Member Profile

Mairead Ahern

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Screen Name	maireadaherndesignthinking	Activities	311
Member Since	Jul 20, 2014	CoLab Points (actual) CoLab Points are awarded to all the members who contributed to a winning integrated Proposal, as well as those who contributed to any sub-Proposal it contains.(See more)	0
Country	Ireland	CoLab Points (max. potential) The maximum number of CoLab Points this member could receive. This is a measure of how many times the member’s Proposal have been included in other Proposal and how important it is in those Proposal.(See more)	0

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Hello my name is Mairead I am an industrial designer by trade, and have studied various forms of design, engineering, and business in different universities and institutions over the last number of years; including work experience in Architecture, Design, and Research & Development. I have received three awards for my inventions so far-

Second place in the Irish ‘James Dyson Awards’, 2009 - water and energy saving, multi-functional all-in-one shower unit.
Second place in ‘Miele’ German appliance manufacturers ‘kitchens of the future’ design competition, 2007. – ‘Life Cycle’ – dual drum energy efficient washer/dryer.
First place in ‘Opel’ car manufacturer’s ‘creativity that works’ design competition, 2006. ‘3-Pod’- anthropomorphic, fun and compact power inverter for charging a wide range of products on the go, powered using excess energy from the vehicles engine.

I am currently studying for a Masters in International Entrepreneurship Management, at the Kemmy Business School, in the University of Limerick; here in Ireland, with the intention of starting my own business in sustainable design thinking to bring some of these ideas to market.

I am a massive advocator of sustainability in all regards from product design to the built environment. Moving forward in a sustainable manner provides multiple benefits; not just in terms of the obvious positive, environmental, social, and ethical benefits, but also in future economic, financial, and business arenas. I feel that a lot more can be done in terms of designing products, appliances, and buildings that are:

more sustainable
energy/water conserving
built to last
are recyclable/use recycled materials
employ the use of materials/ manufacturing processes which have the lowest possible embedded energies/CO2 footprints
responsibly designed

I am delighted to have been introduced to the MIT Climate Co Lab by a business mentor, and am looking forward to putting forward some of my ideas and interacting with like minded people.