Design for SDGs workshop “International Cooperation Management”

Kyushu University’s Graduate School of Design runs classes on international cooperation management for graduate students. These classes are held each year, to deepen students’ understanding of the nature of international cooperation and development assistance, taking into account the cultural differences. The class conducted in 2019 was a three-hour workshop to solve social issues using design methods, on the topic of sustainable development goals (SDGs).

In the workshop, ten students of various nationalities were divided into three groups to work on Goal 12, “Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns”, with a focus on food loss. Each team came up with ideas and presented their design proposals through four processes – understanding of the issues, concept creation, prototyping, and presentation.

Team 1
The team looked at food waste from convenience stores, coming up with a proposal encouraging Japanese convenience stores to work towards “Zero unsold food.”

Team 2
The team suggested using big data to provide the restaurant with the information of the customer’s amount of food intake, preference in taste to prepare the food. This method will reduce food waste and perhaps no leftovers in the future.

Team 3
When people live alone, they are quite likely, not able to use up all the condiments. The team focused on the waste of these seasonings, drawing up a plan for a system enabling people who live alone to buy them in an appropriate amount.