UFRJ DESIS Group

UFRJ DESIS Group, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Hosting institution: Rio de Janeiro Federal University - UFRJ
Production Engineering Program /Design
COPPE - Institute for Graduate Studies and Research in Engineering

Address: UFRJ – Cidade Universitária
Centro de Tecnologia – Bloco G, sala G209
Caixa Postal 68507
Rio de Janeiro – RJ, Brazil
21941-972
Tel: +55 21 25627061
http://www.ltds.ufrj.br/desis

Director:Carla Cipolla
cipolla@pep.ufrj.br

Operator: Fernanda Zanela
fernandazanela@hotmail.com

Presentation:

DESIS Group (Service Design and Social Innovation)  is a research group created on 2008 and is based at Rio de Janeiro Federal University, COPPE – Production Engineering Program. It advances the practice and studies of design-enabled social innovation towards sustainability in Brazil.  Particular focus is given to service design. The society is considered as a “laboratory” of new ways of living in the view of sustainability and DESIS Group is targeted to improve and diffuse – through design activities – these promising solutions. When promising cases of social innovation are recognised in their peculiarities and the demand they potentially express is understood, they may become a test bench for the development of a new generation of services. If interpreted correctly, these cases also voice a deeper demand: to promote lines of research that aim to generate technological and organisational platforms able to encourage similar life models.

DESIS Group is the coordinator of DESIS Brazil Network, which gather researchers that share similar views and are willing to co-develop projects on topics of common interest in Brazil.

Objectives:

DESISLab conducts applied research into the ways in which design can enhance initiatives in the intersection point between service design and social innovation. It includes, specifically:

• Monitoring existing social innovation cases in Rio de Janeiro and, in general, in the Brazilian context;
• Supporting and promoting social innovation initiatives through the design of solutions, i.e. a specific set of tools, services and expertise, able to consolidate and diffuse such practices;
• Investigating and developing new service models;
• Developing research programs and projects
• Promoting cultural and communication initiatives (exhibitions, publications, broadcasts,…)
• Organizing learning initiatives (workshops, seminars, courses, conferences,…)
 

Background:

DESIS- Group started up based on a collaboration between Brazil (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, COPPE Institute, LTDS – Laboratory of Technology and Social Development ) and Italy (Politecnico di Milano).  This Brazilian university was partner of the international project CCSL /CCSL-Desex which investigated the potentialities of collaborative everyday life creativity (social innovations developed by the so called "creative communities") in generating and diffusing new and more sustainable ways of living in the urban environments on Brazil, India and China.
The collaboration opened on CCSL activity continued with the course/workshop entitled DESIGN.ISDS: Design, Social Innovation and Sustainable Development held by prof. Ezio Manzini on 2007 e 2008. A book were also published in Portoghese under the title (english translation) Design for Social Innovation and Sustainability. Creative Communities, Collaborative Organizations and New Design Networks.  The course was broadcasted on-line to universities all over the country.
DESIS Group was founded in 2008 to express the interest of researchers to work in the theme of design for social innovation and service design in the Brazilian context.  From this moment on, it becomes the first node and first coordinator of the DESIS Network in Brazil.
 

Team:

Roberto Bartholo, Carla Cipolla, Ivan Bursztyn, Nadia Carvalho, Anael Alves, Thais Vieira, Fernanda Zanela, Sol Klapstein, Douglas Assis, Heloisa Moura

Main partner:

- CNPq
- CAPES
- FAPERJ

Project example