Armand Hatchuel,a professor at the french school of mining in Paris (ENSMP), has developed a joint training programme for engineers and designers.

Rail & Recherche: How did this joint training programme for engineers and designers come into being?
Armand Hatchuel: When we created the Design Engineering programme in 1994 at the ENSMP, we wanted to set up a partnership with a new school, Strate College Designers. Professors there would conduct workshops in which engineering students would be obliged to think differently about innovation, while my colleagues and I would teach design students about the history and methods of industrial design. The idea was to preserve each profession’s identity while creating a new, common language for them.


R & R: What need does this type of training answer?
A.H.: Companies now compete on innovation. Values and habits are evolving, and nobody can predict what the key design criteria will be. Now when we set out to create a new product using new techniques, we start from a blank slate with regard to values and functions. For example, the shift to digital photography required rethinking not only camera technology, but also the values and uses associated with photos themselves. Nowadays, successful innovation calls not only for a combination of many different competencies, but also for a reassessment of the basic notions underlying them! Traditional professions like development engineer, architect and designer are going to change.