“Design is no longer about materials or body ergonomics. Algorithms are our new materials. My task is to mediate between the language of the computer and the language of design.”

Loe Feijs is Full Professor of Industrial Design of Embedded Systems. His research aims to pave the way for a new type of industrial design practice based on a deeper technical understanding of the power of computation, sensing and connectivity. Feijs and his team create novel demonstrators using creative programming, creative electronics, mechanics, machine learning, connectivity and mathematics. In the future, designers should be able to design fluently with contemporary engineering concepts and use their inherent aesthetics.

Industrial Design of Embedded Systems contributes technology to other chairs in the department. Working with other departments of TU/e, research hospitals and strategic partners in world-class research ecosystems on selected medical domains, Feijs and his group aim to bridge the gap between formal approaches of technology engineering and the creative needs of contemporary and future industrial design.

Feijs has extensive industrial experience in telecommunication, formal design methods, software testing and embedded systems. In software architecture he created RPA (Relation Partition Algebra), which was used in organizations such as Philips, VU, Fraunhofer, NASA and FDA. He is currently supervising or co-supervising 15 PhD students. His research interests include generative design, unobtrusive monitoring and bio-feedback.

Loe Feijs obtained his master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) in 1979. After a stint as guest researcher at CSELT in Italy, he started working as software developer at Philips Telecommunication Industry, on embedded systems for digital telephone exchanges. In 1984, Feijs joined Philips Research, a position he held for 14 years. In 1990, he obtained his PhD from TU/e on formal methods. He took a position as Professor at TU/e in 1994, initially in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science and later in the Industrial Design department. He has also worked as scientific director at the Eindhoven Embedded Systems Institute. From 2001 to 2006, Feijs was Vice-dean of the newly founded Department of Industrial Design.

Feijs was co-founder of the DeSForM conference.  The Cum-laude PhD design thesis by Sibrecht Bouwstra, supervised by Feijs, was a game-changer in the field of neonatology. Feijs’ team has set up and is participating in the H2020 Do Change project. Feijs’ algorithm-based designs are published in Leonardo and presented at DDW and the yearly Bridges conference on Mathematical art.

Partners in (semi-)industry

• Philips (Impuls)
• MMC (Neonatal monitoring)
• Kempenhaeghe (Sleep research)