Introduction

The rise of digital companies like Apple, Google and Amazon has transformed user experience beyond recognition. Customers have huge expectations when it comes to products and services, and digital technologies are often the cornerstone of improving experience. Of course, these expectations spill over into the workforce, and businesses are being forced to digitise systems to improve efficiency and become more agile. These are just some of the reasons that global spend on digital transformation is set to hit almost $2trillion by 2022!

Despite investment hitting such heights, a whopping 84% of companies fail at digital transformation. The reasons for this are many, but one common mistake is the lack of consideration for the user. This event is dedicated to how design can be used to guard the human element as more organisations and sectors get disrupted. Together, we will explore how industry can prepare for and benefit from digital disruption, and how organisations can work with academia to drive innovation and create the products and services of the future – with the emphasis on Human Digital Design.

Location

Exhbition and Registration is at Northumbria University, School of Design

Talks and panels will be at Newcastle Business School, CCE1-002, just oppposite of the School of Design!

Program

9.00-9.30 Coffee, exhibition and demonstrations of collaborative research

Follow this link for a complete list of research posters!

9.30. Introductions: Digital Disruption and Human. Digital. Design.

Professor Lars Erik Holmquist, Northumbria University and Digital Disruption Network

Charlie Hamilton, Digital Client Relationship Manager, Northumbria University

Professor George Marston, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Research and Innovation, Northumbria University

9.40. Opening keynote: How Home Group and Northumbria University are developing new models of care with digital technology.

Lindsay Courtney, Clinical Lead Intermediate Care, Home Group

Gareth Crinnion, IS Business Relationship Manager, Home Group

Home Group is a registered charity that provides health, social care and housing services. These services include a wide range of specialist support and care services for people with complex needs. In a new research project together with Northumbria University, Home Group is going to be testing new digital services to enable individuals to live fulfilled lives. The site for the project is the new Innovation Village in Gateshead, which will explore modern methods of construction through modular housing builds, using smart technology to monitor their construction and performance.

10.15. Panel: People Power - how humans will make or break your digital transformation, co-presented by Dynamo and Innovation SuperNetwork

Panelists:

Prof Steven Kyffin, Pro-Vice Chancellor, Business & Enterprise, Northumbria University 

Fay Cooper, Lead Product Owner, DWP Digital 

Col Campbell, Higher Education UK Lead, Accenture

Stuart Pill, Head of UX, Virgin Money 

Prof John Vines, Northumbria School of Design

Laura Kemp, Cluster Engagement Manager, Dynamo North East

Digital technology has changed the way we live and work. The rise of ubiquitous computing and smartphones has created an always on society with higher than ever expectations when it comes to products and services. It’s also given rise to new and disruptive business models – Airbnb has changed the way we travel, Uber has changed the way we move around, Amazon has changed the way we shop, Facebook has changed the way we communicate, and Google has changed – well everything. These companies have put user experience at the heart of what they do, providing the utmost in convenience to its users. As more traditional business respond to the changes in the market, upgrading how they operate and becoming increasingly agile is essential to survival. But getting the most out of emerging technology has its own implications on workforces. This panel will explore how organisations are balancing disruption in the market, and disruption in ways of working – all from the perspective of human centred design.

11.00 Coffee, exhibiton and demonstrations of collaborative research

At Northumbria School of Design.

11.30 Panel: The Immersive Industry in the North East, co-presented by PROTO and Digital Catapult

Panelists:

Rachel Burdis, Tech Sector Lead, Gateshead Council

Victoria Hunter, Project Manager at MAADIGITAL

Ryan Bousfield, Founder / Creative Director, Wolf & Wood

Robert Currie, Digital Skills and Technology Specialist, Digital Catapult

The North East is becoming a powerhouse in immersive technologies. Drawing on the region’s rich history in digital and game development, this is now a thriving sector. Much of it is centred around the PROTO Emerging Technologies Centre in Gateshead, which opened last year and hosts offices, co-working spaces, production facilities and an Immersive Lab. But how can we hypercharge the sector and develop the new innovations and grow the new leaders both from a human and digital perspective? This panel will explore how the industry can continue to grow and what comes next in immersive tech.

12.15 Closing Keynote: Disrupting Design: The Evolution of Google’s Material Design

Dr. Elizabeth Churchill, Director of User Experience, Google, USA

http://elizabethchurchill.com/about/

We are very fortunate to have Dr. Elizabeth Churchill, Director User Experience at Google, give the closing keynote.

In her keynote, Elizabeth will talk about how she built and directed interdisciplinary research initiatives to improve the utility and usability of various Google tools and frameworks. These include Google's open-source backed Material Design, an adaptable system of guidelines, components, and tools that support the best practices of user interface design, and Flutter, Google’s portable UI toolkit for building beautiful, native applications for mobile, web, and desktop from a single codebase.

Bio:

Elizabeth is a Director of User Experience at Google, the Executive Vice President of the Association of Computing Machinery, a member of the ACM's CHI Academy, and an ACM Distinguished Scientist and Distinguished Speaker. With a background in psychology (neuro, experimental, cognitive and social), Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Science, for the past 20+ years she has drawn on social, computer, engineering and data sciences to create innovative end-user applications and services. She has built research teams at Google, eBay, Yahoo, PARC and FujiXerox. She holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge, an honorary Doctor of Science (DSc.) from the University of Sussex, and in September will be awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Stockholm. In 2016 she received a Citris-Banatao Institute Award Athena Award for Women in Technology for her Executive Leadership. 

At Google, she is currently working on user experience (UX) for designer and developer tools. Based in the viewpoint that we need better tools if we are to develop truly excellent user experiences, over the past several years she has built and directed interdisciplinary research initiatives to improve the utility and usability of various Google tools and frameworks, including Flutter (flutter.io) and Google's Material Design (material.io).

About her research, Elizabeth says: “I am an applied social scientist, interactive technology designer and social communications researcher. I have a background in psychology (neuro, experimental, cognitive and social), Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Science. For the past 18 years I have drawn on social, computer, engineering and data sciences to create innovative end-user applications and services. For the past few years, I have been most active in the areas of ubiquitous and mobile computing, social media, computer mediated communication, locative media and Internet/Web sciences. During this time, I have designed and evaluated enterprise and consumer-facing information/communication applications and services for desktop, mobile, tablet and large screen devices. I have also worked on infrastructure design for collaborative workflow systems and for Internet-based applications and services. Having worked in the UK, the US, and Asia, I am particularly interested in understanding how technical, cultural and social factors affect the ways in which people do (or dot not) communicate and collaborate.”

12.50. Final remarks

13.00. Exhibition and networking continues

At Northumbria School of Design.

Note: The research exhibition stays open until May 31 in the Design Building foyer!

Part of the North East Digital Festival

In collaboration with

About Digital Disruption

In the Digital Disruption Network, companies and organisations work together with academics to explore deep, future-oriented research questions related to emerging digital technologies. To find out more visit digitaldisruption.org.uk