Meet an enthusiastic team of passionate innovators.
KRISTEL VAN AEL
Partner at Namahn, associate professor at the University of Antwerp
Alex Ryan
VP of Systems Innovation and Program Director of MaRS Solutions Lab
peter jones
Co-founder and frequent co-chair of the RSD Symposium,
co-founder of Systemic Design Association
philippe vandenbroeck
Partner at Shiftn
Sabrina Tarquini
Co-creator of the toolkit
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Stefanos Monastiridis
Co-creator of the toolkit
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Koen Peters
Co-creator of the toolkit
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Joannes Vandermeulen
Business developer
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A few years ago, the need of tackling increasingly complex projects pushed Namahn and shiftN to collaborate on a Systemic Design toolkit. At the RSD5 symposium in Toronto (2016), the two partners presented the first version of the toolkit and assessed its fit for purpose during the conference workshop.
Since then, the original authors have collaborated with Peter Jones (Systemic Design Association) and Alex Ryan (MaRS Discovery District) for continued development of the toolkit towards a mature version, ready for use.
Namahn
Namahn is a human-centred design agency based in Brussels, Belgium. With over thirty years of experience as an independently owned agency, Namahn offers design solutions that empower organisations to do great work.
As a pioneer in their field, Namahn has developed pragmatic methods and techniques to support the co-creation of solutions with clients and stakeholders.
Their expertise in making toolkits together with research and work in systems thinking led Namahn to play a major role in the development of the Systemic Design Toolkit.
Working with private organisations, government and NGOs, Namahn helps to make an impact through design.
MaRS Discovery District
Located in Toronto, Canada’s largest and most diverse city, MaRS brings together educators, researchers, social scientists, entrepreneurs and business experts under one roof. Being an entrepreneurial venture founded by civic leaders, Mars aims at bridging the gap between what people need and what governments can provide.
As a home to entrepreneurs and a bridge to the business world, MaRS helps companies bring breakthrough ideas to market and scale globally. MaRS works with corporations willing to leverage their global reach to assist startups seeking footholds in foreign markets. Corporations, in turn, are embedding teams at MaRS to boost creativity, scout talent and rekindle their entrepreneurial flames.
Systemic Design Association
The Systemic Design Association was founded in October 2018 as a non-for-profit association. SDA was originally known as Systemic Design Research Network, a cooperative educational group created in 2012.
SDRN was founded at AHO, Oslo School of Architectural and Design, in partnership with OCAD University, Toronto and was organized by a standing committee of six co-organizers.
The association aims at advancing the practice of systemic design as an integrated discipline of systems thinking and systems-oriented design. SDA convenes an annual international symposium, Relating Systems Thinking and Design (RSD). The event contributes to advance the knowledge, theory, and publications in the domains of systems-oriented design, but also industrial and social systems design methods in systemic practice.
ShiftN
ShiftN is a consultancy based in Leuven, Belgium. With a strong expertise in systems thinking, the agency helps a variety of clients – from government to private organisations - create clarity in complexity, envision new futures, put in place novel experiments and explore new value creation models.
The team includes mature and flexible professionals eager to contribute constructively to society’s gravest challenges. As a community-of-practice, ShiftN bases its work on the three pillars of ideas, dialogue and design, in order to generate learning, bring together conflicting worldviews and identify solutions.
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