Babson College and Rhode Island School of Design Students Partner to Create New Product Designs

Thirty-nine Babson College MBA students and sixteen Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) Industrial Design students in eight joint teams have come up with eight new product concepts from their semester-long course, Product Design and Development.

The new product designs include:

* An innovative pet gate that combines aesthetics and function. It blends with your home decor, allows ease of passage for people and permits visibility of your dogs on the opposite side, where you want them. Project sponsored by Midnight Pass, Inc.

* A walking aid that is more durable, highly stable, and easily maneuvered; in a tripod design that outperforms the bulky, conspicuous, traditional walker. Project sponsored by Essential Design.

* For supermarkets, a shopping incentive system that is simple and adaptable to various store environments. Computer card scan delivers coupons to customers. Project sponsored by Incentive Targeting, Inc.

* An environmental water bottle, inspired by natural forms made from recycled materials. The bottle is made from safe plastics that will not leach chemicals into the water, while helping people reduce their consumption of disposable water bottles. Project sponsored by Recycline, Inc.

* Chappy - an innovative and beautifully designed eco-friendly chapstick targeted at outdoor enthusiasts that makes applying chapstick under extreme conditions easy and convenient.

* Also for supermarkets, a modular recipe display center to service customers with all kinds of recipes for every need in a user-friendly, engaging design.

* A baby temperature monitor that creates peace of mind for parents with sick children. It allows parents to wirelessly monitor their baby's temperature from a distance so that they may take immediate steps to reduce their baby's fever and discomfort.

* New children's furniture that is functionally smart and playfully stylish. Project sponsored by P'Kolino.

To view the teams and their designs, please visit http://www3.babson.edu/Newsroom/blog/2007_12_04150558.cfm

"Much of the value of a project-based course like ours that brings together students from two very different schools comes from the experiences the students make in working on their projects. We teach them the product development process and introduce them to tools and techniques for individual tasks, but the major gain of understanding of the multidisciplinary nature of product development comes from working through the actual problems that their teams face," said Babson Professor Sebastian Fixson.

Babson College in Wellesley, Mass., is recognized internationally as a leader in entrepreneurial management education. Babson grants BS degrees through its innovative undergraduate program, and grants MBA and custom MS and MBA degrees through the F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College. Babson Executive Education offers executive development programs to experienced managers worldwide. For information, visit http://www.babson.edu.

Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) has earned a worldwide reputation as the preeminent art and design college in the country. Today, with more than 22,000 alumni, the college enrolls roughly 1,900 undergraduates and 400 graduate students from the United States and almost 50 countries, offering degree programs in the fine arts, architecture, and design disciplines, and art education. Academic programs include research and design initiatives, the exploration of art criticism and contemporary cultural concerns, as well as international exchange programs. Each year, RISD hosts prominent and accomplished artists, critics, and authors to its campus. Included within the college is The RISD Museum of Art, which houses a world-class collection of art objects from Ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome and art of all periods from Asia, Europe and the Americas, as well as the latest in contemporary art. For more information, go to http://www.risd.edu.

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