Contact:
Eric Sloss
412-268-5765

For immediate release:
August 8, 2006

Carnegie Mellon School of Design Hosts Conference on Service Design, Sept. 8-10

PITTSBURGH—Carnegie Mellon University's School of Design will host its first Emergence Conference Sept. 8-10 at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh. The school plans to make the conference an annual event. This year's conference will explore the topic of service design.

All facets of the economy have a service component, from retail and manufacturing to nonprofits and public companies. Get the service right, and an organization's chances for success improve. The Emergence Conference will explore how to best create those services from design, business and technology points of view.

"We hope this event will become the premier conference on designing for service," said Shelley Evenson, associate professor and director of graduate studies in the School of Design. "We have a great set of speakers — some of the most prominent contributors to the field of service — including both academics and practitioners. We also have a wonderful location. Our students have done an amazing job designing the resources for what we believe will be a great opportunity to network, have fun and learn about the domain that is such a huge component of today's economy."

According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, service industries are the fastest-growing part of the nation's economy as measured by jobs. In a rapidly evolving economy, individuals, organizations and communities that offer services are faced with deepening challenges. Some of these include increasing competition for high-value, skilled labor services; the need to focus on the development and sustainability of the service environment; and addressing the requirements of different cultures that exist among customers and workers in the global delivery of services.

The three-day conference will feature keynote speakers on the leading edge of service design research and practice. Speakers include Mary Jo Bitner, PetSmart Chair in Services Leadership and professor of marketing at the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University; Birgit Mager, professor of service design at the Köln International School of Design in Cologne, Germany; and Oliver King, director and co-founder of Engine in the United Kingdom. For more information and to register, visit www.design.cmu.edu/emergence/index.htm.