Creativity 4 Circularity design Contest

The context
The challenge of sustainability is no more an option for societies: citizens, businesses, civil society organisations, institutions and public administrations must take action and do their part to change our models of production and consumption. It is crystal clear today that we can succeed only joining the forces and starting a real collaboration between all the parties.
Napapijri started to move in this direction and to take an active part in this rethinking process, challenging the creativity of the designers to imagine new solutions for future customers, based on the most advanced product lines.
Within the circular economy, the challenge is to develop solutions able to pioneer future and more sustainable ways of doing, without compromising the comfort, pleasure and convenience of wearing Napapijri garments.

The design contest 
Hence the collaboration between Napapijri and POLI.design, which led to the launch of Creativity 4 Circularity. The contest, aimed at young designers working in the product-service system, a contest that aims to challenge the creativity of designers to imagine new solutions for future customers, based on Napapijri’s most advanced product lines: SUPERLIGHT, ZE- KNIT, INFINITY.
Young designers are invited to design future product service system solutions around the above product lines, which will help transform our ways of living and dressing according to certain precise principles:

REDUCE – the need for new goods so to prevent the production of future waste
REUSE – the existing goods and items so to give them a new life
REPAIR / RENEW – the existing goods so to prolong their life
RECYCLE – the materials so to transform the waste of a system into a resource for another one.

The development of the ideas will be carried out by the participants in a four-day (non-consecutive) workshop, that will work as an incubation pathway and will aim to produce, accelerate and accompany the development of various concepts on the subject of the circular econonomy, up to the pre-prototyping phase.
The new solutions will leverage:
the already existing values and features of the present product line;
the alternative ways to access goods for the users, like sharing, pay-for-use, and much more;
the possibilities opened by entirely different activity and business models;
the services that can enrich and sustain the product, in all its life-cycle, according to a circular economy rationale;
the technological possibilities to expand the product features in all its aspects.

The incubation workshop
The workshop includes a phased mechanism, defined as follows:

Workshop day 1 (November 8, 2019, morning): Idea generation
Participants will begin to work together and will be grouped by similarity of their ideas and / or with a policy of integration of skills and cultures. In a guided brainstorming, each group will present the first working hypotheses that will be examined and evaluated collectively.
Ideas will then be directed to the subsequent development.

Workshop day 2 (December 17, 2019, afternoon): Idea development and feasibility
On a second day of meeting with the designers, ideas will be evaluated and discussed together with the company, and each group will proceed with their development, using tools provided by the teacher. The ideas will then be further developed independently by the groups.

Workshop day 3 (January 21, 2020, afternoon): Idea refinement and storytelling
On a third day of meeting the ideas will be defined more in detail, and the narrative and presentation methods will be developed in view of the final meeting of presentation to the company.

Workshop day 4 (February 25, 2020, afternoon): Presentation to the company and selection / ranking of projects
On a final day of the meeting, the ideas will be presented to the company in pitch mode and will be discussed and evaluated collectively.
 
Final public presentation: during the Milan Design Week in April 2020, the projects will be presented at an event.

The workshop will take place under the scientific direction of Prof. Anna Meroni.
The workshop days will take place at POLI.design headquarters.

Awards
First prize: 2.000 euro, a Napapijri garment and an invitation at the VF headquarters to present the project to the brand management and the possibility of publishing an interview on the Napapijri.com website;
Second prize: a Napapijri bag and jacket for each team member;
Third prize: a backpack and a Napapijri shirt for each team member.

Participants and selection
The contest is aimed at Politecnico di Milano Design System’s students.
In the invitation and in the selection of the participants, will be privileged profiles of students and new graduates (degree obtained in 2019) with an academic career in study paths of the Politecnico di Milano, in particular students of the second year of the Master’s Degrees of Product Service System, Integrated Product Design, Design for the Fashion System and in the Specializing  Masters of Communication, Business and Services clusters.
Participants will be of international origin: the activities will be carried out in English.
Candidates can present themselves individually, in pairs, or in groups of up to three people with different and complementary skills (for personal background and / or master’s degree).
Participation is subject to completing the application form on the www.polidesign.net website, by Monday November 4, 2019.

The Commission that will evaluate the projects will be composed of professors, industry professionals and representatives of POLI.design. The Commission’s decision will be based on a majority vote.
A final selection of up to 30 designers is expected, who will work in groups of up to 3 people composed by the organizers.
 
Info e contacts
For more details on how to participate and to present your application, Italian and foreign designers and creatives can examine the regulations available on this page.

Email:  competitions@polidesign.net
Tel: 02 2399 7206