Thingscon Student Masterclass

• Be part of this year’s Masterclass during ThingsCon.
• Pitch your responsible smart home concept to our experts
• Create a presentable prototype or poster for the exhibition
• Win the prize for the most interesting concept
• Maximum of 15 participants
• Apply before December 5th with this form

About the masterclass

The theme of this year’s conference is ‘Shape the Responsible IoT’ to stress the importance of development of responsible technology. By organising a masterclass for students we want to offer you the possibility to think and reflect about these aspects specifically.

We invite you to design a connected object for your home and think on the aspects that make the object a responsible connected object.

The masterclass will take place Thursday afternoon 13:30-17:30h. The masterclass is divided in four steps.

1. Preparation; we ask you to choose a non-connected object in your home. We ask to think what would be aspects that make this object a connected IoT product. With a sketch of this object and a short minute pitch you will introduce your object in the masterclass
2. Masterclass: (1) physical brainstorming in the sandbox (focus on finding function and connections), (2) quick iterations of design and show, (3) whip up drawn/mock-up designs to demonstrate the design rationale. (3 hours)
3. Reflecting; After the masterclass the design is presented to an on-stage expert panel who will take it as a starting point for reflection and critique (1 hour)
4. Sharing; The results of the masterclass will be exhibited on Friday’s exhibition. We will have a special prize for the best idea voted by the public and we invite the team to the stage in the grand finale.

The masterclass will make use of the IoT Sandbox that is developed by TU/e (Technical University Eindhoven) FutureEveryday Lab existing of a model of a smart home and an open source data platform. Joep Frens and Mathias Funk of TU/e will be the coaches of the masterclass.

The IoT Sandbox, together with its data-canvas, is conceived to be a design tool as well as a demonstration platform for IoT products. These IoT products offer a more complex design challenge than more conventional products because of their systemic and connected nature.

• Joep Frens is assistant professor in the FE cluster. He has a design background and specializes in deigning for (rich) interaction in growing systems.
• Mathias Funk is associate professor in the FE cluster. He has a background in computer science and specializes in systems design from a design tools perspective

We invite speakers from the conference that have a special relation with the smart home to reflect on the ideas of the students. We now have invited:

• Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino, writer of the book “Smarter Homes: how technology will change your home life” (http://www.designswarm.com/book)
• Tijmen Schep, designer and critical thinker, latest project is Candle, a smart home designed from privacy by design perspective (https://www.candlesmarthome.com/)
• Rob van Kranenburg, top 10 IoT influencer, leading Council internet of things and active in NGI. Developing a concept for ’disposable identities’
• Wouter Reeskamp, co-founder and creative director Sophisti design agency of connected toys and other products

Apply for the Student Masterclass

If you like to join the masterclass, fill in this form. When we have more applicants than available spots, we will make a selection based on the motivation you provided. Fill in the form before December 5th!