What is DFGN anyway?

Design Factory Global Network (DFGN) is a network of innovation hubs in universities and research organisations in five continents of the world. DFGN is on a mission to create change in the world of learning and research through passion-based culture and effective problem solving. Shared understanding and common ways of working enable Design Factories in the network to collaborate efficiently across cultures, time zones and organisational boundaries fostering radical innovations.
- DFGN website

DFGN currently has 35 member organizations as of December 2021. Sandbox is a proud member of the network since 2018. We actively participate in the community-building efforts of the network. Our Global Digital Innovation Project results from a fruitful collaboration with inno.space Design Factory, based in Mannheim, Germany. Apart from these tangible benefits that the DFGN provides, the aspect of having a global community of people passionate about Design Thinking gives us a sense of belonging that can't be measured.

The team behind Sandbox at the inauguration event

History of DFGN:

It all started at Aalto in 2008 when the Aalto Design Factory began its operations. The Aalto DF was the first physical manifestation of the bigger idea of creating an interdisciplinary university called Aalto University. Once Aalto University started its operations, a strategic partnership was signed between Aalto University and Tongji University in Shanghai, PR China. As part of this agreement, the Aalto-Tongji Design Factory was established in 2010, and it served as a hub for Finnish companies in Shanghai.

There were no plans for creating a global network up until this point. It was only after Melbourne Design Factory (then Swinburne DF) started in November 2011 did the plans to develop a network take root. In 2012, three more Design Factories (Duoc UC, Chile, PACE University, New York, and IdeaSquare @ CERN, Switzerland) were set up, and the network took off.

Päivi presenting the ideas of DFGN

With over 30 established Design Factories, the network has a life of its own. Even if Aalto Design Factory were to shut down for some reason, the network would continue to function, says Päivi Oinonen, DFGN Manager.

Events

Apart from collaboration opportunities with other design factories, there are plenty of other benefits that DFGN offers. One of the most important is the events that the network organizes. The events focus on sharing knowledge, problem-solving, and sometimes simply celebrating like-minded people coming together. The most significant event in the DFGN community is the International Design Factory Week (IDFW).

Once per year, representatives from each of the design factories are invited to International Design Factory Week where they learn about the best practices, plan for future collaborations, and get to know each other. The IDFW also serves as a forum for development discussions and as the governance and decision-making platform for the network.
- We are not like the other Design Factories (Your Guide to the DFGN)

The IDFW is a 5-day conference hosted at a different Design Factory each year. This event allows the hosts to introduce the local community and ecosystem to the network.

Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, USA, hosted the previous edition of the IDFW in 2019. The conference saw participation from 22 Design Factories, and 18 different collaboration projects were agreed upon. The event also saw many demonstrations of best practices and knowledge exchange.

IDFW 2019

Since the pandemic hit, many events have had to move online, and DFGN was no exception. So starting from 2020, the network pivoted, and the conference was moved online and was re-branded to be the International Design Factory Festival (IDFF). All the ideas of IDFW of networking, exchanging best practices, and collaboration were preserved, but everything was done online instead. There have been two successful IDFF events so far. Both the events saw significant participation from the members.

One of the main challenges of organizing an online event that spans the world is accounting for the time difference. The network rose to solve this problem by splitting the world into three time-zone areas: Sunrise, Daylight, and Sunset. With Design Factory Melbourne and Design Factory New Zealand hosting the Sunrise zone; Design Factory Aveiro, Portugal and inno.space from Mannheim, Germany hosting the Daylight zone, and St. John's University Design Factory, Queens, New York hosting the Sunset zone, the festival went on smoothly across time zones. The festival spanned five continents and saw participation from 25 design factories. There were 55 events with over 65 hours of program. It was a massive success with many public sessions and specific networking and collaboration events for the representatives.

So to sum it up, the DFGN is a network that provides access to other like-minded innovation hubs across the world. It is a platform for knowledge exchange and collaboration opportunities in the Design Thinking world. As we mentioned before, Sandbox is a delighted member of DFGN, and we are committed to building a solid Design Thinking community here in Estonia.