Design Renaissance: A Future Scenario

The word “Renaissance” means “Rebirth.” It images by connotation that something is dead, or to put it more positively, something is waiting to be born. For me, the word Renaissance brings back memories of the birth of a new creative spirit in Santa Cruz that stimulated us all to collaborate and create dynamic design solutions to some of the problems we face collectively and globally.

The idea that first put the Santa Cruz Design Center on the map in 2008 was their redefinition of “Design” as first and foremost a problem-solving discipline. They had their first international DESIGN RENAISSANCE SUMMIT in 2008. It was definitely a peak experience for me.

The summit had a unique format, guaranteed to provoke new ideas and collaborations. At the heart of it is the definition of a major design problem — usually a global issue — whatever’s current. In 2008 it was design solutions to make products more energy-efficient, in 2009 it was education, in 2010 it was the design of cities, and so on. The thing is, the problem was large enough that it called for the expertise of many different disciplines to solve it: design of new products, digital technologies, communications design. It was not a problem that could be solved by any one individual.

Working with IDEO—the design firm renowned for it’s expertise in creating innovative teams, and UCSC, the Santa Cruz Design Center put together a team of 12 “experts” in various fields from around the world, who were there to try and find solutions to the problem of the moment. SCDC hosted them at their flagship multimedia CREATIVE LAB which is a giant meeting room and state-of-the-art multimedia lab where the teams work together. The mass of people in the room ebbs and flows, as anybody attending the conference can walk in and contribute to a Brainstorming Session at the lab. Sessions have different members of the 12-team facilitating, so that new ideas keep moving.

Santa Cruz doesn’t have a conference center. Hence the whole town is a campus, with venues scattered all around: UCSC, Downtown, the West side, the Attic. There is a lively flow of “professional” tourists on Pacific Avenue going from venue to venue by shuttle bus. Apart from the 12 Around 1 team, there are DESIGN workshops, SPEAKER sessions, CREATIVE REJUVENATION spas, and of course, the highlight of the event, the thing that brought me to Santa Cruz in 2008, a design competition called HATCH YOUR IDEA which awards a 2-year free incubator ride, access to the Fab Lab, business advice and market launch services for the company with the best product design idea and business plan.

In 2008, the award was given to me, Jon Trice, and my company INSOLAR for our invisible solar cells made with nano-molecules. We pioneered a more efficient way to harness renewable energy, and also revolutionized architecture. We had been trying to get funded but everyone thought we were too risky. Like so many pioneering solutions ours went unrecognized at first—it needed that panel of global experts to recognize that our idea was a great one, We couldn’t have gone to market with the speed and efficiency and certainty that we did without the resources SCDC created for our start-up to hatch in. We moved out of the incubator in 2010, but none of us wanted to leave Santa Cruz, so our new offices are on the West side, just minutes from everything, including the beach.

How did SCDC pay for all this, you might ask? Well, their idea was very well “designed”, timely and universal enough in its application that it won a major industry/university federal grant for its launch. Today, while still functioning on grants, the SCDC also gets a percentage of the profits of the companies it “hatched”, not to mention membership fees. And these days everyone wants to be a member of the SCDC.

2012 is the 5-year celebration of the SCDC Renaissance. A shuttle bus goes by with the slogan DESIGN RENAISSANCE painted on the side. People are wearing DESIGN RENAISSANCE t-shirts and caps, many of them created by local artists who uniquely interpret the idea in their own style. DESIGN RENAISSANCE has been adopted by Santa Cruzers and visitors alike.

After all, who wouldn’t want to be part of a Renaissance?

I wrote this in 2006, when I was a part of the Vision Team for the Santa Cruz Design Innovation Center. It still holds true for me today.