From smart technologies that would allow people to build their own houses, to sustainable coffins, as well as a device to collect drinking water from the air, the breadth of the proposed projects at Global Grad Show was vast and connected to almost every aspect of life.
The fourth edition of Global Grad Show, held in partnership with Investment Corporation of Dubai, featured a first look at 150 of the inventions shaping our tomorrow. The ideas came from passionate, upcoming design graduates of 61 nationalities from 100 universities, including Harvard, MIT and RCA to find solutions to the world’s most pressing issues.
Global Grad Show 2018 was a celebration of creativity from the brightest young minds around the world. A showcase of 150 life-changing inventions from 100 of the best universities globally, including Harvard, MIT and RCA, the exhibition is a central part of Dubai Design Week.
Alongside the impressive presentation of the exhibition was an inaugural innovation conference titled Belief in AI. Curated by Ben Vickers, Chief Technology Officer of the Serpentine Gallery and Kenrick McDowell, Artist + Machine Intelligence program lead at Google Arts & Culture, 400 people attended the conference and 70,000 people from around the world tuned in to the Facebook live stream. The conference focused on the opportunities presented by emerging technologies as well as the role of Artificial Intelligence and how it will affect our daily lives in the future.
On the subject of technology in design, another first time event staged by Global Grad Show this year was the Dubai Evolution Challenge. Overseen by Tuuli Maria Utrainen from the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN), international and UAE based designers were teamed up to envision the future of everyday objects.
The coveted Progress Prize went to Mirjam de Bruijn from Design Academy Eindhoven, who designed 'Twenty'; a collection of “dehydrated” household cleaning products, which will radically simplify the production and transportation of such materials by manufacturing a concentrate dry product that can be mixed with water by the consumer.
Brendan McGetrick, Director and Curator of Global Grad Show said: “What makes Twenty exceptional is that it is based on such a smart analysis of something that we all need and in reality, take for granted, and then responds with a proposal that’s both practical and beautiful.” The entire event can be captured in these few words, as it was all about rethinking the ordinary and making both visitors and participators think twice.