Female designer wins Fashion Design Award for Adidas collaboration at the London Design Museum
The Design Museum names infographic and research project ‘Anatomy of an AI System’ by Kate Crawford and Vladan Joler as the Beazley Design of the Year 2019
The project explores the social and environmental impact of owning a voice assistant device – including the amount of human labour, data and resources that are required during the lifespan of just one device
Other winners include MUJI and Sensible 4’s ‘self-driving’ bus for all weather conditions, Korean-influenced sportswear by Jin Won Choi in collaboration with Adidas and CATCH, a low cost HIV detector.
Anatomy of an AI System, a research project and infographic map that brings to life the real-world consequences of voice assistants, has been named by the Design Museum as the overall winner of the Beazley Designs of the Year 2019 and the Digital Category.
Have you ever wondered how your voice assistant is made, and the impact it can have on our planet? Taking the Amazon Echo as an example, the project includes a visual diagram illustrating the global impact of an AI device across its lifetime. It investigates the three main parts required to build and operate a voice assistant – from the environmental effects of extracting rare earth metals and the wide disparity in workers’ income, to the data that these devices can gather without the users’ knowledge.
Some of the key information highlighted by designers, Kate Crawford of AI Now Institute and Vladan Joler, includes the disparity in wages between a CEO from the industry, earning up to $275 million US dollars a day to a child miner, who would need to work approximately 700,000 years to earn the same amount (as documented by Amnesty International)*. The project questions whether the convenience provided by these devices is worth their social and environmental consequences.
Dr. Paul Thompson, Chairman of the 2019 Judges and Vice- Chancellor, Royal College of Art said:
‘AI is such a prevailing feature of the future of technology it seemed the perfect moment to analyse its impact, which this project does. In the future, when you purchase a piece of digital hardware it could have the ingredients listed. This project shows how this might look and makes everyone who sees it think about all the unseen impact of tech hardware. You will never look at your smart home hub the same way again.’
Deyan Sudjic, Co-Director, Design Museum said: It is wonderful to be able to celebrate the winners of the 2019 Beazley Designs of the Year, at the same time as we prepare to welcome our two millionth visitor to the Kensington museum. The Beazley Designs of the Year exhibition brings to the forefront the most revealing, intriguing and exciting new design from around the world and is a vital part of the museum’s programme. It is what makes us the world’s most visited museum of contemporary design and architecture.
The large-scale Anatomy of an AI System map is included in the exhibition.
Design Museum Category winners of the Design Awards:
Fashion category winner
Name: adidas Originals by Ji Won Choi Designers: Ji Won Choi in collaboration with adidas
Architecture category winner
Name: Maya Somaiya Library Designers: Sameep Padora and Associates
Digital category and overall winner
Name: Anatomy of an AI System Designers: Kate Crawford of AI Now Institute and Vladan Joler
Graphics category winner
Name: Amorepacific architectural branding Designers: Sascha Lobe at Pentagram with L2M3
Product category winner
Name: CATCH: The HIV Detector Designers: Hans Ramzan
Transport category winner
Name: GACHA Self-driving Shuttle Bus Designers: MUJI and Sensible 4
Visitors were able to vote for their favourite designs in the exhibition gallery and on the Design Museum website. MySleeve, an add-on to make crutches more comfortable, received the most votes from the public.
Name: MySleeve Designers: Marie Van den Broeck
The six category winners along with the 70 other nominations are on display at the Design Museum until February 9, 2020.
Trevira wins Brandenburg Innovation Award
Trevira has been named winner of the “Brandenburg Innovation Award for Plastics and Chemistry 2019” by the Brandenburg Ministry of Economic Affairs for its new flame retardant, UV-resistant polyester yarn. The yarn, which is available in a variety of colours, is specially designed for outdoor applications. It was selected for the award by a jury of five, with the prize-giving ceremony taking place at the Cluster Conference Plastics and Chemistry on 21 November.
Trevira GmbH’s innovative new yarn combines multiple qualities in a way never before achieved for a polyester textile. The yarn features permanently integrated flame retardancy and UV protection, along with durable colour that is highly resistant to washing. It has immense potential for numerous applications in highly regulated outdoor sectors – for example in areas such as lounge furnishings for cruise ships.
CEO Klaus Holz said, “We are extremely pleased that our innovative development has been recognised by the jury of the Brandenburg Innovation Award. Our product demonstrates the enormous talent and potential of our development department.”
Five companies were nominated for this year’s innovation award, which carries a EUR 10000 prize. As part of the selection process, each company was invited to meet the jury in person to talk about their product. The Brandenburg Ministry for Economic Affairs describes the prize as rewarding outstanding ideas and solutions by Brandenburg start-ups and companies, along with creative solutions from cross-sector partnerships between companies and research institutions.
Trevira GmbH is an innovative European manufacturer of high-value branded fibres and filament yarns for technical applications and hygiene products as well as for home textiles, automotive interiors and functional apparel. Two production sites and a Marketing and Sales office with a total of approx. 1,100 employees are located in Germany. These are supported by an international marketing and sales organization. In 2018, sales amounted to around 235 million Euros. The head office of the company is located in Bobingen near Augsburg. Owner of Trevira GmbH is Indorama Venture PCL, Thailand.
Trevira has a worldwide reputation for fibres and yarns for flame retardant polyester home textiles (Trevira CS), for its fibre specialties for hygiene products and technical applications as well as for low-pill fibres for functional apparel.
USDA announces Awards to put Conservation Innovation to Work on U.S. Farms
USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is awarding more than $24 million in grants through the On-Farm Conservation Innovation Trials (On-Farm Trials), a new component of the Conservation Innovation Grants first authorized in the 2018 Farm Bill.
“The Conservation Innovation Grants program is funding the future of conservation and agriculture,” said NRCS Chief Matthew Lohr. “These On-Farm Trials will allow us to put the latest innovations in conservation to work on the land, while providing new data to show producers across the nation what these systems and practices can do for the health of their operations and our natural resources.”
SDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is awarding more than USD 24 million in grants designed to help partners implement and evaluate innovative approaches that have demonstrated conservation benefits on farmland.
The funding is provided through On-Farm Conservation Innovation Trials (On-Farm Trials), a new component of the Conservation Innovation Grants first authorized in the 2018 Farm Bill.
“The Conservation Innovation Grants program is funding the future of conservation and agriculture,” said NRCS Chief Matthew Lohr. “These On-Farm Trials will allow us to put the latest innovations in conservation to work on the land, while providing new data to show producers across the nation what these systems and practices can do for the health of their operations and our natural resources.”
On-Farm Trials awardees work with NRCS and farmers and ranchers to implement innovative practices and systems on their lands that have not yet been widely adopted by producers. Awardees are required to evaluate the conservation and economic outcomes from these practices and systems, giving NRCS critical information to inform conservation work in the future.
Sixteen projects are receiving On-Farm Trials awards, including nine awards under the banner of the Soil Health Demonstration Trial. These nine projects focus on the adoption and evaluation of soil health management systems and practices. The remaining seven projects focus on irrigation water management, precision agriculture and a variety of management technologies.
Awardees include:
- The Soil and Water Conservation Society: Proposes to work with almost 50 producers to carry out trials or comprehensive zone nutrient management and precision cover crop strategies. The Soil and Water Conservation Society is partnering with several agriculture retailer co-ops on the project, which includes economic and social evaluations of the on-farm activities.
- Water Resources Monitoring Group: Proposes to partner with local ag organizations in Illinois, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin and others to carry out trials of innovative cover crop approaches with at least 120 ag producers. Part of the Soil Health Demonstration Trial, this project will use a replicated strip, field and paired-basin scale approach to robustly measure the conservation, economic and social outcomes of the field trials.
- Clemson University: Proposes to work with 18 farmers in South Carolina to implement its Clemson Water Management System, which combines sensor-based and site-specific water application technologies with an Internet-of-Things approach to make precise water application information available on a handheld device in real time. The field trials intend to demonstrate that the system can enhance water use efficiency and farm profits while reducing energy use and nutrient leaching into groundwater.
For a full list of recipients or to learn more, visit the On-Farm Trials webpage.