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SOLUTIONS BY DESIGN WORDS: SAM DAVIES
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verybody always has a tendency to exaggerate their industry in terms of importance, but frankly, I think the invention of additive manufacturing and the factoring in of algorithmic, AI-based design is at least as big as the invention of the microchip.”
Hyperganic CEO Lin Kayser is back talking about the potential he sees in burgeoning design and manufacturing technologies. We are a few months on from when he last spoke to TCT, where he referenced the ‘huge shift’ required to turn engineers onto AI-based design and where he outlined why he thought it important that such a shift take place. As each day passes, the climate crisis becomes more pertinent and so too does Kayser’s demand for design innovation. In the microchip, he sees a product type that has transformed the computing sector over the last few decades, and as it did, companies were forced to explore algorithmic design. Through Hyperganic, this is what Kayser is hoping to drive for the rest of manufacturing. What motivated him to pursue his Hyperganic venture was Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth, where Kayser's eyes were opened to the fact that reducing, reusing and recycling wasn’t going to be enough to tackle the climate crisis now facing us. We are around 15 years on now and Kayser has brought a software solution to market that – he believes – will enable significant change to the way products are developed. And yet, he’s still regularly pursuing the insights from climate activists. More recently, he watched a speech given by Christiana Figueres – renowned for her invovlement in the Paris Agreement – at the 2018 DLD Conference. It was further reinforcement that technologists will be key in addressing climate change and she’s ‘stubbornly optimistic’ that they will. So is Kayser. “When you talk to young people, a lot are depressed and they’re saying, ‘Everything is going down the drain, my future is going to be less enjoyable than your past.’ And I don’t think that’s true,” he tells TCT. “I think we have the capabilities and additive plays
“The solution to climate change lies in industrial innovation.” a huge role in that to create something that is quite positive. I saw the invention of the smartphone. If you go back 10, 20, 30 years, there’s no resemblance to what it looked like before. It’s incredible how much has evolved
there. If we can move general manufacturing, design and engineering of objects to that paradigm, all bets are off how the next 10-20 years are going to look like and that’s exactly what we need.” Of course, additive manufacturing has long touted the design freedom capabilities it possesses to enact more sustainable products. Some have perhaps exaggerated that potential, or failed to mention how much energy is used and material wasted throughout the entire workflow. While efforts are now being made in the AM sector to ensure additive workflows are as sustainable as they can be, Kayser suggests more will needed to be done. “It’s not about lightweighting or making the supply chain shorter – this is a great start, don’t get me wrong, but it’s not going to be the significant part,” Kayser suggests. “The design innovation part, these rapid cycles, is what is going to help us create objects and machines that can help us solve these crises. If you create completely new products, completely new breakthroughs in engineering, that’s how you get to [carbon] zero.” AI-based design – often in conjunction with additive manufacturing – is how Kayser thinks that can be achieved. Using algorithms, he believes a new level of design complexity can be reached; design cycles can be significantly sped up; and knowledge can be more easily shared across industries. Kayser’s vision for the future of design and manufacturing is one that leans heavily on innovation and on manufacturers being prepared to change the way they do things. But, as he expects to hear at the upcoming UN Climate Conference in Glasgow, it’s imperative that they do. “I think [design innovation] is probably the decisive element,” Kayser finishes. “I can only quote Christiana Figueres. She said that the fourth industrial revolution is the one thing that can solve this, nothing else. I don’t think we should forget about all the other things, lifestyle changes etc, there’s lot of things that can help us become more sustainable. But the solution lies in industrial innovation. I think it is probably the most critical component.”
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