Design Innovation for Addressing Social Challenges

Brief Course Description

This course empowers students to build creative confidence and master participatory design processes to tackle real community challenges. Working on a broad theme—such as active ageing, inclusive entrepreneurship, or humanitarian technology—students collaborate with target groups (e.g., elderly, ethnic minorities, persons with disabilities) to identify needs and co-create solutions.

Through hands-on learning, students will:

• Define a specific design challenge based on real-world insights
• Develop innovative products, processes, or policies for social impact
• Engage in creative exercises, makerspace sessions, and design sprints
• Test prototypes with users and refine based on feedback
• Learn storytelling, entrepreneurship, and pitching skills to scale their ideas

The course culminates in a final presentation, where students showcase their solutions and explore pathways for social innovation and funding opportunities.