Ken Friedman

Chair Professor of Design Innovation Studies

College of Design and Innovation

Tongji University

Shanghai, China

Visiting Professor of Product Development

Faculty of Engineering

Lund University

Lund, Sweden

Eminent Scholar

College of Design, Art, Architecture, and Planning

University of Cincinnati

Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

   Ken Friedman is Chair Professor of Design Innovation Studies at the Tongji University College of Design and Innovation in Shanghai, China, and a Foreign High-End Expert. Friedman is Editor-in-Chief of She Ji. The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation, published by Tongji University Press in collaboration with Elsevier. He is also Visiting Professor of Product Development at the Faculty of Engineering, Lund University, Lund, Sweden and Eminent Scholar at the College of Design, Art, Architecture, and Planning of the University of Cincinnati.

   In 2008, Friedman was appointed as Dean of the Faculty of Design at Swinburne University of Technology, serving for five years. He was named University Distinguished Professor in 2010 and Distinguished Professsor of Design in 2012. He retired from Swinburne in 2017 as Professor Emeritus.

  Friedman has worked with national design policy in Australia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, and Wales, and state design policy for Victoria. He was Advisor to the Federal Interdepartmental Committee for the Design Policy Scoping Process for the Office of the Arts in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, and he served as Co-Chair of the International Advisory Group of the pilot project for DesignGov, the Australian Centre for Excellence in Public Sector Design. He was Chief Investigator of Capacity Mapping for Integrative Design, a Flagship Collaborative Fund project for the Future Manufacturing Flagship of CSIRO, the Australian Commonwealth Science and Industrial Research Organization. He is Adjunct Professor at the James Cook University School of Creative Arts in Townsville, Australia and he has been Visiting Professor at the UTS Business School, University of Technology Sydney in Sydney, Australia. He was a Fellow of The Policy Lab of Boston, Massachusetts.

  Ken Friedman works at the intersection of three fields: design, management, and art. He works with theory construction and research methodology for design, focusing on strategic design for value creation and economic innovation. Friedman has done research in philosophy of design, doctoral education in design, knowledge management, and philosophy of science. Friedman has developed international research networks and conferences in design research. He an editorial board member of Design Studies, International Journal of Design, Design and Culture, the Journal of Design Research and Artifact, and an editorial advisor for Visible Language, and the International Journal of Design Creativity and Innovation. Friedman is a member of the executive board of The Interaction Design Foundation.

   For many years, Ken Friedman served a Council Member of the Design Research Society. He co-chaired the La Clusaz Conference on Doctoral Education in Design in 2000, the European Academy of Management Conference in 2006, the Design Research Society Conference in 2006, the Cumulus International Conference in 2009, and the Hong Kong Conference on Doctoral Education in Design in 2011, as well as chairing international conferences on Design Thinking in 2009 and Strategic Design: Value Creation for Business and Industry in 2012.

In 2007, Loughborough University honored Friedman with the degree of Doctor of Science, honoris causa, for outstanding contributions to design research. The award citation appears at:

  http://www.lboro.ac.uk/service/publicity/degree_days/2007/Summer/Friedman.html

    In 1990, Friedman created the first course in strategic design in Europe for the Oslo Business School, and one of the first in the world. From 1994 to 2009, he was Professor of Leadership and Strategic Design at the Norwegian School of Management, where he worked on the knowledge economy, culture, and leadership. From 2003 to 2009, he held a research appointment at Denmark’s Design School and the Danish Design Research Center in Copenhagen.

   Ken Friedman is also a practicing artist and designer active in the international laboratory of art, design, music, and architecture known as Fluxus. He had his first solo exhibition in New York in 1966. His work is represented in major museums and galleries around the world, including the Museum of Modern Art and the Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Tate Gallery in London, the Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College, and Stadtsgalerie Stuttgart. The University of Iowa Alternative Traditions in the Contemporary Arts is the official repository of Friedman’s papers and research notes. The Silverman Fluxus Collection at the Museum of Modern Art, Archiv Sohm at Stadtsgalerie Stuttgart and the Mandeville Department of Special Collections at the University of California also hold extensive archives on Friedman’s work of the 1960s and 1970s.

Ken Friedman ORCID 0000-0001-7252-0740

Ken Friedman Researcher ID O-5459-2015

Ken Friedman Scopus Author ID 37105743500

Email:

ken.friedman.sheji@icloud.com

Current Positions

• Chair Professor of Design Innovation Studies, College of Design and Innovation, Tongji University, Shanghai, China

• Editor-in-Chief, She Ji. The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation. Published by Elsevier in Cooperation with Tongji University.

•  Visiting Professor of Product Development, Faculty of Engineering, Lund University, Lund, Sweden

• Eminent Scholar, College of Design, Art, Architecture, and Planning, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio.

• Series Editor with Erik Stolterman. Design Thinking, Design Theory. The MIT Press.

• Professor Emeritus, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia

Honors

• Chair Professor of Design Innovation Studies, 2014. Tongji University, Shanghai, China.

• Eminent Scholar, College of Design, Art, Architecture, and Planning, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio.

• University Distinguished Professor, 2010. Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia.

• Distinguished Professor of Design, 2012. Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia.

• Professor Emeritus, 2017, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia.

• DSc, honoris causa, 2007. Loughborough University. For outstanding contributions to design research.

•  FDRS, 2006. Fellow of the Design Research Society.

• King Olav V Fellow, American Scandinavian Foundation, 1988-1989.

Education

• BA, MA, 1971. San Francisco State University. Interdisciplinary studies in education, psychology, and social science.

• PhD, 1976. Graduate School of Human Behavior, United States International University. Leadership and human behavior. Honors in organizational management and behavior. [USIU merged with the California School of Professional Psychology in 2001 to become Alliant International University.]

Career Summary 1971-2021

2014-present. Chair Professor of Design Innovation Studies, College of Design & Innovation, Tongji University, Shanghai, China.

2019-present. Eminent Scholar, College of Design, Art, Architecture, and Planning, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio.

2020-present. Visiting Professor of Product Development at the Faculty of Engineering, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.

2017-present, Professor Emeritus, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia.

2020-present. Steering Committee, Future of Design Education, co-sponsored by IBM, the University of California at San Diego, and the World Design Organization.

2019-present. Advisor. Emily Harvey Foundation. New York City, New York, and Venice, Italy.

2012-2017. University Distinguished Professor and Distinguished Professor of Design, Swinburne University of Technology.

2014-present. Foreign High-End Expert, China.

2014-present. Editor-in-Chief, She Ji. The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation. Elsevier and Tongji University.

2014-2017. Research Leader, Strategic Design Research Group, Centre for Design Innovation, School of Design, Faculty of Health, Arts, and Design, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia.

2014-2020. Adjunct Professor, School of Creative Arts, James Cook University, Townsville, Australia.

2014-2017. Visiting Professor, UTS Business School, University of Technology, Sydney, Sydney, Australia.

2014-2017. Guest Editor. Leonardo Symposium on the PhD in Art and Design. A three-year project of Leonardo Journal of Arts, Sciences, and Technology. [The MIT Press]

2015-present. Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University Design Research Institute Advisory Board, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, China.

2014-present. International Advisory Board, Design and Art Institute, Shanghai Dianji University, Shanghai, China.

2014 October-2015 March. Research Assessment Committee, Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, Technological University of Delft, Delft, the Netherlands.

2013. Co-Chair, International Advisory Group, DesignGov, the Australian Centre for Excellence in Public Sector Design.

2013-2015. Chief Investigator, Capacity Mapping for Integrative Design, CSIRO Flagship Collaborative Fund, and CSIRO Future Manufacturing Flagship, CSIRO (Australian Commonwealth Science and Industrial Research Organization).

2014-present. Member, International Advisory Board, Design for Business, agIdeas Design Research Conference, Melbourne, Australia.

2013-2016. Guest Professor, Tongji University.

2012-present. International Advisory Board, College of Design and Innovation, Tongji University, Shanghai.

2012-present. Executive Board, The Interaction Design Foundation, Aarhus, Denmark.

2012-present. Fellow, The Policy Lab, Boston, Massachusetts.

2012-2014. Member of the Steering Group, Australian Design Integration Network (ADIN), Future Manufacturing Flagship, CSIRO Commonwealth Science and Industrial Research Organization.

2011. Advisor to the Federal Interdepartmental Committee for the Design Policy Scoping Process. Office of the Arts. Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, Canberra, Australia.

2010-2017. University Distinguished Professor, Swinburne University of Technology.

2010-2014. Co-Chair, International Advisory Board, Design for Business, agIdeas Design Research Conference, Melbourne, Australia.

2008-2010. Professor of Design Theory and Strategy, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne.

2008-2012. Dean, Faculty of Design, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne.

2004-2009. Professor of Leadership and Strategic Design, Norwegian School of Management, Oslo.

2003-2009. Danish Design Research Center, The Danish Design School, Copenhagen.

2000-2004. Visiting Professor, Staffordshire University, Stoke-on-Trent, UK.

1998-2000. Visiting Associate Professor of Design, Department of Experimental and Applied Aesthetics, School of Architecture, Lund University.

1994-2004. Associate Professor of Leadership and Strategic Design, Norwegian School of Management, Oslo.

1989-1994. Independent consultant in design and organizational management, Oslo.

1988-1989. Visiting artist and critic, Henie-Onstad Art Center, Oslo, Norway.

1988-1989. King Olav V Fellow, American Scandinavian Foundation.

1987-1988. Visiting designer, Oy Wärtsila Ab Arabia, Helsinki.

1981-1986. President and Publisher, The Art Economist Corporation, New York.

1980-1981. Editor-in-Chief, Art Express, Providence, Rhode Island, and New York.

1979-1981. Executive Editor, National Arts Guide, Chicago and New York.

1979. Centennial Fellow, University of Nebraska.

1976-1979. Director, Institute for Advanced Studies in Contemporary Art, San Diego.

1972-1973. Assistant Director, de Benneville Pines, Angelus Oaks, California.

1970-1971. General Manager, Something Else Press, New York and California.

Research

• Research in design theory and the philosophical and scientific foundations of design research. Developing and teaching research methods and theory construction in design.

•  Management research in leadership, the knowledge economy, and the information society. Applied research in knowledge management, organizational learning, the experience economy, creativity, and innovation. Additional research on intermedia, and on the sociology and economics of art. From 1995 to 1999, director of the Nordic Center for Innovation at the Norwegian School of Management School of Marketing.

• Long-term interest in curriculum development and program planning, emphasizing problem-based learning, problem solving, and the situated case method. Developed the concept of situated case teaching.

Selected Bibliography 2014-2021

2021

Friedman, Ken. 2020. “Editorial.” She Ji: The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation, Volume 7, Issue 1, Spring 2021, pp. 1-6. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sheji.2021.02.001

2020

 Friedman, Ken. 2020. “Editorial.” She Ji: The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation, Volume 6, Issue 4, Winter 2020, pp. 433-438. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sheji.2020.11.003

2019

• Friedman, Ken. 2019. “Editorial.” She Ji: The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation, Volume 5, Issue 4, Winter 2019, pp. 257-260. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sheji.2019.11.001

• Friedman, Ken. 2019. “Editorial.” She Ji: The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation, Volume 5, Issue 3, Autumn 2019, pp. 163-166. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sheji.2019.08.002

• Friedman, Ken. 2019. “Global Concerns, Local Models.” She Ji: The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation, Volume 5, Issue 1, Spring 2019, pp. 1-4. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sheji.2019.02.002

• Friedman, Ken, and Lily Diaz. 2019. “Intermedia, Multimedia and Media.” In Adaptation and Convergence of Media. Lily Diaz, Magda Dragu, and Leena Eilittä, eds. Helsinki: Aalto Arts Books.

• Friedman, Ken, and Erik Stolterman. 2019. “Series Foreword.” In Discursive Design: Critical, Speculative, and Alternative Things by Bruce M. Tharp and Stephanie Tharp. Design Thinking, Design Theory Series. Cambridge, Massachuetts: The MIT Press, pp. viii-xii.

2018

• Friedman, Ken. 2018. “Thinking About Dick Higgins.” In  Intermedia, Fluxus and the Something Else Press. Selected Writings by Dick Higgins. Edited by Steve Clay and Ken Friedman. Catskill, New York: Siglio Press, pp. 12-21.

• Friedman, Ken 2018. “The Earth Will Be Here. Will We?” She Ji: The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation, Volume 4, Issue 3, Autumn 2018, pp. 203-208. doi:

• https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sheji.2018.07.002

• Friedman, Ken, and Jin Ma. 2018. “A New Genre of Design Research Literature” She Ji: The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation, Volume 4, Issue 2, Summer 2018, pp. 123-124. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sheji.2018.05.001

• Friedman, Ken, and Erik Stolterman. 2018. “Series Foreword.” In Critical Fabulations: Reworking the Methods and Margins of Design by Daniela K. Rosner. Design Thinking, Design Theory Series. Cambridge, Massachuetts: The MIT Press, pp. ix-xiv.

• Higgins, Dick. 2018. Intermedia, Fluxus and the Something Else Press. Selected Writings by Dick Higgins. Edited by Steve Clay and Ken Friedman. Catskill, New York: Siglio Press.

2017

• Friedman, Ken. 2017. “Five Articles: Design and Economics, Dialogue, Design Thinking, Public Sector Design, and Morphological Delphi.” She Ji: The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation, Volume 3, Issue 4, Winter 2017, pp. 249-250. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sheji.2018.02.001

• Friedman, Kenneth. “J. H. Kocman.” J. H Kocman. Art Activities 1970-1979. Brno: Moravian Gallery in Brno, pp. 111-114, 123-126. 

• Friedman, Ken. 2017. Theater of the Object. Event Scores: 1956-2016. Dugort, Achill, County Mayo, Ireland: Redfoxpress.

• Friedman, Ken, and Erik Stolterman. 2017. “Series Foreword.” In FireSigns: A Semiotic Theory for Graphic Design by Steven Skaggs. Design Thinking, Design Theory Series. Cambridge, Massachuetts: The MIT Press, pp. vii-xii.

2016

• Friedman, Ken. 2016. “Tongji University: 110 Years of Research and Education.” She Ji: The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation. Volume 2, Issue 3, Autumn 2016, pp. 179-182. doi:

  http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.sheji.2017.03.006

• Friedman, Ken. 2016. “A Game without Rules.” Performance Research, Vol. 21, No. 4, pp. 9-19. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13528165.2016.1192862

• Friedman, Ken. 2016. “Foreword.” Research for Designers. A Guide to Methods and Practice. Gjoko Muratovski. London: Sage Publications, pp. xxi-xxv.

• Friedman, Ken. 2016. “Three Thousand Years of Designing Business and Organisations.” Designing Business and Management. Jurgen Faust and Sabine Junginger, eds. Oxford: Berg Publishers, pp. 67-80.

2015

• Friedman, Ken. 2015. “What is a Book?” (statement in) Fluxbooks. Fluxus Books from the Luigi Bonotto Collection. From the Sixties to the Future. Edited by Georgio Maffei and Patrizio Peterlini, between pp. 128-129.

• Friedman, Ken, and Erik Stolterman. 2015. “Series Foreword.” Design, When Everybody Designs. An Introduction to Design for Social Innovation, by Ezio Manzini. Design Thinking, Design Theory Series. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press, pp. vii-xi.

• Friedman, Ken, and Erik Stolterman. 2015. “Series Foreword.” Frame Innovation. Create New Thinking by Design, by Kees Dorst. Design Thinking, Design Theory Series. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press, pp. vii-xi.

• Friedman, Ken, and Erik Stolterman. 2015. “Series Foreword.” Taking [A]part. The Politics and Aesthetics of Participation in Experience-Centered Design, by John McCarthy and Peter Wright. Design Thinking, Design Theory Series. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press, pp. ix-xiii.

• Friedman, Ken, Yongqi Lou, and Jin Ma. 2015. “She Ji: The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation. Editorial.” She Ji: The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation. Issue 1, pp. 1-4. doi:

  http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.sheji.2015.09.002

2014

• Friedman, Ken. 2014. “Aesthetic Capital: Hermeneutic Speculation, Economic Themes, and the Dismal Science.” Aesthetic Capitalism. Eduardo de la Fuente and Peter Murphy, eds. Leiden: Brill, pp. 89-104. doi 10.1163/9789004274723_007

• Friedman, Ken. 2014. “Fifty Years of Nye Ffarabas.” Nye Ffarabas. A Walk on the Inside. 50 Year Retrospective. Adam Silver, ed. Brattleboro, Vermont: C. X. Silver Gallery, pp. 7-9.

• Friedman, Ken, Tongji University, College of Design and Innovation and Swinburne University Centre for Design Innovation; Yongqi Lou, Tongji; Don Norman, University of California, San Diego, Design Lab; Pieter Jan Stappers, Delft University of Technology, Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering; Ena Voûte, Delft; and Patrick Whitney, Illinois Institute of Technology, Institute of Design. 2014. DesignX. Shanghai, China: The DesignX Collaborative. (A collaborative documented signed in alphabetical order by all authors.)

• Friedman, Ken. 2014. “Models of Design. Envisioning a Future Design Education.” Emerging Practices: Professions, Values, and Approaches in Design. Ma, Jin, and Yongqi Lou, eds. Beijing: China Architecture and Building Press, pp. 14-41. Available at URL:

  https://swinburne.academia.edu/KenFriedman 

• Friedman, Ken. 2014. “Now That We’re Different, What’s Still the Same?” Doctoral Writing in the Creative and Performing Arts: the Researcher/Practitioner Nexus. Louise Ravelli, Brian Paltridge, Sue Starfield, editors. Faringdon, Oxfordshire, UK: Libri Publishing, pp. 237-263.

• Friedman, Ken. 2014. Presenting Your Research. A Guide for Speakers. A Research Skills Working Paper. Melbourne, Australia: Centre for Design Innovation, Swinburne University of Technology. Available at URL:

  https://swinburne.academia.edu/KenFriedman 

• Friedman, Ken. 2014. Reference, Argument, and Evidence. Revised Reprint. A Research Skills Working Paper. Melbourne, Australia: Centre for Design Innovation, Swinburne University of Technology. Available at URL:

  https://swinburne.academia.edu/KenFriedman 

• Friedman, Ken. 2014. Research Writing Resources. Working Paper. Research Skills Workshop. Melbourne, Australia: Centre for Design Innovation, Swinburne University of Technology. Available at URL:

  https://swinburne.academia.edu/KenFriedman 

• Friedman, Ken. 2014. Research Writing Workshop Slides. Working Paper PowerPoints. Melbourne, Australia: Centre for Design Innovation, Swinburne University of Technology. Available at URL:

  https://swinburne.academia.edu/KenFriedman

• Friedman, Ken. 2014. Writing for the PhD in Art and Design. Issues for Research Supervisors and Research Students. A Research Skills Working Paper. Melbourne, Australia: Centre for Design Innovation, Swinburne University of Technology. Available at URL:

  https://swinburne.academia.edu/KenFriedman

• Friedman, Ken. 2014. AHRC Practice-Led Review: Summary Statements. Reprint. A Research Skills Working Paper. Melbourne, Australia: Centre for Design Innovation, Swinburne University of Technology. Available at URL:

  https://swinburne.academia.edu/KenFriedman 

• Friedman, Ken. 2014. Form and Structure of the Doctorate in Design. Reprint. A Research Skills Working Paper. Melbourne, Australia: Centre for Design Innovation, Swinburne University of Technology. Available at URL:

  https://swinburne.academia.edu/KenFriedman 

• Friedman, Ken, and Erik Stolterman. 2014. “Series Foreword.” Linkography. Unfolding the Design Process, by Gabriela Goldschmidt. Design Thinking, Design Theory Series. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press, pp. ix-xiii.

• Friedman, Ken, and Erik Stolterman. 2014. “Series Foreword.” Situated Design Methods, edited by Jesper Simonsen, Connie Svabo, Sara Malou Strandvad, Kristine Samson, Morten Hertzum, and Ole Erik Hansen. Design Thinking, Design Theory Series. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press, pp. vii-xi.