Nima Shahinian

Product and Industrial designer, the only Norwegian astronaut candidate

Ten years ago, in his diploma thesis, he designed a new electrical socket that, with its spiral shape, allows the plug to be used in any way. In addition to removing a minor everyday inconvenience for ordinary people, the socket is particularly suitable for people with fine motor difficulties or poor eyesight. It is a great example of the positive impact of universal design on the everyday life of all of us and its business potential. In Norway, there is a law that all new public buildings must use solutions that most closely meet universal design standards - that is, every public building that will be built from now on will have exactly these sockets. Estimated sales are in the millions of Norwegian kroner.

He also worked for Lamborghini (the Lamborghini Huracan) and designed the world's fastest gravity vehicle.

He is Norway's only astronaut candidate and is part of Next Step - developing the Norwegian human space programme by pushing the boundaries of medical science, technology and redefining space exploration. Universal design is fundamental for successful longer journeys in space (e.g., to Mars). The first humans to travel into space represented a certain "ideal," but we now know that for the extreme conditions of the space environment, we are best prepared by considering human diversity. Someone can break a leg, and it will not be possible to transport them to the hospital in a few hours. People will be born and grow old in space, so it is necessary to work with this diversity. Currently, there are six candidates in the programme with various mobility limitations who should begin testing the space station environment.

At the same time, it is necessary to consider that the development of space technologies fundamentally affects the technologies we use in everyday life. Therefore such research and development can have a real effect on all of us.