{"id":13008,"date":"2026-03-27T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/?p=13008"},"modified":"2026-03-27T09:04:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T13:04:11","slug":"designing-in-the-dark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/industry-forward\/designing-in-the-dark\/","title":{"rendered":"Designing in the dark: How AI brings clarity to sustainable product development"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"embed-megaphone\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/playlist.megaphone.fm?e=TLFIE6782220033\" width=\"100%\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><!-- Megaphone -->\n\n\n<p>Much of the sustainability impact of a product is determined as soon as the design phase, yet the data that can inform decisions affecting that impact is often missing so early on. As the number of requirements and complexities increase in today\u2019s products, companies making sustainable products may find themselves designing in the dark. Fortunately, digitalization and artificial intelligence (AI) can shed some light on the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In this episode of <em>The Industry Forward Podcast<\/em>, Eryn Devola, Head of Sustainability for Siemens Digital Industries, and Neil D\u2019Souza, CEO of Makersite, discuss why designing with sustainability in mind should be done as soon as possible and why investing in AI can help make that happen. By informing design decisions today, companies can make better products that enable a greener tomorrow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>In this episode, you will learn:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The challenges of designing a sustainable product<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Why early decisions are crucial for product sustainability<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>How shifting left can better inform early decisions<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Where the digital twin and AI play a role in shifting left<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<div class=\"bio-block row\">\n    <div class=\"col-3 order-first bio-pic\">\n        <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/32\/2026\/03\/eryn_devola_headshot.jpg\" alt=\"Eryn Devola - Speaker\" \/>\n    <\/div>\n    <div class=\"col-9 bio-info\">\n        <div class=\"bio-header\">\n            <h4 class=\"speakerintro\">Eryn Devola &#8211; Speaker<\/h4>\n        <\/div>\n        <div class=\"bio-biography\">\n            <p><strong>Eryn Devola<\/strong> is the Head of Sustainability for Siemens Digital Industries.<\/p>        <\/div>\n        <div class=\"bio-contact\">\n            <p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/eryn-devola\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Connect with Eryn on LinkedIn<\/a><\/p>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"bio-block row\">\n    <div class=\"col-3 order-first bio-pic\">\n        <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/32\/2026\/03\/neil_dsouza_headshot.jpg\" alt=\"Neil D'Souza - Speaker\" \/>\n    <\/div>\n    <div class=\"col-9 bio-info\">\n        <div class=\"bio-header\">\n            <h4 class=\"speakerintro\">Neil D&#8217;Souza &#8211; Speaker<\/h4>\n        <\/div>\n        <div class=\"bio-biography\">\n            <p><strong>Neil D&#8217;Souza<\/strong> is the founder and CEO of Makersite.<\/p>        <\/div>\n        <div class=\"bio-contact\">\n            <p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/neilsaviodsouza\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Connect with Neil on LinkedIn<\/a><\/p>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Much of the sustainability impact of a product is determined as soon as the design phase, yet the data that&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":87014,"featured_media":13066,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spanish_translation":"","french_translation":"","german_translation":"","italian_translation":"","polish_translation":"","japanese_translation":"","chinese_translation":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[949],"tags":[353,373,298,299,385,853,772],"industry":[32],"product":[],"coauthors":[775],"class_list":["post-13008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-industry-forward","tag-ai","tag-digital-transformation-tag","tag-digital-twin","tag-digitalization","tag-podcast","tag-siemens-xcelerator","tag-sustainability","industry-consumer-products-retail"],"featured_image_url":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/32\/2026\/03\/AI-Person-Direct-touch-621465783_medium.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/87014"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13008"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13008\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13067,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13008\/revisions\/13067"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13008"},{"taxonomy":"industry","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/industry?post=13008"},{"taxonomy":"product","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product?post=13008"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=13008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}