The first gathering of its kind in Chile, the Service Design Congress (1o. Congreso Chileno de Diseño de Servicios) has been organised by the School of Design at Universidad Católica, Laboratorio de Gobierno and Service Design Network Chile. The event will take place on 10 September 2015 in Santiago. 

British Council Chile and Universidad Católica have teamed up to bring to the Congress one of the leading figures in Service Design, John Thackara, who will do a keynote presentation and lead a workshop. Both events will be open to students as well as the public in general.

In his presentation intitled The Transformative Potential of Service Design, John Thackara will address the social and ecological impact of design and ways to promote changes through small interventions and experiments. In an economic climate where collaboration and interconnectivity are increasing, we will need to share resources: energy, time, skills, software, space, food etc. To accomplish this, we need to use social systems and communication networks, as well as Service Design, to our advantage. 

The workshop will comprise a collaborative brainstorming session where participants will develop Service Blueprints based on an existing opportunity in a given region. The focus will be on learning how to value and highlight resources that are often ignored (projects, people and spaces), and how to combine these components into a new actionable and sustainable service.

For further information visit www.congresodisenoservicios.cl.

About John Thackara

Design expert and founder of The Doors of Perception, an innovation project whose central focus is to promote a coherent system that combines sustainability, design, innovation and business. Since 1993, The Doors of Perception organises conferences attempting to address the new perspective of a sustainable future realistically, taking into account the needs of business and the participation of comuniades. John works with companies, cities and governments to redesign services and structures from a panoramic view. He was director of research at the Royal College of Art in London (1998-2002) and the Netherlands Institute of Design (1993-1990), directed The Design Observer and design section of The Spectator. He is a member of the Parliament's Standing Commission on Design in the UK. He is the author of several publications, including Clean Growth: From Mindless Mindfulness to Design Development, Innovation. (White Paper 1/6), Series Editor Stuart MaDonald, The Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, 2009. Would not It Be Great If .... Designs of The Time Manual. London, Design Council, 2007. In the Bubble: Designing in a Complex World. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 2005. Winners! How Europe's Most Successful Companies Use Design To Innovate. London: Ashgate, 1999.