Image Concept Kitchen 2025 by Ikea.
Example: BIO-DIGESTER KITCHEN ISLAND BY PHILIPS, 2011
Philips, a company focused in electronics, healthcare and lighting, developed the “Philips Design Probes Program” (1996 – 2012) to “create concepts based on research into emerging ‘societal signals’ and technologies” looking far into the future. Thirteen Vision Concepts are arranged in a specialized portfolio called Design Futures.
Probes projects “are intended to understand future socio-cultural and technological shifts”, culminating in “a ‘provocation ‘designed to spark discussion and debate around new ideas and lifestyle concepts”. Insights gained from debate around the concepts feed into future innovation for the company, “improving the innovation hit rate”.
This Vision Concept is a repositionable kitchen island that is the central hub in the Microbial Home system. The island consists of “a methane digester that converts waste into methane gas that is used to power a series of functions in the home”.
It was exhibited at the Dutch Design Week in 2011. The concept was supported by the Philips foresight initiative, which was developed through the webpage http://designprobes.ning.com/. Additional to the exhibition and the webpage a comprehensive report that “captures all the concepts, though processes and intellectual property ideas”, was used as the input of several workshops within the company.
More info on: “Design of Vision Concepts to explore the future: nature, context and design techniques” (http://jrms.pktweb.com/?p=3777)