Hankook hosts design insight forum at new tech centre

Daejeon, South Korea – Hankook Tire Co. Ltd celebrated concept and creative design leaders during its 13th annual Design Insight Forum, held 8 Dec at the recently opened Hankook Technodome research and design centre in Deajeon.

The Design Insight Forum, Hankook said in a news release, is intended to "cultivate future leaders and unveil ‘Best of the Best’ new cutting-edge concepts" in design. This year, Hankook partnered with the University of Cincinnati, whose design students envisioned future mobility in mega cities, and designed tires and modes of transportation that reflect changes brought on by technological shifts such as self-driving and connected cars.

In all, 34 works were submitted for Design Innovation 2016. The five lauded works, which were selected for animation and mock-up at the Technodome, were:

Flexup, a design which allows a vehicle to move freely even on stairs;

Magfloat, a wheel employing a magnetic field which allows for driving flexibility;

Autobine, which allows for adding tires within an expandable bus body to accommodate more passengers;

Shiftrac, which allows for more powerful cornering by using skating principles; and

i-Play, which has a design intended to maximise cornering performance.

“The Design Insight Forum to be held at Hankook Technodome is truly meaningful that one can witness fine works of young designers of the future tire innovation at the new and state-of-the art R&D center, Hankook Technodome.” Seung Hwa Suh, vice chairman and CEO of Hankook Tire, said in a news release. “Hankook Tire expects to create further synergies with the future leaders in collaboration with Hankook Tire’s technology leadership through the Design Insight Forum.”

Hankook said that the winning designs received patents and earned recognition form some prestigious design award competitions including IDEA, IF awards and Red Dot Design Awards.