Business Design & Innovation
OpenCareLab
What if taking care of family and friends gives you credits instead of just costing money? What if our doctor would call us because our smartphone has registered a potential health issue? What if new types of living, working and society lead to less care needs? What if new, non-medical care professions such as family health advisors make their entry in the market? What if anyone can offer and get care in a local care circle thanks to jointly created, tailormade care solutions?
The crossover project OpenCareLab looked thoroughly into the issue and came up with solutions for the future.
Inspiring prototypes for a different care
The care system in Flanders is increasingly under pressure due to a variety of high-impact social developments. Which challenges are in store for us? How do we transform them to opportunities? How different could care be in the future? How will we be able to tell the difference?
OpenCareLab
The OpenCareLab project tried to create an image of how the wider care sector would be different in the future (2020-2040). Several scenarios were presented to a group of experts and designers from different disciplines. This resulted in the elaboration of prototypes for products, services, environments, etc. for solutions for an affordable, accessible care in 2040.
Crossover open design: OpenCareLab
Crossover open design: OpenCareLab
OpenCareLab was a so-called crossover project of Design Platform Vlaanderen, initiated by Flanders Inshape in collaboration with Pantopicon. There were OpenCareLab activities in several Flemish regions, in which different target groups were involved. On the one hand, OpenCareLab had to be inspirational, by showing the potential in and for care in the future through the design of tangible concepts/prototypes of products, services, environments, etc. as well as knowledge exchange and initiation of networks between the industry, designers, knowledge centers and the wider audience. OpenCareLab applied the principles of open design throughout the process.
As a project, OpenCareLab went through several phases. With a series of interviews and an exploratory workshop with experts we built a nice basis from which a few tough challenges were formulated for care in Flanders in the future.
Those were further refined during the designer camp and translated into challenging design briefs, which we started working with in three design teams. We worked around 3 themes that were determined at the designer camp to get to a series of prototypes that can bring to life care in the 2040s. They can refer to products, services, environment/infrastructure, etc. The results can be viewed in the compilation video and in the OpenCareLab magazine below.