Ideas Laboratory

Since 2016 the Ideas Laboratory has been integrated within the Basque Ecodesign HUB.

The Ideas Laboratory focuses on researching new market trends and emerging themes regarding the environment and products at the Basque Ecodesign Center. The Ideas Laboratory began operating in October 2012 and is currently located in the o?ces of Ihobe, the publicly-owned company of the Basque Government’s Ministry for the Environment and Territorial Policy.

The Ideas Laboratory is made up of the Ihobe technical team, along with the supply of external experts in ecodesign and a team of recently quali?ed researchers in di?erent ?elds, selected through a speci?c programme implemented in conjunction with the Novia Salcedo Foundation (NSF).

At the beginning of 2015, the third intake of researchers, consisting of 4 women and 2 men, joined the Ideas Laboratory. The Ecodesign Learning Centre at the Bilbao School of Engineering of the University of the Basque Country (EHU-UPV) is also involved in this second phase.

The researchers spend 12 months at the laboratory and a new team of researchers will therefore continue with the work at the start of 2016. The aim is thus to enable the training and participation of new researchers and open up the way for professionals from di?erent ?elds trained in Ecodesign to enter the market.

Apart from the environmental watch work, the Idea Laboratory team is also working on di?erent technical projects of the Basque Ecodesign Center.

Functions of the Ideas Laboratory

The Ideas Laboratory emerged in order to drive innovative ideas when designing more environmentally friendly products and services that meet the challenges or problems of the partner companies of the Basque Ecodesign Centre, in particular, and of Basque Society in general.

Therefore, the Ideas Laboratory has been set up as a technology monitoring centre capable of identifying the trends and future challenges in the held of ecodesign and eco-innovation. It also aims to streamline the generation of synergies among the partner companies in the search for new business lines where the environment is the driving factor.

The Ideas Laboratory helps to drive the innovative and environmentally-committee image of the partner companies and has been set up as a non-formal space in which to foster cooperation, co-creation, open innovation and user–focused design.

The Laboratory carries out three functions as set out in the following diagram: being a competitive environmental watch and monitoring centre, streamlining synergies and thematic research and, finally, being an ideas consultancy.