Finn Kooijman Winner of the SMC BMC Design Award 2019 – “Sustainable Mobility” –

Finn Kooijman (student Industrial Design Engineering at Technical University Delft) has won the Gold Award of the SMC BMC Design Award 2019. During the Award Ceremony at Composites Europe he presented the Arcus, a docking and recharge unit for electrical scooters. Arcus offers an innovative solution for the littering of cities by electrical vehicles, while still promoting sustainable transport of people in urban environments.

The theme of this year’s edition of the SMC BMC Design Award was “Sustainable Mobility”. It is the 2nd time the European Alliance for SMC BMC successfully organized the design competition. With the objective to find new applications for these versatile materials, students from design schools around Europe were invited to submit their projects.

As winner of the SMC BMC Design Award Gold Award, Finn received a prize of 7,500 € in cash. In addition, he will receive support from the European Alliance Members to fine-tune his design for improving functionality and manufacturing ability, with the objective to help successfully introduce the Arcus into the market.

WINNING DESIGN

The winning Arcus design from Finn Kooijman was a docking and recharge unit for electrical scooters, integrated with trendy street furniture. Besides better protection for these vehicles (translating in a longer service life), and reduced city littering by scooters left behind on the street, a robust docking unit will increase acceptance of the scooters by consumers and encourage local governments to promote shared transport solutions in densely populated urban environments.

“For me it was great to participate in the SMC BMC Design Award, and I am truly excited to win,” comments Finn Kooijman. “It was a nice experience to learn more about SMC and to get the exposure to the companies working in this field. I was a bit nervous at the award ceremony, but this prize makes me feel very happy and does make me forget all the long hours I invested in the project.”

“The Jury thought that Finn’s design was best in line with the Sustainable Mobility theme, promoting share-mobility and therefore resolving a real problem in urban areas” adds Joan Montobbio, Managing Director of Menzolit Spain and UK, and Chairman of the Jury. “We envision this application can be made in SMC and successfully commercialized. The Jury liked the detail of the design process, including the design philosophy and drivers. Also we liked very much the marketing-ability and relevance to society and consumers.”

NEW IDEAS FOR SMC

The Alle team (consisting of Maria João Melo, Inês Mimoso, and Mauro Silva of ESAD Oporto, Portugal) developed the Alle, an electric and autonomous vehicle for control, patrol, and maintenance of roads. The Alle functions include road marking and air pollution measurement. This unmanned multi-purpose vehicle can work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and helps to make traffic safer and cleaner. The Jury mentioned the Alle was a great concept that is really pushing the imagination, and is visionary for that reason. The team received the Silver Award.

The Rayboard team (consisting of designers Ana Rita Pintão, Nídia Rodrigues, and Simão Chaves of ESAD Oporto, Portugal) designed an electric-powered body board for sustainable nautical tourism. This body board will provide high comfort and safety, and is easy to use both above and under the water surface. The unique shape was inspired by the natural shape of the Stingray. The team received the Bronze Award, particularly for the stunning and sleek part design.

“This Design Award brought my students an alternative industry perspective on product design and it was an interesting challenge to work with this new material,“ mentions Jeremy Aston, Design Professor at ESAD Oporto and supporting his students during the award ceremony. “The students had to really ‘think-out-of-the-box’ and come up with ideas that benefit from the full potential of the SMC BMC material. The experience was very rewarding and I can recommend others to participate in future SMC BMC Design Awards”.

More information about the SMC BMC Design Award on https://smcbmc-europe.org/award.php.

ABOUT THE JURY

The SMC BMC Design Award 2019 was focused on developing new ideas and product solutions for SMC and BMC in “Sustainable Mobility”. The projects were reviewed in detail by an independent Jury against the key selection criteria: Creativity, End-user functionality, Feasibility in SMC BMC, and a Minimum of 4 SMC BMC performance criteria used.

The Jury consisted of expert members from both the Design community and the Composites industry:

  • Joan Montobbio, Jury Chairman, Managing Director of Menzolit Spain/ Menzolit UK, Vice-President of the European Alliance for SMC BMC
  • Joachim Froment, Independent designer, worked for Skibsted Ideation (Denmark) on Sustainable Mobility projects
  • Andrea Ratti, Professor Composites Engineering and Design at Politecnico Milano, Italy
  • Hubertus Rehermann, Technical Director SMC BMC Component Manufacturing for Mercedes-Benz cars, Germany

DESIGN AWARD BACKGROUND

The SMC BMC Design Award is the international design competition organized by the European Alliance for SMC BMC. This competition recognizes and promotes design excellence by Design students or Young Design professionals while using SMC and BMC advanced materials in their designs.

The SMC BMC Design Award is intended to reinforce that SMC and BMC are innovative, versatile, cost effective and safe materials, used in products that make significant beneficial contributions to individual consumers and to society. More information about the SMC BMC Design Award on https://smcbmc-europe.org/award.php.

EUROPEAN ALLIANCE FOR SMC BMC

The European Alliance for SMC BMC is an industry association of European companies involved in the SMC and BMC technology, promoting the benefits of SMC BMC Composite solutions through:

  • Connecting key stakeholders in the supply chain
  • Providing details on typical end-uses
  • Explaining the features and associated benefits
  • Making available design information to engineers and designs
  • Facilitating the information exchange at selected events

More information about the European Alliance for SMC BMC on https://smcbmc-europe.org/. The European Alliance is an association operating under the umbrella of EuCIA in Brussels, Belgium.