11th Conference on Learning Factories, CLF2021

A Design-driven Maker and Learning Space as a Cross-

disciplinary Innovation Hub
Alexis Jacoby*a, Vincent Nulensa, Francis Damsa, Jouke Verlindena1
a
University of Antwerp, ambtmanstraat 1, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium

Abstract

The academic maker and learning space of the department of product development of the University of Antwerp is in a pilot
phase. The concept of this design factory is built around the educational programme for design and product development and
the nexus between design research and education. The design factory is conceptualized as a multidisciplinary innovation hub
in an academic context to provide students with real-life projects to support their education programme and to make
collaborations with research and industrial partners explicit. The department of product development provides both the design
expertise and the maker space facilities to support innovative projects.
The design factory focuses on three kinds of projects with product development and other students in a cross-disciplinary and
collaborative setting. Firstly, projects to support valorisation of research output from the various university research groups,
mainly research groups in (bio)medicine, chemistry, engineering, social sciences and economics. The step from research
output to validated products or services asks for a thorough design process for which the design factory provides the
prototyping facilities and the design and productising expertise.
Secondly, pre-incubation projects to facilitate student innovation projects to take the next step towards valorisation. The pre-
incubation lab provides a secure setting, the facilities and expert support to bridge the gap between business concept and the
application for funding with private or public investors. A third focus is on student collaboration with industrial partners in
combination with design and development service providers. This triangular combination provides added value for the three
parties involved. The students collaborate in real-life projects and leverage the innovation network between industry and
service providers. The entire concept engages the educational programme in the innovation eco-system of the region,
leveraging the local innovative capacity and learning while doing so.

© 2021 The Authors. This is an open access article.

Peer Review statement: Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 11th Conference on
Learning Factories 2021.
Keywords: Innovation hub; product design and development; design factory

1. Introduction

The department of product development of the University of Antwerp holds a long tradition in collaborating
with industrial, academic and governmental partners in function of innovation and product development. In order
to explicit these collaborations towards a quadruple helix configuration [4], a new academic maker and learning
space was conceptualized and set-up in a pilot configuration. Doing so, the department addresses a gap that was
observed in the local innovation eco-system in which the city and the university of Antwerp partner with
industrial stakeholders. Although the goal of the eco-system is clearly to boost innovation by valorizing research
output and to stimulate interdisciplinary collaboration, the specific aspects of early conceptualization,
productizing and prototyping are not allocated in the eco-system. Multiple prototyping facilities are locally
available but none of them combines the facilities with the required design capacity to integrate technological
product aspects with human-related and business-related aspects of products.

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +32 3 265 94 76

E-mail address: alexis.jacoby@uantwerpen.be

Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3858648

 Jacoby, Alexis, et al., CLF 2021

2. The maker and learning space

The learning and maker space is a design space where students collaborate in function of innovation [3]. They
design by making and make through design and learn along the way [2]. At the same time, the learning and
maker space is also a platform for knowledge exchange, both in a formal and an informal way. It provides
expertise regarding innovation, collaborative design and prototyping. It provides the facilities for low-fidelity,
mid-fidelity prototyping and digital fabrication. It acts as a stage for events related to multidisciplinary
innovation activities. It also creates new knowledge through research in order to optimize the innovation eco-
system and the inherent valorization process. The maker and learning space combines different objectives for
both the educational program of product development and the research group of product development.

2.1. The goals

The main goal for the department is to facilitate an innovation hub to support the eco-system of the region. It
can be broken down in several sub-goals, grounded in prior research:
• The department wants to share its facilities and design expertise with the different research groups of the
University in order to productize the research output and prepare for valorization.
• The department wants to valorize the output of integrated design and development student projects. Today,
many innovative concepts don’t find their way into the market or the industry, although they are perceived
very promising. The innovation hub must create the optimal circumstances in which these innovative
concepts can grow further until they reach a readiness level appropriate for acquiring funding.
• The innovation hub should be an intersection point for the local creative economy where the quadruple helix
collaboration principles become visible [4].
• The department wants to facilitate open interdisciplinary project work between students from different
faculties in order to generate mutual inspiration and innovative and entrepreneurial thinking [6].

2.2. The collaboration concepts

The maker and learning space supports students’ design and research projects in three specific ways,
supporting a clear mission and vision [6]. The first kind of projects build on the master thesis projects in which
students define and design an innovative product. However, most concepts require additional design and develop
work to reach a higher readiness level towards the market implementation. An extended stay in the learning and
maker space, with the facilities and the design methodological support provides a pre-incubation setting that
prepares for release or the next step in the development process (funding, start-up, …). Prior research revealed
that the gap between conception and funding is critical and that an extended stay in a pre-incubation setting can
be beneficial for the success rate of innovation trajectories [1].
A second kind of projects relates to the productizing process of research output. Different research groups in
all kinds of disciplines have ideas for new innovations and either proceed on the development of the technology
or the development of specific protocols or testing procedures. The learning and maker space delivers a
productizing process in collaboration between design students and researchers by translating the technology to a
desirable, a viable and a feasible product (or service, or combination of them). This process relates to
prototyping but often, an extensive round of product development is required to prepare the first prototyping
process.
A third kind of projects focuses on student collaboration with industrial partners. Different courses in the
bachelor and master program hold opportunities for collaboration. The companies provide the design and
development challenges and student teams work on these challenges under supervision of the faculty staff and
the industrial project owners. In the specific setting of the maker and learning space, a triangular collaboration is
set-up in which students, industrial partners and external design agencies collaborate. This particular
collaboration leads to a win-win situation for all parties. Students are not only confronted with their future clients
but also with their future employers. At the same time, the collaboration strengthens the local network of creative
industries. The industrial partners learn both from the students and the design consultants. Most of all, the setting
does not lead to competition between the faculty and the work field. Instead, it plays a promoting role in bringing
different parties together and increase the multidisciplinary cooperation opportunities.

Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3858648

 Jacoby, Alexis, et al., CLF 2021

2.3. The labs

In order to achieve the above-mentioned goals and collaboration concepts, the maker and learning space
consists of 4 different labs with a specific functional focus:

• The pre-incubation lab is the setting in which students extend their stay at the faculty. Both the design
expertise and the facilities remain available and specific collaboration with students can be set-up to speed-up
the development process and learn while doing so. The interdisciplinary innovation hub also provides
opportunities to team up with other profiles (such as engineers, developers or business students)
• The ideation and visualization lab focuses on the early innovation stages. It needs less facilities; the lab
implements specific design methodologies to reveal innovative opportunities, define new products and
services and support the co-creative setting in which multidisciplinary collaboration can be facilitated.
• The prototyping lab provides the facilities for low-fidelity and mid-fidelity prototyping and digital
fabrication. It integrates both mechanical and electronic prototyping. Prototyping doesn’t only refer to the
making itself but also to the conceptualization and preparation of prototypes prior to the fabrication.
• The verification lab acts as a testing environment. It provides the facilities to verify product-related
requirements and to construct the necessary infrastructure to support these tests. Living-labs or user-related
experiments, structural or ergonomic verification, all of these product- and service-related testing can be set-
up in this lab.

3. Conclusion

The learning and maker space is in a pilot phase. A bottom-up strategy is applied by starting a myriad of
small design and making projects for industrial partners in collaboration with researchers and students. The first
projects confirm the necessity of connecting the design capacity of the department with the prototyping and
fabrication facilities. This connection provides the real added value of the learning and maker space.
At the same time an organizational structure for the maker and learning space is developed. For now, it can
build on the staff expertise and the available educational facilities. However, it is also essential to install
additional supporting staff in order to manage the facilities and to organize and manage the contacts with the
research groups and the external parties. The innovation hub needs to be self-sustaining in the near future and
provide the means for attracting the supporting staff. That model is under construction.
The project also requires aligning the program curriculum with the projects in the innovation hub. It should
allow for both flexible and planned contributions to projects. Extensive projects such as master thesis projects
provide rather long-term opportunities. Open design spaces in elective ^roblem-based courses make ad hoc
contributions possible.
Lastly, the maker and learning space will benefit from reaching out to other initiatives. Firstly, in the context
of the University itself, connecting this innovation hub to a network of specific scientific labs will even
strengthen the value of the hub as it will act as a window of opportunity to the university. Similarly, reaching out
to international networks of maker and learning spaces, will open opportunities for knowledge creation.
Future projects in the Innovation Hub will have to validate the feasibility of the concept described. A steering
committee composed of members from the different target groups is supporting the initiative and will follow the
approach and the results on a regular base. Side meetings with different partners are being held in order to define
the appropriate way of cooperation.

References

[1] Barr, S.H., Baker,T.E.D., Markham,S.K., Kingon,A.I., (2009). Bridging the valley of death: lessons learned from 14 years of
commercialization of technology education. Academy Management Learning Education 8,370–388
[2] Wong, A., Partridge, H. (2016) Making as Learning: Makerspaces in Universities, Australian Academic & Research Libraries, 47:3, 143-
159
[3] Farritor, S. (2017), University-based Makerspaces: a source of innovation, Technology and Innovation, Vol. 19, pp. 389-395, 2017
[4] Miller, K., Mcadam, R. and Mcadam, M. (2016) ‘A systematic literature review of university technology transfer from a quadruple helix
perspective: toward a research agenda’, R and D Management, 48(1), pp. 7–24. doi: 10.1111/radm.12062.
[5] Özkil AG, Skovgaard Jensen L, Hansen CA (2020). What difference does an academic makerspace make? A case study on the effect and
outreach of DTU Skylab. Artificial Intelligence for Engineering Design, Analysis and Manufacturing 34, 327–340.
[6] Wilczynski, V (2015) ‘Academic Maker Spaces and Engineering Design, Proceedings of the 122th Annual Conference & Exposition,
June14-17, 2015, Seattle.

Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3858648