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Startup Story

DreamVok Combines Design Innovation & Technology R&D

DreamVok CEO Kevin Yang (far left) and his team (photo courtesy of DreamVok).

DreamVok CEO Kevin Yang (far left) and his team (photo courtesy of DreamVok).

DreamVok is the first design innovation consultancy spinoff from ITRI, using the power of design to drive innovation, and delivering unique brand value and service experiences for customers. The name of the company is derived from the combination of the words “Dream” and “Evoke,” and it was the intention of CEO Kevin Yang to remind himself through this name to “awaken one’s dream and evoke innovation.”

When employed at ITRI, Dr. Yang participated in the Dechnology Project, a project, as its name suggests, seeking to make a perfect combination of Design and Technology. At the time, he was responsible for leading a design team to integrate software and hardware, becoming a bridge between researchers and industrial players. While promoting the commercialization of ITRI-patented technologies through design-related efforts, Dr. Yang helped enterprises embrace change and innovation.

Over the past six years, Dr. Yang’s team has provided services across industries from manufacturing to service sectors, completing over 350 innovative products and design projects. This has enabled him to witness the opportunities associated with entrepreneurship. “There aren’t many teams like us in the design industry. We know technology and offer software-hardware integration solutions,” he said.

In August 2017, Dr. Yang established DreamVok. Rather than focusing on “tech-oriented market trends”, DreamVok aims to use “design-driven innovation” to transform services and business models. One of DreamVok’s recent core businesses is to target the needs of senior citizens, as they find that people aged over 50 have limited choices in the apparel market. Clothes are either too loose or colorful. The DreamVok team tried to design clothes that fit the elderly’s taste, but the outcome was not desirable. After reviewing the reasons, they came to the conclusion that the designers were not old enough and therefore the clothes they designed did not meet the expectations of the targeted clientele. “In this case, we decided seniors could be their own fashion designers,” said Dr. Yang.

DreamVok then teamed up with their sub-brand 5% Design Action to launch their Senior Designers Project in 2018. They recruited over 10 retirees who previously worked in the apparel sector, and cooperated with the New Taipei City government in building the Senior Design Center. At this base, an intergenerational team was formed—the young provide new ideas and the old impart their skills. Once the finished product is released, the senior designers are even featured in the pictures of the apparel, overturning public stereotypes of the silver-haired set.

A workshop of the Senior Designers Project (photo courtesy of DreamVok).

A workshop of the Senior Designers Project (photo courtesy of DreamVok).

This year, DreamVok also launched a new type of travel package aimed at families who have elderly members. Working with a theme park, the team designed customized routes and interactive scenarios featuring art or animal therapy. Such an innovative marketing design is helping to create a unique experience and memories for families on their outings and better serves the elderly segment.

In assisting its wide variety of corporate customers in innovation, does DreamVok have sufficient professional capacities? Dr. Yang emphasized that unlike traditional designers who only focus on design, DreamVok is a design consultancy. The company is comprised of experts with diverse backgrounds that span design, engineering, marketing, finance, and management, and who have provided long-term assistance to ITRI, R&D institutions, and industries. In addition, more than 10,000 multidisciplinary designers have joined DreamVok’s design platform 5% Design Action; project teams can thus be recruited from this dynamic pool of talent. DreamVok also attempts to serve as a “design accelerator”, using design to replace the need to become capital shareholders and helping new companies to bolster their competitiveness.

Looking back to his startup process, Dr. Yang said that he was thankful for his colleagues’ persistence and many suggestions that have helped DreamVok overcome challenge after challenge. He commented that the ITRI DNA is an advantage that others can’t replicate and that enables DreamVok to stand out in the design industry. In the future, DreamVok will continue to pay attention to senior citizen and healthcare issues, bringing more big ideas together and creating new value.

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