From computer-aided drafting to knowledge supported cooperative design

Summary form only given. The presentation will give a brief overview of the domain, whilst reviewing the history of CSCWD and ISMICK for which we are gathered at Lausanne. CSCWD started at a time when people were more interested in tools than in the design process itself, although one already talked of Knowledge Intensive Design. ISMICK started at about the same time, one of the goals being to discuss the use of knowledge throughout the lifecycle of complex new products. Today, both approaches converge and it is difficult to talk about design without taking into account the product lifecycle and all its associated knowledge. After reviewing briefly the changes that occurred in the two domains during the last twenty years, I will describe a project that aims at combining both approaches for the phase of conceptual preliminary design. Such approaches, although requiring much more research work, are becoming an industrial reality.