Experimental Environments
Martijn Paulen | Dutch Design Foundation
World Design Embassies: open coalitions for social issues
Strategic director of the Dutch Design Foundation Martijn Paulen and his team have realized in the last decade an increase in the involvement of the creative industry in the major social tasks and also a greater demand from industry and social and government organizations to seek help with transitions. and innovations. Based on his optimism and belief in the problem-solving capacity of designers to make the world a better place, he expanded the Dutch Design Foundation (DDF) during that period with the Dutch Design Embassies and the What if labs, to offer a broader range of collaborations and to enable developments.
During Drive, Martijn will discuss the development of the World Design Embassies (WDE), a program in which different parties work together on complex social issues on an equal footing. In open coalitions of partners, the WDE connects design power to national transitions with themes such as health, safety, mobility, sustainability and inclusiveness. With the ambition of the transition to a sustainable, liveable and social society for us and the generations after us.
In 2013, Martijn Paulen became director of the Dutch Design Foundation, the umbrella organization of Dutch Design Week, Dutch Design Awards, World Design Embassies and the What if Lab. Since taking office, he has further developed the organization by focusing on experiment, innovation and crossovers in design, as well as through collaboration with industry and the work and development of young talent. In the coming years, Paulen will shift his focus within the organization to the development of World Design Embassies and What if Lab.
Paulen, trained as an organizational psychologist at Tilburg University (2001, cum laude), previously worked as an organizational consultant at Rubicon, taught Organizational Sciences at Tilburg University and was director of Innovation & New Learning Strategies at TIAS Nimbas Business School.
