Entrepreneurship Through Design: Recombining the Design Process with Methods and Tools from Other Disciplines in Project-Based Activities

Chiodo, Elisa (2024) Entrepreneurship Through Design: Recombining the Design Process with Methods and Tools from Other Disciplines in Project-Based Activities. In: P/References of Design. Cumulus conference proceedings series, 1 . Cumulus Association, Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design Budapest, Budapest, pp. 1005-1017. ISBN 978-952-7549-03-5

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Abstract

This paper wants to present how our programs in Design support the next generation of Designers to be system game-changers, encouraging our students to work in an interdisciplinary way, combining tools and mindsets from different disciplines in project-based activities. Innovation is the temper of business design, but Innovation is not only in the solutions most of the time, it stays in the process of creating the right environment for ideas generation. The paper presents how the Master in Business Design wants to create connections between the worlds of business and design, showing our didactic methods and, as applied research, some students' projects that present new business models and strategies. Business Design, by definition, is a course that taps into different disciplines (e.g., marketing, design, sociology, law, etc.), creating an ever-changing didactic context and pushing us, as professors, to create an open context to push the spillover of ideas. The projects were developed during our Entrepreneurship Through Design workshop, a laboratory-based course of two months in which our students, who come from different backgrounds, working experiences, and cultures, can create their ideas for new businesses from zero with the help of professors and professionals. We recognized the importance of creating a framework that is open and can accommodate the differences within heterogeneous teams and takes advantage of the strengths and potential offered by varied backgrounds and cultures. We aim to guide our students to become connectors, translators, integrators, or "chameleons". During the workshop, they test themselves with new methods and tools, decoding and recombining them during the design process. They envisioned new scenarios, pushing the boundaries of the creative industry, but, in the end, they developed their ideas taking into consideration the real needs and feasibility of the design solutions. The projects selected for this paper, both on Social Responsibility and on "Inclusivity and Overcoming the Stigma", will show how important it is to contaminate our experience working with a transdisciplinary approach, sharing ideas, and pushing brainstorming activities. The outcomes, most of the time, are completely different from what one would expect from the addiction of the students' competencies because the students tested themselves in new challenges, hybridizing their design process with new visions and tools. Still, most of all going through the process together as a team. The main topics of this paper will be Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Design Culture, decoding, integrating, and recombining methods and tools into the Design process, and Inclusivity and Social Responsibility in new projects as Design goals.

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