ASU students showcase innovative products to help change the world


view of exhibit floor showcasing ASU student projects
|

Changing the world with a product is not a one-man job — which is why the InnovationSpace program at Arizona State University combines the expertise of students in five different disciplines: industrial design, visual communication design, business, engineering and sustainability.

Sponsored by companies Adidas and Johnson & Johnson, this year’s InnovationSpace program encouraged six student teams to research, create, design and narrow down three products that not only solve a complex problem, but also reflect and adapt to their surrounding environment.

On Dec. 7 from 6 to 7:30 p.m., the program held a mid-year exhibition that showcased the teams’ projects on the lower level of the Design North Building.

“What we do in InnovationSpace is teach [the students] how to take on a complex problem, work in a transdisciplinary team and come up with solutions — solutions that are good for people, good for the planet, have business value and are well engineered, and that people can appreciate and need,” said Prasad Boradkar, director of InnovationSpace.

Sydni Alaniz, a senior studying graphic design, worked with Johnson & Johnson and her team, Prism, to create a product that reduces the mosquito problem while also using principles of biomimicry.

Using the carnivorous pitcher plant for inspiration, one of the team’s product ideas, Moscape, was designed to mimic flowers and water droplets to attract mosquitoes before sucking them inside.

“InnovationSpace is a class, so we do have lectures mostly surrounding how we can make things more innovative, how we can approach our research, how we can approach our brainstorming,” Alaniz said. “We started out with over 200 general ideas, and then we had to narrow it down first to 40, then to 10, and then to the three that you see here today.”

Next semester, each of the six teams in the InnovationSpace program will select a final product to further develop and market as their final project.

More Arts, humanities and education

 

A "harp" made out of two car doors that were salvaged from an accident on display for an exhibt

Upcoming exhibition brings experimental art and more to the West Valley campus

Ask Tra Bouscaren how he got into art and his answer is simple.“Art saved my life when I was 19,” he says. “I was in a dark place and art showed me the way out.”Bouscaren is an …

Side-by-side portraits of Erin Barra-Jean and Nick Popovich.

ASU professor, alum named Yamaha '40 Under 40' outstanding music educators

A music career conference that connects college students with such industry leaders as Timbaland. A K–12 program that incorporates technology into music so that students are using digital tools to…

Palo Verde Blooms

ASU's Poitier Film School to host master classes, screening series with visionary filmmakers

Rodrigo Reyes, the acclaimed Mexican American filmmaker and Guggenheim Fellow whose 2022 documentary “Sansón and Me” won the Best Film Award at Sheffield DocFest, has built his career with films that…