Abstract:

The rapid evolution of manufacturing technologies, 3D representation and modelling techniques and the evolution of contemporary lifestyles have shown that teaching methods within the industrial Design degree courses cannot be entrusted only to the traditional classroom teaching model.

The didactic must revise its approach with the aim of forming designers able to design products and flexible devices, to satisfy the most demanding requests. The effectiveness of this teaching method must be ensured by the close cooperation between University and industry, in order to ensure both the technical and economic feasibility of the objects designed and the formation of expert professional profiles.

Because of these considerations, the article will illustrate the methodology adopted in the teachings of Digital design and Bio-innovation design during the Bachelor of Design for Innovation at the University of Campania "L. Vanvitelli", through the exposition of some experiences carried out in collaboration with local companies.

The aim of this work is to highlight the connection between academic research, with particular reference to the design of innovative bio-inspired products, and industrial research, related to the choice of materials, to the development of advanced techniques, capable of replicating logic, structures and morphologies inspired by nature, biology and environment.

For this purpose some exemplary projects for which students have been called to collaborate professionally with different companies, with the possibility of patenting their products and participate with the same to events and international exhibitions, will be presented.

The projects will be studied highlighting the criticalities found in the development of the research themes: on the one hand we will analyze the difficulties recorded by the students in the transition from the design idea to the prototyping of a design product; on the other hand, the didactic approach adopted for guiding and assisting students in this complete and complex process will be deepened. This approach, although starting from recognized scientific foundations, has required each time to be rectified according to the specific and personalized criticalities in relation to the attitudes of the student.

The critical comparison between the experiences conducted will highlight, finally, that the application of innovative teaching methods, inspired by the most modern pedagogical theories of "tinkering", which aims to motivate students to operate thinking, questioning themselves and the absolute truths, requires at the same time a didactic that is ready every time to experiment and to confront itself with the students on the one hand and with the industrial world from the other, both in continuous and rapid evolution, in order to promote the development of soft skills necessary for the employment of students in the professional world always with a look on research and innovation.

Keywords:

University-Industry Collaboration, tinkering, interconnections, Product Design.