The 7th International Summer School “Product Architecture Design – PAD2026” was successfully held from 22 to 25 June 2026 at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) in Lyngby, Denmark. Once again, the international PAD research community brought together young researchers for four intensive days of lectures, workshops, collaborative research activities and professional exchange.

The programme provided participants with a comprehensive introduction to product architecture design and modularisation. Presentations on current research and the state of the art established a common foundation for the subsequent workshops. A particular focus was placed on the evaluation of product architectures, multifunctional and multitechnological architecture modelling, interface standardisation in product families, and software-defined architectures and modularisation.

The participants were able to apply the presented approaches directly in interactive workshop formats. The Lego Car Workshop offered a practical setting in which architectural concepts and design decisions could be explored and discussed. Further sessions encouraged the participants to relate the methods to their own research, exchange perspectives in a research speed-dating format and identify potential areas for future collaboration. The programme was complemented by an industrial site tour to the LEGO Group in Billund which provided valuable insights into industrial practice, while also creating additional opportunities for informal discussions and networking. During the final part of the Summer School, the participants developed their ideas in small groups and presented them in a concluding pitch session.

We believe that PAD2026 has further strengthened the international network around product architecture design and has laid the foundation for new collaborations and future joint research activities.. We would like to thank all participants, lecturers, organisers and supporting institutions for their commitment and contribution to the success of the summer school. In particular, we would  like to thank the LEGO group for the opportunity to gain valuable insights during the industrial site tour, The Design Society for endorsing and Prof. Niels Mortensen from DTU for hosting PAD2026.

Our 6th International Summer School „Product Architecture Design - PAD2024” was successfully carried out at the Graduate Academy of the Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH) from 17-21 June 2024. Once again, the strong research collaboration between Prof. Kevin Otto (Australia), Prof. Seung Ki Moon (Singapore), Prof. Ola Isaksson (Sweden) and Prof. Dieter Krause (Germany) from TUHH brought young reseachers from all over the world together for a week full of learning, joint workshops and exchange.

The participants from various countries, including Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, Finland and Singapore, learned about product architecture design and modularisation approaches. The state of the art from four different perspectives and the presentation of current trends in this field of research formed a solid basis for the ensuing research workshops.

Focusing on the topics of sustainability and circularity, functional architecture modelling, innovation induced by field effects and the fuzzy front end of product development, the young researchers learned about new product development methods and were able to apply these directly to our workshop example - a product family of vacuum cleaner robots.

The participants had the opportunity to discuss the possibilities and limitations of the various approaches and to link them to their own research. On this basis, the participants joined forces to look for new research areas and work on them in small groups.

We believe that this was the start of a fruitful network and thank everyone for their support and participation in PAD2024. We would like to thank Körber Technologies for the co-operation and the opportunity to give us an insight into a world of very sophisticated and well elaborated mechanical engineering, their processes and systems. We would also like to thank the TUHH, the TUHH Graduate Academy and the Design Society for their support in making the PAD International Summer School on Product Architecture Design possible once again.

For the first time in 2022 the 5th International Summer School „Product Architecture Design - PAD2022” was conducted at CampX - Startup Accelerator by Volvo Group in collaboration with Chalmers University of Technology in Gotheburg, Sweden. It took place from 20th to 23rd June and was hosted and organized by Professor Ola Isaksson with the help of Professor Dieter Krause (PKT), Prof. Otto from University of Melbourne and Professor Seung Ki Moon from Nanyang Technical University, Singapore.

The event was successfully carried out with 20 participants from different nationalities from German, Danish, Swedish and Singaporean universities and from industry.

Participants learned about product architecture design and modularization approaches and used the input in the exercises. The mix of state-of-the-art and highlighting current trends in sustainability, manufacturability, digitalization and servicitation could be used in the guided workshops on functional design, lifecycle modularity analysis, field effects, innovation and product-service systems.

Participants had the opportunity to discuss the possibilities and limitations of the different approaches and link them to their own research. Based on the workshops and discussions, participants also had the opportunity to look for new research areas and work on them in small groups.

We hope that this has resulted in a fruitful network and thank everyone for their support and participation in PAD2022. We also thank the sponsors, as the 5th International Summer School on Product Architecture Design PAD2022 was sponsored by The Design Society and Produktion2030.

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