Fjord, Accenture's design studio, has joined Accenture's Dublin The Dock Innovation hub. The studio's new office will be run by Design Director and Studio lead Lorna Ross, the former Director of Design at the Mayo Clinic.
Fjord, Accenture Interactive’s design and innovation unit, is opening a new design studio based in Dublin. The new studio is located at The Dock, a recently opened Accenture multi-disciplinary research and incubation hub which employs around 200 people. The new location for Fjord allows it to work with the firm’s clients on the design side of wider projects being developed at the hub.
The new office will be led by Lorna Ross, formerly the Director of Design at the Mayo Clinic where she worked for eight years in its Centre for Innovation. Earlier in her career she worked as a Principal Research Scientist at the MIT Media Lab, and an Associate Professor of Industrial Design at the Rhode Island School of Design.
Ross brings more than 25 years of experience to her new role as the Design Director and Studio lead of the new location. In her new role, which she takes up in her homeland, she is tasked with driving growth and innovation internally with clients for the new hub.
Alastair Blair, Country Managing Director, Accenture Ireland says that the firm is “thrilled” to appoint “such an accomplished Dublin native" to lead the firm's newest Fjord studio. She adds, "Lorna is a first-class leader and pioneer who has worked with some of the world’s leading minds in experience design and innovation. We are excited about the possibilities that will evolve with Fjord by bringing human-centric design to help our clients rotate to the new.”
Joydeep Bhattacharya, head of Accenture Interactive for UK & Ireland and Managing Director at Fjord, adds, “Dublin is a hub for global players as well as a burgeoning start-up scene here in Silicon Docks – it is at the forefront of design and many of the latest digital trends, making it a natural choice for our first Fjord studio in Ireland."
Commenting on Ross' appointment, he says, "We look forward to seeing Lorna and her team thrive in this innovative and inspiring environment as they create the next wave of digital experience.”