PAMELA L. JENNINGS, PHD (WORK)
Center for Design Innovation
University of North Carolina System-wide Research Center in Winston-Salem, NC
Role: Executive Director
University of North Carolina System-wide Research Center in Winston-Salem, NC
Role: Executive Director
CDI Annual Report
MISSION
As a world-class research center blending the art and science of creativity the CENTER for DESIGN INNOVATION was an incubator designed to inspire disruptive enterprise and discovery with creative technologies; design research; and new cultural and creative forms of expression.
GOALS
STRATEGIES
Cultivating Future Innovators: From a maker’s curiosity to an entrepreneur’s invention, the Center welcomed lifelong learners to explore new creative and technical skills.
Design Research: The Center was designed to be a facility of networked advanced design and digital manufacturing technologies to support ambitious, fi eld-expanding, leading-edge research.
New Performance Studies: The Center CUBE was designed to support explorations on human perception and performance ranging from large-scale data-vizualization to new performing arts.
LaunchPAD: The Center community outreach sought to bridge the gap between having and realizing great ideas.
ABOUT
The CENTER for DESIGN INNOVATION was a multi -campus research center of the University of North Carolina system. Located in the Wake Forest Innova on Quarter in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. As a new kind of incubator engine powering people across a region long known for its innovations in manufacturing and the arts, the Center worked broadly with academic, business, and local community organizations.
A NEW CHAPTER
The Center for Design Innovaion on revved its engine in late 2014 in preparation for the long-awaited April 2015 move into its new building. Moving from the downtown Winston Tower to the new facility was a ten-fold increase in square footage, partner and community expectations, and program development. We moved into the beautiful architectural structure - a blend of 20th century brutalist and 21st century open contemporary design. It was a building of “strong bones” stripped to the bare minimum due to a rather terse value engineering exercise due to an under-budgeted project. The inaugural year in our new home marked the beginning of a campus/community based center that was literally ten-years in the making. Over a ten-year time period champions of such a project come and go; original intentions are re-interpreted; and academic financial resources, the base which was thankfully earmarked, faded away. We entered this new chapter with an inadequate budget; lack of appropriate capacity in technical and program management staff ; and a technology base that was for the most part beyond its updatable lifespan. Despite these short comings, enourmous community enthusiasm dotted with new academic cheerleaders helped us to leverage the immense potentials and promise of the Center for Design Innovation. While simultaneously, campus and community stakeholders worked behind the scenes to build a stronger foundation for the sustainability of the Center. Despite these short-comings, the CDI grand opening sparked a year of exciing events and activities that brought approximately 7,388 visits to the CDI during its first year in its new facility.
As a world-class research center blending the art and science of creativity the CENTER for DESIGN INNOVATION was an incubator designed to inspire disruptive enterprise and discovery with creative technologies; design research; and new cultural and creative forms of expression.
GOALS
- To be a fertile environment for learning and research.
- To be a “building as platform” supporting new discoveries with advanced technologies.
- To be a regional accelerator for design thinking, entrepreneurship and creative innovation.
- To be a global magnet for the development of cuttng edge ideas.
- To be a provocateur, expanding creative horizons and broadening local boundaries.
STRATEGIES
Cultivating Future Innovators: From a maker’s curiosity to an entrepreneur’s invention, the Center welcomed lifelong learners to explore new creative and technical skills.
Design Research: The Center was designed to be a facility of networked advanced design and digital manufacturing technologies to support ambitious, fi eld-expanding, leading-edge research.
New Performance Studies: The Center CUBE was designed to support explorations on human perception and performance ranging from large-scale data-vizualization to new performing arts.
LaunchPAD: The Center community outreach sought to bridge the gap between having and realizing great ideas.
ABOUT
The CENTER for DESIGN INNOVATION was a multi -campus research center of the University of North Carolina system. Located in the Wake Forest Innova on Quarter in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. As a new kind of incubator engine powering people across a region long known for its innovations in manufacturing and the arts, the Center worked broadly with academic, business, and local community organizations.
A NEW CHAPTER
The Center for Design Innovaion on revved its engine in late 2014 in preparation for the long-awaited April 2015 move into its new building. Moving from the downtown Winston Tower to the new facility was a ten-fold increase in square footage, partner and community expectations, and program development. We moved into the beautiful architectural structure - a blend of 20th century brutalist and 21st century open contemporary design. It was a building of “strong bones” stripped to the bare minimum due to a rather terse value engineering exercise due to an under-budgeted project. The inaugural year in our new home marked the beginning of a campus/community based center that was literally ten-years in the making. Over a ten-year time period champions of such a project come and go; original intentions are re-interpreted; and academic financial resources, the base which was thankfully earmarked, faded away. We entered this new chapter with an inadequate budget; lack of appropriate capacity in technical and program management staff ; and a technology base that was for the most part beyond its updatable lifespan. Despite these short comings, enourmous community enthusiasm dotted with new academic cheerleaders helped us to leverage the immense potentials and promise of the Center for Design Innovation. While simultaneously, campus and community stakeholders worked behind the scenes to build a stronger foundation for the sustainability of the Center. Despite these short-comings, the CDI grand opening sparked a year of exciing events and activities that brought approximately 7,388 visits to the CDI during its first year in its new facility.
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