Royal College of Art

Industry: Other
Region: EMEA
Company Size: Medium
Solution: Theme-based design Awards

“The support of an industry partner like Research In Motion with BlackBerry gives a real-life aspect and perspective to the projects.”

Rama Gheerawo Deputy Director, Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design, RCA

Challenge

The Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design is the longest running research centre at the RCA, looking at how design can improve life for people
Designers have become more socially conscious, and through the advances in digital technology, are using it to embrace the functionality and style of their designs.
Research In Motion (RIM) has been supporting the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design for over seven years, providing guidance, mentoring and access to the latest technology for the students

The Industrial Design team at RIM have been collaborating with RCA for over 7 years. Each year a 12 month project supports research associates and students teams to contribute their ideas against a theme. The themes are typically a convergence between a design and social challenge.
In 2012 five student teams worked for a month on the theme “Belonging and Becoming” using the BlackBerry PlayBook to help integrate older people into their communities.
The research results were celebrated at an exhibition during the Helen Hamlyn Design Awards in June

The winning student project for 2012 was Land Care, which looked at ways to help turn old people’s homes into more exciting and vibrant places to live and work
This continues to highlight RIM’s focus and dedication to design and innovation in universities to help mentor the influencers of tomorrow