Envisioning ECODeCK

The chapter presents the rationale behind the conception of ECODeCK in relation to the challenges posed by the sustainable transition of the manufacturing sector. The project ECODeCK is rooted in the assumption that design practice and research can play a pivotal role in fostering sustainable transition, a word often used as a marketing claim rather than a fundational value to inform production stategies. More specifically, ECODeCK is grounded in the idea that design can be a powerful cognitive tool to connect people, organizations and ecosystems. Indeed, the chapter aims to introduce how building capacity through design can have impact at these three different levels: (i) on people by fostering their sustainability competences development, (ii) on organizations by informing new strategies to cope with sustainable transformation, (iii) on ecosystems by contributing to support the development of effective entrepreneurial ecosystem and policies. ECODeCK propose to leverage the interconnection of these levels to promote a paradigmatic change about sustainability through project-based learning training. The solution-oriented and pragmatic approach characterising designerly ways of thinking become the enabling factor for trainees to face sustainability challenges, envision new production ecosystems and inform collective actions eithin and beyond their organization.