News Update | “Future Design” TASA Salon Successfully Held

On March 25, 2024, the Art and Science Innovation Salon series with the theme of “Future Design” by Tsinghua (Qingdao) Academy of Arts and Science Innovation Research (TASA) was successfully held. LU Jun, founder of Qingdao Jinbei Luodian Cultural Industry Development Co., Ltd., LIU Weiyong, CEO of Qingdao Yongwei Yueda Electronics Co., Ltd., and nearly 200 teachers and students from universities and colleges in the West Coast New Area were invited to the event. During the event, the big names gathered together, and the on-site discussions were enthusiastic. The guests and the audience fully exchanged their experiences and insights on design empowerment and technological practices.

Before the salon began, the attending guests, university teachers and students first visited the International Art & Science Collaborative Innovation Works Exhibition themed “Where Art Meets Science · A Better Future Is Created”, the Exhibition on Health, Well-being and Senior-friendly Design, and the Excellent Works Exhibition of the Global Sportswear Design Award hosted by TASA. Exhibits from around the world, representing a large number of top exhibits from international cutting-edge industries related to art and science, left a deep impression on the audience, bringing insights and reflections on exploring the combination of art and technology to every viewer.

Before the salon began, the attending guests, university teachers and students first visited the International Art & Science Collaborative Innovation Works Exhibition themed “Where Art Meets Science · A Better Future Is Created”, the Exhibition on Health, Well-being and Senior-friendly Design, and the Excellent Works Exhibition of the Global Sportswear Design Award hosted by TASA. Exhibits from around the world, representing a large number of top exhibits from international cutting-edge industries related to art and science, left a deep impression on the audience, bringing insights and reflections on exploring the combination of art and technology to every viewer.

LUO Xin, Senior Manager of TASA, delivered a speech titled “Design Thinking and Innovation” in the afternoon salon of “ID Trends and Innovation”, discussing the concept of design thinking from the perspectives of why businesses and designers innovate, what innovation is, and understanding and driving innovation. Design thinking, as a thinking method, emphasizes a human-centered approach with a focus on “problem-solving”, typically consisting of the five stages of empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test. Through this iterative process, businesses or design teams can continuously gain new insights and feed later-stage knowledge back into earlier stages. Information is continually used to inform the understanding of problems and solutions, redefine problems, and encourage businesses or designers to think beyond traditional mindsets and approach problems from a fresh perspective.

LU Jun, founder of Qingdao Jinbei Luodian Cultural Industry Development Co., Ltd., delivered a fascinating speech on mother-of-pearl inlay art. Through the sharing, we’ve learned that the history of mother-of-pearl inlay craftsmanship can be traced back to the Xia and Shang dynasties, where artisans began using mother-of-pearl inlays to decorate various objects. Over time, the craftsmanship of mother-of-pearl inlay continued to evolve and improve, gradually forming a unique artistic style. Apart from its distinctive visual effects, the mother-of-pearl inlay embodies profound cultural connotations. LU Jun believes that Qingdao is a fashionable coastal city, where its marine culture and the craftsmanship of mother-of-pearl inlay complement each other and paint a beautiful picture together. The essence of the design lies in the perfect integration of thoughts and culture. In order to not only inherit traditional skills well but also showcase their value in contemporary society, we need to utilize Qingdao’s unique cultural resources to interpret the beauty of this city through exquisite craftsmanship, attracting more people to discover and appreciate the unique charm of traditional skills as intangible cultural heritages.

LIU Weiyong, CEO of Qingdao Yongwei Yueda Electronics Co., Ltd., shared the topic of “Entering AI, Using AI, and Mastering AI”, emphasizing the core role of human judgment in the development of AI in terms of the development of artificial intelligence (AI) and its impact on human work and life. He shared his rich experiences and successes on how to use AI technology to restore historical images and create new cultural products and experiences by integrating virtual reality and augmented reality. Additionally, the speech mentioned the application of AI in the design process, such as how to capture and reproduce image features through deep learning and tensor computation, and how enterprises and individuals can build large models to use AI more efficiently. He pointed out that the rapid development of artificial intelligence is reshaping our work and lifestyle, with its multimodal capabilities combining text, image, audio, and video content creation, bringing new opportunities for product design and marketing. This interdisciplinary skill fusion will further drive the development of AI technology.

Finally, the three speakers at the afternoon salon took the stage together to have in-depth exchanges with the audience on the topics of opportunities and challenges of AI development, innovative ways of designing traditional handicraft products, etc.

This TASA Salon has stood on the high ground of futuristic intelligent design. Beyond exploring the profound changes brought by technological advancements, it has also sparked reflections on the future direction of humanity. The salon event transcends the boundaries of the present and the future, setting a benchmark for the trajectory of design innovation and showcasing the power of merging art and scientific innovation.