Eight practice issues in design knowledge transfer: a case study

Driving renewal in the public and private sector through design at a local scale requires that the local agents go through a revolution of themselves. Supporting local entities in changing by design with and for people is what the Design Research Lab (DRLab) at the University of Trento (Italy) is practicing by facilitating the transferring and application of design knowledge to the educational, production, and public policy systems in Trentino. This paper refers to two experimental design experiences (DXs) that were performed with the Design Studio format (one of the DRLab formats) in collaboration with local stakeholders with the aim to encourage the usage of service design as a human-centred approach for designing. The DXs were analysed as a case study through an analysis of the gaps according to the identification of twenty-two items. Data gathered with the involvement of the DXs participants in focus groups, semi-structured interviews and questionnaires, were matched with data emerged in the analysis of the DX with the Logical Framework tool. Fifty-three gaps were identified and they were described in eight crucial areas for the efficiency of the design knowledge transfer through DXs performed with formats such as the Design Studio. Also, the process allowed to identify five criteria for the development of this kind of DXs. Finally, this paper allows to reflect on how local actors are perceiving ‘design’, how they can be involved in future experiences and how these aspects can influence a local design research development in the next future.