KIDE
COMBINING CREATIVE GAMES AND 3D PRINTING TECH TO EMPOWER PRIMARY SCHOOLS TO DEVELOP CHILDREN'S CONSTRUCTIVE THINKING AND DESIGN SKILLS.
About You
Background Information
First Name
Dejan
Last Name
Mitrovic
Twitter URL
https://twitter.com/?category=people#!/playkide
Facebook URL
The competition is only open to people between 18-34 years-old and resident in UK, Ireland, Sweden, Denmark or the Netherlands. Does this apply to you
Yes.
Country of residence of entrepreneur
UK
Tell us about your personal background. Why are you passionate about this issue? Making an idea a reality takes innovation, dedication and strong leadership. Do you have the necessary entrepreneurial skills to realize your vision?
I am a design entrepreneur, with a:
BA in Industrial Design from the IUAV University in Venice, Italy
MA/MSc in Innovation Design Engineering from the Royal College of Art and Imperial College London, UK
I have experience in product, service, graphic, web, brand design and other creative jobs: photography, video, art, etc.
I specialise in design sustainability, design enterprise, design for the developing world and design for children.
I currently work at:
SEED Foundation (Social Environmental Enterprise Design), as a designer
Sustain RCA, Royal College of Art, as a design tutor in sustainability
Ravensbourne College, as a design tutor
Imperial College London, as a design tutor
With previous education in the Italian, Russian, British systems and work experience in France, the RCA offered me a multi-structured and high level approach in combining art, design and engineering into a complex unity. I have a special affiliation to British education as it has always provided me with the best support and guidance for my career and that is why I would like to start implementing my KIDE project in the UK, rather than somewhere else.
In the last couple of years I have been working on many diverse design projects with and for children of different ages and backgrounds. This specialisation was almost spontaneous and I realised that it is the area of design I enjoy most of all and that I would like to focus my further creative career in that direction. I have occasionally taught in several primary schools and the children always responded very actively. Therefore, I believe that the enthusiasm has been a mutual symbiosis for the kids and myself.
I believe that every kid (and adult) is creative, and I created KIDE to allow anyone to easily express their maximum creativity through a playful educational experience of designing a personalised toy and making it on a 3D printer.
About Your Organization
Organization Name
KIDE
Organization Website
Organization Country
United Kingdom, LND, London
Country where this project is creating social impact
United Kingdom
Is your organization a
For‐profit
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Innovation
The Need: What problem are you trying to solve?
The inspiration for KIDE came from looking at today’s children and their lifestyles. Often, computers are their first toy, learning tool and social medium. Children still enjoy playing with ‘real’ toys, but addiction to the virtual world makes the children lose perception of real, physical things and the ability to rationally understand shapes, objects, materials and motion in reality. Rather than trying to take kids away from computers, KIDE’s aim is to offer children a fun learning tool and let them use computers in a creative way to allow them to turn their ideas and imagination into reality using modern technology.
The Solution: What is your solution? Be specific!
KIDE is a creative educational game that allows children to design and make 3D printed toys in schools. It is a complete system, which includes a 3D printer with dedicated software and fun games with creative tasks. KIDE offers a unique 3D printing experience to schools, teachers and most importantly to kids. The system of different games cover different subjects and integrate into and upgrade the National Curriculum. In today’s world where children's play, communication and even learning are highly virtual, there is still need for a link with the real world. KIDE games encourage children’s constructive thinking and develop various design skills and augment the perception of 3D and aim to create a balance between children’s virtual and live play. The aim is to get the children to use computers in a more creative way and to learn to be creative through a fun experience.
The Model: Walk us through a specific example of how your solution makes a difference; include your primary activities
One example of my KIDE activities is a workshop fo kids.
The workshops can vary in duration, number and age of participants and design theme.
Every workshop starts off with a brief introduction about design, 3D printing and what the task will be. Then, the participants are encouraged to start sketching their idea on paper and think about its look from different views, to get an understanding of what it will look like in 3D. Once they define their idea, they are given a computer with a special software package, custom designed for KIDE, in which they can easily and freely design their original idea. At the end, all the files are collected centrally, converted into appropriate file formats and sent to the 3D printer, where the participants can see their ideas being made, right in front of them.
This is an example of a brief session that runs for a few hours during one day. For details on workshops that I ran in schools, which lasted for up to 10 days, please visit: kideville.tumblr.com
The workshops have proven an immense success and the designs that the kids come up with seem incredible for that age. I have worked with kids as young as 4/5 y.old and their results were astonishing. The KIDE model clearly proves that the kids need a platform that allows them to express all the ideas they have in their mind, and this is exactly what KIDE aims to do and succedes in.
The Marketplace: Who are your peers and competitors? Identify others also working to address the needs you are and what differentiates you from them. What challenges could these players pose to your success or growth?
As kide is a completely innovative and unique concept, it doesn't have direct competitors, although several similar technological, game or educational projects exist (Figure Prints, Genometri, EA games Spore, BBC Bamzooki, Lego). There are many 3D printing services and educational games being developed, but KIDE brings games, toys and education together.
Some schools in the UK have implemented RP machines, but they are used in exactly the same way as they are in design colleges/studios- to design products and shapes in CAD software and print them to visualize the result. The students that usually use them are usually aged of 16 or older. It is a very 'raw' application and doesn't realize the particular needs, opportunities and potential of children using 3D printing to learn and play.
Select the stage that best applies to your business
Operating for 1-5 years
This Entry is about (Issues)
Social Impact
What is the social impact you have had to date and how you measure it?
With the KIDE system, I have worked with over 300 kids of different ages, nationalities and in different environments (schools, museums, galleries, homes). As I progress, the quantitative numbers will increase, but my main metric is Qualitative, where I can show and prove the impact KIDe has on a child's creative expression and interest in the design/technology field. KIDE is a platform that can and will expand onto other subjects, using the same methodology and similar tasks/tools.
In a primary school that hosted KIDE workshop, I worked with 70 kids aged 8-9. At the start, less then 30% were interested in drawing and designing. After the KIDE sessions, over 80% were interested and more than half actually expressed interest in becoming designers, architects, engineers, etc.
Sustainability
How does your model address financial, social, and environmental sustainability?
As a project, kide has a very strong social goal- of improving school education and directing children's interests and knowledge in a modern and creative way.
The particular 3D printing technology was chosen for its small scale, cheap and simple manufacturing and recyclability of materials. KIDE and the 3D printer manufacturers have started working on development of shredding of packaging products to produce materials for printing and technologies for recycling/melting printed parts back into raw material for reuse.
Game themes and toy tasks were designed in such a way to encourage sustainable thinking and creating, and a positive lifestyle and behaviour. The tasks provoke problem solving and finding solutions with minimum use of materials and appropriate geometry. It also develops an innovative, playful approach to learning and school subjects. The game tasks were designed in such a way, which at the same time encourages teamwork and uses less material, by creating fewer parts, but still keeping the learning outcomes at a maximum.
Financially, KIDE is a sustainable business model because it is a for-profit with sales of technology, software and training schemes, with a core goal of creating a positive social,educational impact.
Awareness & learning
How do you see social entrepreneurship contributing to the improvement of developing countries?
As a design entrepreneur, I have personally started and worked on different social design innovation projects for developing countries.
One of them is a portable home desalination unit for developing countries - MyWater. In countries like Bangladesh, there is lots of water, but little healthy water. The device is a low-cost, low-tech solution to all the water problems at the same time, as it removes not only salt, but also bacteria, microbes and harmful metals. It runs off residual heat from a cooking stove.
Another one is a chair for Ugandan rural schools (kitigunia.com). Locally produced by hand from available resources and materials (coffee sack, bamboo sticks, rope, hay and local mosquito-repelling plants for filling). The ease of manufacturing, allows it to be created by older students for the younger ones in less then 30min each. The chair is incredibly light and portable and works as a bag for books when folded up and carried around.
What aspects of your stay in Uganda as part of the competition do you think you will find most challenging and rewarding?
I have been involved in design projects in Ghana and Uganda before and have found both incredibly interesting, inspiring and educational. I like working with local people and learning from them, therefore that is something I am most looking forward to. Knowledge Transfer. I also like to exchange experiences and skills, and I believe that the more different the two ends (cultures, nations, professions) are, the more interesting the learning outcome can be. I love people. I love working with people. I love learning from people and I love teaching people.
I also love Africa and have always been very interested in it, therefore I am very keen on such projects.
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 | 57 weeks ago Dejan Mitrovic updated this Competition Entry. |
| 58 weeks ago Dejan Mitrovic updated this Competition Entry. |
| 58 weeks ago Dejan Mitrovic submitted this idea. |
