Prof. Cees de Bont, the Dean of the School of Design at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU), visited MSE at the invitation of Ms. Ji Qian, a lecturer in the Department of Industrial Design, on Jan. 4, 2018 . Prof. Liu Xinxiong, Associate Prof. Long Ren, the Director of the Undergraduate Academic Office, Ms. Tan Qiong, the Director of the Graduate Academic Office, Ms. Cui Bingfeng, and the Director of the Office of Discipline Construction and Internationalization, Ms. Gan Huijie attended the meeting.
The the meeting was held at 9:30 A.M., at the beginning of which Prof. Liu Xinxiong introduced MSE Department of Industrial Design and proposed the idea of launching joint educational programs with PolyU. The two parties had a spirited discussion, laying a solid foundation for future cooperation in this regard.
After the meeting, Prof. de Bont visited MSE State Key Laboratory of Digital Manufacturing and Equipment with the company of Ms. Ji Qian and Engineer Tan Bo at the Experimental Center. The professor showed great interest in the lab facilities and spoke highly of the research progress made in it.
In the afternoon, Prof. de Bont gave a lecture on “New Directions for Design Research and Education”.
He began by introducing the curriculum of PolyU School of Design, and then shared some cases centering on the three key words of “society”, “manufacture”, and “economy”. He said that it is important to master design thinking, skills and interdisciplinary technologies, and to learn how to communicate with the society in order to better understand the needs of their partners and cooperate with them.
Also attended the lecture are Prof. Li Chunfu, Associate Prof. Cao Huai, Associate Prof. Long Ren, Lecturer Wu Lei, Lecturer Ji Qian, Lecturer Zhu Zhijuan, etc.
[A Short Bio About Cees de Bont]
Cees de Bont is the Dean of the School of Design at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, the Chair Prof. of Industrial Design, Swire Chair Prof. of Design, and renowned expert at design management and innovation. He has taken up the deanship in the School of Design of PolyU since 2012. Prior to his appointment at PolyU, he was the Dean of the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands in 2005. Both are rated as the world’s top universities for design by Business Week.
