Prof. Carlos Hinrichsen
Professor Carlos Hinrichsen graduated as an industrial designer in Chile in 1982 and earned his master’s degree in Engineering in Japan in 1991. Currently, he is Dean of Faculty of Digital Design and Creative Industries at the Universidad San Sebastian, based in Santiago, Chile. At present, Chile is in transition from an efficiency-based towards an innovation-based economy. In order to achieve this important national goal, the university contributes with measures and initiatives combining applied research, innovation, business, design, digital transformation, technology and engineering.
From 2007 to 2009, Carlos Hinrichsen was president of the World Design Organization (formerly Icsid) and currently serves as senator within the organisation. In 2010, he was honoured with the distinction “Commander of the Order of the Lion of Finland”. From 2014 to 2016, he was Dean of the Faculty of Business, Engineering and Digital Arts at the Gabriela Mistral University in Santiago and from 2016 to 2017, he was the Senior Managing Coordinator of Engineering Design in the School of Engineering in the P. Universidad Católica de Chile. For more than three decades he has led interdisciplinary teams to enable corporations, educational and other institutions to gain leadership and competitive positioning.
Red Dot in an interview with Prof. Carlos Hinrichsen
Red Dot: Why is it important for engineers and designers to work closely together?
Prof. Carlos Hinrichsen: We live in a world which is as much beaten by digital transformation as it is illuminated by it. People, companies, societies, industries and countries make use of the latest Big Data technologies to improve performance, increase their reach and achieve better results to the benefit of citizens and economies. Due to the high level of complexity of digital technologies, the simplicity of use demanded from these solutions as well as the expectation of a broad scope of domestic and professional applications, the collaboration of both worlds is crucial.
What are the challenges for product designers in today’s world?
The novelty of the Fourth Industrial Revolution lies in the fact that technologies are enabling an unprecedented collaboration between humans and machines, between humans and intelligent systems. This collaboration extends and strengthens our human capabilities – in this process, design plays a key role.