Industrial designers, design engineers, architects, and others active in product creation are the focus of Converge 2016, a new global conference series hosted by solidThinking. Converge 2016 will explore a growing creative middle ground, shared by both designers and engineers and enabled by new software, materials and manufacturing technologies that are changing the way we create and innovate.
"Converge is a conference for product and experience creators," says James Scapa, Altair's founder, chairman, and CEO, "For those who've been told something can't be done, or are in charge of making the impossible possible, for the forward-thinking product designers who pride themselves on staying on the leading and bleeding edges, we wanted to create a setting to explore the innovative intersections of technology and design."
Converge 2016 attendees will learn how new design approaches are adopting cutting-edge technologies to overcome current challenges to deliver product innovation. Industry leaders will share their experience and vision for:
- Designing innovative, functional, sustainable, and aesthetically appealing products
- Strategies to nurture product design portfolios relevant to time and context
- Generative design and bio-mimetic processes
- Using 3-d printing, additive manufacturing, and other targeted production methods
- Processes and tools to enable an accelerated and open-minded design process
Tying together the global design community will be a panel discussion in each city fueled by participant input exploring the role of technology in product creation.
Converge 2016 locations and dates are:
Los Angeles, California, USA: September 8-9
Essen, Germany: September 20-21
Shanghai, China: September 27
Tokyo, Japan: October 14
Bangalore, India: November 15
Seoul, South Korea: November 18
"Design is more than an appealing look," says Professor Dr. Peter Zec, founder and CEO of the Red Dot Award and one of several noteworthy Converge 2016 keynote presenters. "Depending on the application, a truly innovative and well-designed product brings balance to the qualities of function, seduction, use and, be it in a social or environmental sense, responsibility. I am very happy to be presenting at the European Converge event because the Converge conference series focuses on the exciting symbiosis of design and technology, giving designers and product creators a new perspective on their work."
