Umeå Institute of Design tops world's most prestigious schools – ranked #1
NEWS
The Umeå Institute of Design at Umeå University was an overwhelming winner in the 2013 International Design Excellence Awards (IDEA). They were more successful than prestigious design schools in China, the US and UK, and demonstrated once again that they are among the world's best in industrial design education.
In addition to the strong IDEA performance, the Umeå Institute of Design has been ranked first among European and American schools by Red Dot, and second on the European iF list.
“Although all awards and competitions are subjective in their own way, we can still certainly now declare that the Umeå Institute of Design has first-class education,” says Rector Anna Valtonen. “The awards are a measure that what we do here in Umeå is important and that we are advancing forward with our design education.”
Umeå Institute of Design’s success is a combination of several factors. They work closely with industries, have small class sizes and have students of 30 nationalities. The institute has created a platform for innovation with its friendly and innovative environment.
“It is rare that small Nordic universities survive in such a fierce international competition regardless of the educational area they operate in , so we are obviously very happy - both for the institute school and for Sweden,” continues Anna Valtonen.
The students - both current and recent graduates - at the master's programme in advanced product design that submitted their concept for the IDEA awards can be proud of their achievements with two gold medals, one silver and three bronzes.
The concepts of the gold awards for this year are ERO by Ömer Haciomergolus from Turkey and Safewave by Philip Nordman Andersen from Denmark. The ERO Concrete Recycling Robot was designed to efficiently disassemble concrete structures without any waste, dust or separation and enable reclaimed building materials to be reused for new prefabricated concrete buildings. It does so by using a water jet to crack the concrete surface, separate the waste and package the cleaned, dust-free material.
SafeWave is a robotic rescue buoy for beach authorities who are unable to employ professional lifeguards. It is designed to locate and rescue people from strong, dangerous and ultimately life-threatening rip currents. It is intended to be located in dedicated rescue stands positioned at strategic locations along the beach.
This year's first place total award ranking by the Umeå Institute of Design School is followed by Dalian University (China) who won four IDEA awards, and the Art Center College of Design (United States) and Zhejiang University (China), who each won three awards. Over the last five years, the Art Center College of Design leads with 27 total awards.
“The Umeå Institute of Design has won a total of 16 IDEA awards in the past five years which places us third among award winning schools worldwide,” says Thomas Degn, director of the master’s degree programme in advanced product design. “We are far ahead of competing design schools in Europe.”
IDSA, the Industrial Designers Society of America, is the world’s largest professional organization for industrial designers. They have been organizing the International Design Excellence Awards (IDEA) since 1980.
Umeå Institute of Design winners IDEA 2013
Gold
Ömer Haciomergolu (Turkey) – ERO Philip Nordman Andersen ( Denmark) - SafeWave
Silver
Cenk Aytekin (Turkey) - Asthma Wellness Kit
Bronze
Gosha Galitsky (Israel) - Red Carpet William van Beek (Canada) – Hydrologic Kim Risager (Denmark) – Hyperion Maxime Dubreucq (France) - Ergonium
Petra Käck, Communications Officer, Umeå Institute of Design Phone: +46 (0)90-786 71 56 E-mail: petra.kack@umu.se
Photo captions: Philip Norman Andersen's rescue buoy SafeWay and Ömer Haciomergolu's recycling robot ERO - depleting concrete structures by means of high pressure water.
