Industry Design Sprint

Over the last three days, we had more than 40 students from nine different partner schools participate in an Industry Design Sprint.

The students were split into seven teams and on the first morning, each team visited a local Geelong industry to gain understanding and learn about some challenges they were facing.

After collaboration, teams decided to address the following issues:

• Boomaroo Nursery – how to stop a particular plant from growing into the adjacent pots.
• Barwon Water – ideas on how to make their Black Rock facility more appealing to the public.
• Cobram Estate – how to combat the energy consumption involved in transporting empty bottles across the country.
• Worksafe – prevention of common push/pull injuries from occurring in the workplace.
• GenU – a more practical way of setting up their nursery and a way to sort dirt that required less manual labour.

Each team came up with a variety of ideas, and with the help of the Geelong Tech School staff, set to work on designing and creating prototype solutions.

On the final day of the design sprint, each team presented their solutions to a panel of judges, as well as an audience full of their peers, families, and representatives from each of the partner industries.

Throughout the sprint, the students worked with Upstart to help them plan out their presentations, and we were very fortunate to have three Design students from The Gordon help mentor some of the teams.

Mr Seven Vinton, from Oberon College, said that the event was:

“Such a great opportunity. My students loved it.”

We’d like to congratulate all students involved for their creative solutions, willingness to get involved, and courage to present their ideas in front of a large crowd.

This event was organised as part of Geelong Design Week 2022, an initiative of Geelong UNESCO City of Design and the City of Greater Geelong.