#NEF On November 24, the second long-awaited networking event for designers and manufacturers took place - Factory tour

        On 24 November, the second long-awaited networking event for designers and manufacturers - Factory tour - took place. During the tour, designers, architects and those interested in industrial design visited three factories in Ivano-Frankivsk and the region. During the first Design as a Business event held earlier, we identified a number of challenges in industrial design and production: lack of access to production processes and prototyping spaces, low awareness of technology and material properties, and a lack of or weak design component in production. That's why we decided to organise a tour to help the participants learn about the specifics of different production facilities.

        The first destination was the Electrosvit metalworking plant, which has been operating throughout Ukraine for more than 15 years and exporting products to Europe and Asia. There, the participants saw the work of all departments and talked to the plant's employees on exciting topics. During the visit, they discussed work in crisis situations and cooperation with Ukrainian component manufacturers to create a Ukrainian product. We also saw how the parts are processed to better understand the process and use the main "chips" in our own production.

        The next production facility we visited was the Frop furniture factory, which specialises in the manufacture of various types of furniture. The tour participants visited all the workshops, saw different stages of production and talked to the owner of the factory. They discussed the business plan, the history of the production, the specifics of this type of factory, and general technical issues. The participants were pleasantly surprised by the local production of this level and received answers to all their questions.

        The last visit was to Intelkom, one of the leading companies in the production of children's plastic toys in Ukraine. We were impressed by the scale of production, the number of products manufactured and the coherence of the process. We talked about the specifics of the production of plastic parts and toys, the prospects for using plastic in other industries, and saw the production from the inside.

        Olga Demyaniv, an entrepreneur, shared her impressions of the Factory tour: "The tour interested me first of all because I could gain knowledge and useful contacts for my new project, which requires designers and constructors. Today's meeting gave me answers to many exciting questions: where and how to look for partners, people for production, how best to implement my ideas. It turns out that Ivano-Frankivsk has some very cool production facilities that I didn't know about and learned about thanks to this tour. I am surprised and impressed by the potential of the production facilities and our city as a whole."

        During the tour, the participants got to know each other, shared their own experiences with each other, were interested in each other's projects and gave useful advice. They also discussed with the organisers the possibility of a second tour to other production facilities, so stay tuned for our updates so you don't miss an interesting event like this and gain new knowledge and contacts.

        The tour was organised as part of the project "New Economy of Ivano-Frankivsk (NEF) - Support for New Clusters of Innovative Economic Activity in Ivano-Frankivsk", funded by the European Union's Mayors for Economic Growth programme.

        The main objective of the NEF is to strengthen local economic processes to stimulate the innovation economy and encourage the creation of high value-added products in Ivano-Frankivsk. It also supports new clusters (networks) of local businesses, innovators, researchers, and strengthens their interaction, in particular in the areas of applied science, product design, and sustainable construction.

        The event was held as part of the New Economy of Ivano-Frankivsk (NEF) project, which is a project that envisages the transformation of the city into a competitive, innovative economic centre. The project is being implemented by a consortium of partners: The Executive Committee of Ivano-Frankivsk City Council, the innovation centre Promprylad.Renovation, the urban laboratory METALAB, the economic development agency PPV Knowledge Networks, and the Teple Misto platform.