An education entrepreneur explains the ideas behind the children's game Kideville, which will be on display at the Fringe.

Imperial alumnus Dejan Mitrovic, who is also the Creative Director of the Imperial start-up company Kidesign, is one of the exhibitors at the  “Imperial Fringe: Designs for life” event. The Fringe festivities, held throughout the year, are a series of public events that explore the livelier side of science. 

Kideville lets school children aged eight years and upwards explore what it is like to be designers and engineers

This month’s Fringe has a range of zones showcasing how design and research are combining to improve our enjoyment of and use of products, which make our lives more livable. The Fringe includes opportunities for visitors to get behind the wheel of a zero emission racing cart, recognise shapes using sound, explore the future of wheelchair mobility and learn how design principles are being applied to drug development.

Colin Smith talks to Mirtrovic about his inspiration for his start-up company and what visitors to the Fringe can expect to see at his exhibit.

Your company is called Kidesign, what is its mission?

Kidesign is an educational start-up company specialising in designing materials for computer aided design and 3D printing projects that match with the national curriculum. The aim is to encourage student engagement in design, science, technology, engineering and maths subjects.

What will you be exhibiting at the Fringe?

We will present our latest curriculum kit for schools - Kideville, which we launched in summer 2015.

What is Kideville?

Kideville lets school children aged eight years and upwards explore what it is like to be designers and engineers, under the guidance of their teachers. They learn what it is like to work on a design engineering project, where they apply project management skills to develop their design structures such as houses, using the latest 3D printing technology.

Much like a game, each child is assigned a creative mission, based on their interests, which takes them through a full design and project management process that engineers would undertake in real life. These include background research, idea development, sketching out the plans, computer aided design modelling, 3D printing and presenting their project plan in class.

It’s curriculum for children living in the twenty first century.

What inspired you to come up with this concept?

At the time I was doing the Innovation Design Engineering (IDE) double Masters course, run by Imperial and the Royal College of Art. 3D Printing was emerging as a new consumer technology. It was becoming more widely available and cost effective to use and I saw it as an opportunity to take 3D Printing into educational environments.

However, instead of developing a new piece of educational hardware or software for 3D printing, which would’ve been the more traditional route,  I decided to focus on how students could learn the project management skills behind 3D printing, which I thought would be of real benefit to them in their future careers.

Why are you taking part in the Fringe?

As an IDE alumnus I am really excited to be presenting my start-up, which really took shape when I was a student at the College. In fact the acronym IDE is even hidden in the Kidesign brand name. That is because the IDE course was pivotal in my development as a professional entrepreneur. Hopefully, by participating in the Fringe visitors can see the endless possibilities and scope that a career in this field can offer.

What do you hope people will learn about Kidesign by visiting the Fringe?

I hope people will learn how 3D printing can be applied to innovative education in schools. I think visitors will see the potential of using new technologies in school environments to create the next generation of much needed designers and engineers.

The “Imperial Fringe: Designs for life” event will be held on Thursday 24 September 2015 from 17:00 to 20:00 in the Imperial Union Concert Hall, Beit Quad. To register for the event please visit the Design for Life Eventbrite page