About ServDes

ServDes, the Service Design and Innovation conference, is the premier research conference for exchanging knowledge within Service Design and service innovation studies. Born as a yearly Nordic conference, ServDes has now become a bi-annual international event with the aim of bringing researchers and practitioners together to discuss, share and evolve the emerging discipline of Service Design, and design-related service innovation.

Service Design is now a recognised field of design research and practice, with a growing international network of practitioners and academics. However, publications in this field have mainly focused on establishing the discipline and their volume is still limited and dispersed. There is a growing need for original research on Service Design and for dedicated places for its dissemination. The ServDes conference is an answer to this call. Even if the conference is research focused, the format and the selection of publications are relevant for academics, practitioners and industry. ServDes is organised around themes that are defined by the conference committee and organisers. The papers are peer-reviewed in a double-blind review process and published in the conference proceedings.

Conference committee

Yoko Akama
RMIT University, Australia

Jeanette Blomberg
IBM, USA

Carla Cipolla
Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Simon Clatworthy
School of Architecture and Design, Norway

Stefan Holmlid
Linköping University, Sweden

Yong Se Kim
Sungkyunkwan University, South Korea

Satu Miettinen
University of Lapland, Finland

Nicola Morelli
Aalborg University, Denmark

Janne-Valtteri Nisula
Laurea UAS, Finland

Lia Patricio
University of Porto, Portugal

Daniela Sangiorgi
Politecnico di Milano, Italy

A short history

ServDes conference was born on a bridge in Pittsburgh U.S. during the Emergence 2007 Service Design Conference organized by Carnegie Mellon University. Professor Simon Clatworthy (AHO), senior lecturers Virpi Kaartti (Laurea UAS) and Janne-Valtteri Nisula (Laurea UAS) decided to create a scientific multidisciplinary Nordic Service Design & Innovation conference. Soon professor Stefan Holmlid (Linköping University) and professors Nicola Morelli and Christian Tollestrup from Aalborg University joined the initiative. ServDes founding members are: AHO, Laurea UAS, Linköping University, Aalborg University.

The first conference was held in Oslo in AHO. It was done as a co-operation between the founding members, Simon Clatworthy as its main organizer. ServDes got a good start. Some 50+ international research papers were accepted. Second ServDes conference was held in Linköping University, Stefan Holmlid as its main organizer. This time conference gained about 60+ scientific papers. During the second ServDes conference its program committee decided to change the conference from Nordic to international due to international interest.

Third ServDes conference was held in Laurea University of Applied Sciences in February 2012. Its main organizers were Janne-Valtteri Nisula and Virpi Kaartti. ServDes.2012 was part of World Design Capital Helsinki 2012 program.

Why attend

ServDes is a great opportunity to take part in the discussions that are shaping the young discipline of Service Design. It also offers great ways to share both academic and practical insights, and for those who are not yet familiar with the emerging discipline, it is a learning experience which can inspire new design thinking and business opportunities.

For the practitioner, ServDes provides a platform to change and exchange knowledge about how Service Design can be applied in different domains and professions. Inspiration about new tools and techniques, cutting edge research, and insights about how others design services allow practicing designers to develop their skills, and perhaps change the way they work. Of course, the conference also offers ways to meet with like-minded and plant seeds of future co-operations, and last but not least, it is a great way to come into contact with potential clients.

For companies in all sectors, the conference is a way to see and hear about the potential of Service Design. Cases will be presented by practitioners and academics, but also by companies that have already worked in one way or another with service designers. Workshops and other types of sessions will provide practical insights about what Service Design is and how it can fit into different business areas. All in all, this is a great way for companies with varying degrees of experience of working with Service Design to reinvent their business.

For academics who focus their work on Service Design, this is the premiere conference and the only one with a double-blind review process, thus ensuring academic credibility and fair judgements of submissions. All accepted papers will be published online for easy access. Aside from that, in-depth case studies highlighting challenges and solutions described by practitioners will increase the understanding of the field, but also allow important research results to be communicated directly back to the practicing service designers.

For all who visit the conference we will make sure that it is a memorable and fruitful experience.