WELCOME to ICED23 in Bordeaux, France!

24th - 28th July 2023

Design in a complex world

We have definitely entered a world full of promising technologies, a hyper-connected world where information is paramount. In such a world, true value creation for people and companies and simplicity of solutions will be the keys to success. Design must therefore probably reinvent itself by embracing the broader issues of designing complex systems. These complex systems are made up not only of physical products but also of automation, human services, process, organizations, infrastructures, skills training and a host of socio-technical, ethnological and cultural realities and socio-economic compromises. Where design paradigms are changing is that these complex systems are also made of people or actors, and include or are interfaced with other systems.

Inventing and deploying new solutions for mobility, health, industrial production, agricultural production, for example, requires a new integrated and holistic approach to design (including user-centric approaches). How to model a design solution needs to be rethought (system engineering, team of teams and system of systems concepts), how to simulate it (virtual and augmented reality, multi-agent systems, human models in the loop), how to operate it (digital twins, connected service), how to make it intelligent (machine learning), how to make it globally profitable (innovating on business models). As environmental consequences of new products on the environment is difficult to predict, as resource use will become more and more diffuse, the need to rethink design approaches, links with societies and business models becomes crucial.

Finally, the industrial system itself needs to be redesigned, using the opportunities such as Industry 4.0, but also to imagine and enable value chains where more sustainable business models will be invented for the benefit of the society.

We, as a design society, should participate to tackle these challenges by educating new generations and renewing theories and practices of design and engineering. ICED23 should be a unique opportunity to collectively discuss the state of the art and future of our discipline.

Here, in the Bordeaux and New Aquitaine region, we have two great industrial traditions: that of wine production and marketing, and that of aeronautics and aerospace. These two industries are very similar to complex systems made up of elaborate products, technologies, industrial processes, know-how, regulations, traditions, relations with users/consumers; these systems must constantly renew and innovate despite and with the successive crises that our society has gone through over the last few decades. This is why the conference is of particular importance for us today. It is a challenge that our design community must grasp.

We look forward to welcoming you at ICED23!