrielson, Manager of Tool Design and Technology at Alfa Laval, adding:
“As we and our fellow partners come from diverse industries without competition among us, we can freely exchange technology and processes, collectively enhancing our effectiveness. Together, we can establish a solid foundation and make shared investments for mutual growth.”
Apart from collaborative opportunities, the provided access to different types of equipment and software is seen as a major advantage.
“The Application Center for Additive Manufacturing has a wide array of technologies and software to choose from, and we have tried many of them with great success. Right now, our eyes are set on generative design, Directed Energy Deposition and Hot Isostatic Pressing,” says Johan Stenermark, AM Design Engineer at Alfa Laval, and continues:
“You need to think additive manufacturing from the start. If you do that, almost anything is possible. Replicating traditional design is difficult and can only get you so far. AM offers considerable freedoms, which can be used to create something better. Fortunately, there is a growing trend of considering AM at the early stages of manufacturing.”
To Alfa Laval, the centre has not only been a platform for experimentation. Their venture into additive manufacturing has led to the introduction of several components into the market.
“We have actually set up our own little AM Center in Eskilstuna, where we produce spare parts and prototypes. So, we have a few articles on the market as we speak. The design is traditional though, adjusted for AM”, says Ingemar Allerdahl, Operator at Alfa Laval.
Implementing additive manufacturing has, of course, not only been a walk in the park. Alfa Laval has struggled with internal scepticism regarding both performance and price.
“Additive manufacturing is expensive, but the question is if it really is more expensive than traditional manufacturing, when you take all parameters into account. Currently, we are making a conscious effort to monitor both time and earnings,” says Thamon Benjapongsapun, Project Manager at Alfa Laval.
Regardless, it is with hope and great ambition they look into the future.
“The Application Center for Additive Manufacturing provides us with the ability to test all potential solutions, which accelerates our internal progress. Our hope is that it will help us speed up the implementation of additive manufacturing on an industrial scale,” says Lindsay Leach, AM Specialist at Alfa Laval.
The Application Center for Additive Manufacturing is open to all industries, businesses and public sectors interested in exploring additive manufacturing. RISE provides expertise, test environments, and a wide range of equipment and materials to find the most suitable path for each company and product. This means that even small and medium-sized companies can have quick and easy access to the latest technology. The center offers services such as:
The computer games industry has a technological maturity and a unique innovation process that could drive the Swedish economy and public sector forward. But Sweden must first welcome the industry into the big leagues.
The computer games industry has a technological maturity and a unique innovation process that could drive the Swedish economy and public sector forward. But Sweden must first welcome the industry into the big leagues.
Swedish companies and public organisations, especially those that deliver digital products or have a digital interface with their customers, could learn and benefit from the computer games industry.
"Many people have an image of games as something that children play with, or as something dangerous and bad. But we are dealing with a high-tech industry that is at the forefront of technology and works in a very experimental way. The gaming industry combines several factors that Sweden has long been known for - engineering, innovation and creative industries, says Björn Flintberg, a researcher at RISE and an industrial doctoral student at Luleå University of Technology.
Over the past decade, it has become increasingly common to involve customers in the sales process, for example by offering the possibility of personalisation. Game companies go one step further. Games are often released in beta versions before the final product is ready, allowing players to be co-creators.
"The industry works with human creativity as the engine of product development, quality assurance and innovation processes," says Björn Flintberg.
He believes that many companies would benefit from adopting this approach. In addition, gaming technology can be used as a method or tool to find new solutions.
"Urban planning is a good example. Incredibly complex, with large binders and lots of drawings. Yet gaming companies manage to make city simulators that take 20 minutes to get started. Games allow experimentation and trial and error that we don't have access to otherwise. Whether it is a production process or a question of democracy, games open up the possibility of getting feedback that is not static," Flintberg says.
The industry works with human creativity as a driver in product development, quality assurance and innovation processes
In order for the rest of the economy and the public sector to benefit from the computer games industry as an innovation catalyst and problem solver, the industry itself needs to be strengthened.
Exports from Swedish computer games companies amount to more than SEK 32 billion. This can be compared to the music industry's export value of around SEK 9 billion. Despite the large contribution to Swedish exports, there is still no targeted national initiative to strengthen the gaming industry.
"In Finland, SEK 120 million is invested annually, and in Denmark, where there is hardly a gaming industry to speak of, a gaming research institute has been established. In Norway, national strategies have been developed at the level of the Ministry of Economic Affairs," says Björn Flintberg:
"Here in Sweden, work with the gaming industry is done at regional or municipal level. I would like to see the issue taken up at national level. Both for the sake of the industry and so that the rest of society can benefit from its potential."
"Such a strategy should also address the skills shortage", says Björn Flintberg. Today, many Swedish game companies choose to set up in other countries in order to gain access to programmers whose niche is game development.
"There is a huge shortage of people here in Sweden. More than 30,000 by 2030, according to one forecast. The availability of training places is therefore important for the future, not least at universities, which have a greater opportunity to scale up than polytechnics," he says, and continues:
"We also see shortcomings on the research side. We know that when new things come out of academia, it boosts an industry and an economy, but today there is almost no dedicated funding for gaming research. Gaming research spans several different sciences, and funding often means that research on games is related to other phenomena."
RISE was one of the parties involved in setting up the Swedish Games Research Council, an advocacy organisation that aims to raise the profile and strengthen Swedish gaming research. At the time of writing, in the autumn of 2023, around 60 researchers from 15 universities are members. The next step could be a government-funded graduate school where universities and colleges work together to train tomorrow's games researchers.
What role can RISE play in strengthening the gaming industry and enabling industry and the public sector to learn and benefit?
"We can hopefully open different kinds of doors than the gaming industry can open on its own. It's about creating dialogues with different types of national stakeholders and helping to strengthen research through our collaborations with different universities. By working directly with industry and the public sector, we can also contribute to the implementation of 'serious games' that can be used for staff training, for example. We have an important role to play here," says Björn Flintberg.
Training and education: Game-based learning to train employees or to practise complex tasks.
Innovation: Using game design principles to stimulate creativity and idea generation.
Customer interaction: Using customers for early testing of prototypes, product development and quality assurance.
Education: Game-based learning tools in schools and universities to make teaching interactive, engaging and more in line with the digital reality of the workplace.
Manufacturing industry: VR-enabled simulations and digital twins to visualise complex environments and enable skills development and efficiency improvements.
How to coach companies on circular design and business development? In this project, RISE coaches innovation coaches in Region Västra Götaland and contributes with coaching strategies and tools to strengthen the innovation power of SMEs in the region.
The project was part of the regional initiative for strengthening circular business models in West Sweden and aimed to support coaching actors in the innovation system to work with circular business development in practice. Through the project, innovation actors received coaching from experts from RISE so that they in turn could support SMEs in Västra Götaland to work proactively to strengthen their innovation work and competitiveness when it comes to circular design and new business models. Region Västra Götaland has seen a great need to strengthen the ability and expertise in the innovation system to contribute to the sustainable transition in the region. The coaching actors have a key role in supporting companies in their transition and need increased knowledge of circular business development as well as new coaching strategies and tools.
The project was part of a larger initiative to train a network of coaching actors in West Sweden on circular business development. RISE held a pilot training in 2021 together with Circular Hub at Science Park Borås, and Circular Hub also held an extended programme in 2023. Region Västra Götaland thereafter initiated the challenge "Circular design & new business" to encourage the coaching actors to apply their new knowledge of circular economy and circular innovation in their work as business coaches. Through this project, RISE supported the coaching actors who accepted the challenge and helped them to raise circular issues in their coaching conversations with companies. In the later part of the challenge, RISE also provided more case-specific expert support for the actors who identified company cases with great potential that required more in-depth coaching.
In addition to strengthening the coaching actors' ability to work with circular business development in practice, this project resulted in a number of good examples of how companies have worked successfully with circular design and business development. Insights from the project have been used to develop a toolkit to support even more innovation coaches to empower circular businesses.
The toolkit Circular Coaching Essentials - Tools for empowering circular businesses includes:
• 10 nycklar för samtal om cirkulära möjligheter (in Swedish)
• Utmaningar vid cirkulär coaching (in Swedish)
• Tools for circular design and business model innovation
• Tools for circular business calculations
• Goda företagsexempel (in Swedish)
Circular Coaching Essentials 20241211_0.zip (zip, 41.06 MB)
