Design thinking places the user at the centre of the development process, helping technology developers create intuitive, user-friendly solutions.

To foster this mindset across the ANFF network, we enlisted Monash University’s A/Prof Leah Heiss, the Eva and Marc Besen International Research Chair in Design, as our inaugural Designer in Residence. Embedded within the Melbourne Centre for Nanofabrication, Dr Heiss shares her expertise in design thinking and human-centred design for health technologies, systems and services.

This initiative has already led to early successes, such as the 2022 ANFF National Staff Retreat and the 2023 ANFF-SA Microengineering School, where design thinking workshops deepened participants’ understanding of user-centred product development.

The ANFF Design Acceleration Program (DAP) further formalises this approach by offering a structured design thinking experience to our ANFF-C clients. Through DAP, these entrepreneurs can address user experience challenges and explore how their products fit within users’ lives and broader service systems. In late 2023, 2 Victorian MedTech startups, Haemograph and Symex, participated in a 3-day DAP workshop that infused design-oriented thinking into their product development processes.

Co-design adds another layer to the process by actively involving multiple stakeholders in the design process. Dr Heiss demonstrated the power of co-design during ANFF’s 2024 Sustainability Workshop, where her Interactive Co-Design session brought together participants to collaboratively envision a future for Australasian nanofacilities and nanolabs that aligns nanotechnology development with sustainable practices.

By embedding a design thinking mindset, ANFF ensures that innovations aren’t just technically advanced but also aligned with real-world needs, driving both innovation and adoption as we move towards better technology futures.