The Design Factory Global Network (DFGN) is a community of nearly 40 Design Factory centres operating on every continent, from Shanghai and Sydney to Seoul, New York, São Paulo, Porto and Riga. It all started back in 2008 at Aalto University in Finland, and today all members are united by the same philosophy: hands-on, interdisciplinary learning where students, researchers and business create together. Each DF gives its local community a familiar environment, while also learning from other members and their local solutions.
The Creativity and Innovation Centre of VILNIUS TECH, LinkMenų fabrikas, became part of this network back in 2021. For us it means more ideas, more partners and more people to create with, and everything we learn and every contact we make goes back to our students and the maker community. “DFGN is unique because it brings together diverse university and research innovation centres around the world. All these centres are different and spread across several continents, but the members of the network are connected by the desire to create together and to change established views on science and learning. We also share a firm belief that interdisciplinarity is the main path to success for individuals and society alike,” says Dr. Adas Meškėnas, Vice-Rector for Strategic Partnerships at VILNIUS TECH.
Once a year, the network meets in person at International Design Factory Week (IDFW), hosted by a different member each time. This year, from 5 to 9 October, Riga Technical University Design Factory (RTU DF) welcomed colleagues from more than 20 countries.
The week began with the UnBoxed26 conference (5-6 October), dedicated to teaching and learning practices. This year’s theme, “Learning on the Edge”, invited participants to share tested methods and experiences gained when working outside the comfort zone. The conference had 71 participants from 25 institutions, and 51 representatives from 23 institutions took part in IDFW.
During the international week, RTU Design Factory’s 10th anniversary was also celebrated, and among the guests was a very special person: Kalevi “Eetu” Ekman, one of the pioneers of the Design Factory movement and long-time director of Aalto Design Factory, the first DF in the world. The DFGN network is also celebrating its 15th anniversary this year.
During IDFW, as many as 26 international projects were launched, and 17 of them are planned to continue over the coming year. Among them are Open World Education, Labterns 2.0, PostDoc Career Design and Signature Pedagogies Book.
“For us, DFGN is first and foremost about people. We live in different countries, but we are united by the same urge to create, and when we meet in person, real projects and real international friendship are born,” says Greta Markūnaitė, Head of the Creativity Lab at VILNIUS TECH “LinkMenų fabrikas”. “Thank you, RTU Design Factory, for the wonderful hospitality! 🙌”
Learn more about the network: www.dfgn.org
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