DesignLab | University of Twente (2024)

DesignLab University of Twente has been establishing new connections since 2014: students and researchers joining forces with citizens, governments and the industry,to design opportunities for challenges within and beyond the borders of health, climate and safety. When working with and at DesignLab, different worldviews are equally heard, people become empowered and first tangible steps are made.Dear Future us: let’s feel, think and act when it comes to today’s challenges and potentially those of our next generations.

'Dear Future me' [February-June 2024]
Dear future me... This is what keeps me up at night
Together with different stakeholders, DesignLab focuses on the societal themes Digital Society, Health Innovation and Safety. In UTs research and education, projects, workshops and all the events organised by DesignLab and the UT community. But what do they actually mean to us personally, as individuals? People wereinvited to write a love letter to themselves regarding these themes, and share these with others by hanging it on a line.
If I become the doctor of the future, I can
make a special shoe that heals your broken ankle in 10 seconds
What is important to me while co-shaping healthy futures for all...
Activism vs passivism
How to promote sustainable and constructive impactful activism? Sometimes I get the feeling that society is moving towards passivism and apathy.
When I think about our futures and planetary health, I care about...
equality. Everyone having the same opportunities to a healthy and safe "environment".
There is something that I would like to share...
Create don't consume
Repair don't replace
What matters to me when I think about futures and technology...
It is difficult to predict how technology will change throughout the years, but we should be open to its possibilities but always without forgetting about what makes us humans, what makes us special.
DesignLab is a collaborative eco-system
When you come to DesignLab, you see how important it is to have a physical space to meet new people, to (re)connect with students and colleagues you know and to learn from different generations. In the spring, primary school children, innovation-minded students, DreamTeamers, companies and (potential) PhDs attended events at DesignLab, or simply took a visit. Already in the first week, over 20 meters of letters were written, drawn or made using collages.
Meet & Greet UIF Twente
Our family members of University Innovation Fellows (UIF) Twente invited the UT community to meet the love of their lives, friends or 'simply' other inspiring people. Sharing personal letters were truly conversation starters!
Learn more about UIF
The doctor of the future | Pre-University
Children aged between 7 and 10 experienced what it is to be a doctor. They learned the definition of sick tissue and got familiar with tools like a blood pressure monitor and a stethoscope. What if they could be the doctor of the future?
The doctor of the future | Pre-University
Children aged between 7 and 10 experienced what it is to be a doctor. They learned the definition of sick tissue and got familiar with tools like a blood pressure monitor and a stethoscope. What if they could be the doctor of the future?
The doctor of the future | Pre-University
Children aged between 7 and 10 experienced what it is to be a doctor. They learned the definition of sick tissue and got familiar with tools like a blood pressure monitor and a stethoscope. What if they could be the doctor of the future?
The doctor of the future | Pre-University
Children aged between 7 and 10 experienced what it is to be a doctor. They learned the definition of sick tissue and got familiar with tools like a blood pressure monitor and a stethoscope. What if they could be the doctor of the future?
The doctor of the future | Pre-U
Children aged between 7 and 10 experienced what it is to be a doctor. They learned the definition of sick tissue and got familiar with tools like a blood pressure monitor and a stethoscope. What if they could be the doctor of the future?
Community | DreamTeam
Sometimes you do not need words to express your thoughts. That is what the community team of the DreamTeam were thinking. Our student assistents brought colour, shapes and drawings to the line of love letters.
Community | DreamTeam
Sometimes you do not need words to express your thoughts. That is what the community team of the DreamTeam were thinking. Our student assistents brought colour, shapes and drawings to the line of love letters.
Community | DreamTeam
Sometimes you do not need words to express your thoughts. That is what the community team of the DreamTeam were thinking. Our student assistents brought colour, shapes and drawings to the line of love letters.
Dutch Innovation Days
At the end of May, Enschede visitors and tourists were invited to open the mysterious door in the hallway of the 'Grote Kerk'. The staircase was lit up by visualised love letters, made by people that had gone before them. Upstairs, the space felt like a wedding chapel, where they could be inspired by even more stories,take some time to reflect and write and add their own.
Photo: Cristina Ionas
Photo: Cristina Ionas
Photo: Cristina Ionas
Photo: Cristina Ionas
Photo: Cristina Ionas
Photo: Cristina Ionas
Dear Future me: honouring society's views
The beautiful lamps with visualised love letters are 3D-printed and made by Lithos: a start-up company from DreamTeamer Leon Peters and his business partner Kaspar Rothenfusser. After the exhibition during the Opening Academic Yearat Wilmink theatre, you will find them in DesignLab.

DesignLab congratulates the community for wanting to be, becoming and being the change makers of tomorrow at DesignLab for 10 years now!We could design a birthday card that has our age on it, and write about all the things that we are proud of. But being the experimental and collaborative ecosystem we are as DesignLab, we asked the community of founders, UT colleagues, researchers, DreamTeam students and partners outside University of Twente to telltheirmeaningful story.They were asked to put into words what they are most proud of, when thinking about projects and initiatives in the context of DesignLab. They also shared wishes for our future: actions we should take to co-shape the futures we want to live in. Enjoy the content!

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2024

Sep 2024

Anke de Koning | Firstline Support DesignLab

Anke's perfect day in DesignLab is when she sees students working together, prototyping, exchanging ideas and more.

Sep 2024

Barend van der Meulen | Advisory board member Citizen Science Hub Twente

Barend states that we should find new ways to involve citizens in design, knowledge production, research and teaching, as there is so much knowledgein society, that cannot be created at our universities.

Sep 2024

Cristina Zaga | Founder Responsible Futuring

Cristina has done a lot as a researcher at DesignLab. She is particularly proud of the development of the Responsible Futuring approach, that she did together with the DesignLab team.

Sep 2024

Desirée van Dun | Co-coordinator Master-Insert and Research Fellow, Faculty BMS

Desirée explains how the Transdisciplinary Master-Insert 'Shaping Responsible Futures' helped Green Hub Twente to further sustain changes within the UT.

Sep 2024

DreamTeam family | Daffa, Arash, Roussi, Thijs and Merlijn

DreamTeamers highlight the DesignLab Brew podcast, Batavierenrace, DesignLab Museum in the facility,Wall of Names, and how to keep the community at DesignLab rocking.

DesignLab | University of Twente (2024)

Dear future me... This is what keeps me up at night

If I become the doctor of the future, I can

What is important to me while co-shaping healthy futures for all...

When I think about our futures and planetary health, I care about...

There is something that I would like to share...

What matters to me when I think about futures and technology...

DesignLab is a collaborative eco-system

Dutch Innovation Days

Dear Future me: honouring society's views