INITIAL BRIEF

Testing Mine in Örebro, Sweden

The collaboration idea for this project is: to develop a new type of product in the area of "Rescue in mines" with a focus on user-centered design innovation.

Thousand of miners die from miner accidents every year, specially in the process of coal mining and hard rock mining.  Most of the deaths today occur in developing countries like: China, India, Mexico and rural parts of developed countries, mining rescue is the very specialized job of rescuing miners and others who have become trapped or injured underground in mines because of mining accidents and disasters such as explosions caused by firedamp, roof falls or floods.

The aim of this project is to propose a new and innovative solution to rescue miners. 

WHY "RESCUE IN MINES"...?

In the summer of 2008 after to have completed my first year of MA in Advanced Product Design in Umeå, I started a 3 months internship in the design department at Atlas Copco in Örebro, Sweden. I had the opportunity to know better what a big company like Atlas Copco does and discover the chances I have as a designer to collaborate together in a beneficial product in the mining industry. My former boss Alex brought about the idea to design a beneficial "something" to rescue people in mines, also could be used to prevent further accidents.

Umeå Institute of Design philosophy is to create innovative products which improve people's lives, therefore both matched perfectly into my idea to combine the big industry and the beneficial product, likewise in a design terms I feel is an unexplored field which has many opportunities to end up with a real project.

I am looking forward to start my degree project in collaboration with Atlas Copco and my tutors are: Alex Liebert by Atlas Copco  and Anders Smith by the UID.