The Emerging Technologies Minor is designed for students who want to shape the future with tech-powered creativity, innovation, and impact. In this minor, you'll Artificial Intelligence, XR (Virtual and Augmented Reality), and Robotics —then apply them to solve real-world challenges across businesses and creative industries.

Technology is rapidly transforming professional roles within the creative sectors, including leisure, audiovisual production, and tourism. These emerging technologies serve as both enablers and disruptors, creating opportunities for novel applications, business models, production techniques, and products while presenting new societal challenges.

This minor equips you with both foundational knowledge and practical skills to navigate these technological changes. By the end of the program, you'll be positioned at the forefront of innovation, ready to lead technological transformation in your chosen field. Whether you're a developer or a creative thinker, you'll learn to create innovative products, services, and business models, gain practical skills to implement these technologies in real-world scenarios, design and prototype solutions, and critically assess their impact. Example projects include virtual tourism, smart city concepts, AI-generated content, and VR game design.

Why Emerging Technologies is right for me

Are you driven to work at the intersection of technology, business, creativity, and innovation? This minor is designed for students who:
• Want to explore cutting-edge tools and use them to build impactful solutions for society, companies, and organizations.
• Are eager to bring their own passions and ideas to life in a student-centered environment.
• Seek to develop future-proof skills that increase their relevance and employability in a rapidly evolving job market.

The minor addresses the following learning outcomes/objectives:

Exploring Emerging Technologies and Industry Trends
• You will explore key emerging technologies and their applications. You will examine industry trends, and learn how technology is reshaping business, experiences, and creative practices.  

Value Creation through Technology
• You are able to use this research to identify opportunities for value creation through tech-related innovation for an organization, translate them into goals, products and processes according to a realistic timeline, and account for the choices made.
• You are able to manage the development process from the start, collaborate in a (multi) disciplinary team, show confidence in the role you have, and are able to reflect on your own actions.

Creating Ideas & Developing Prototypes
• You are able to design a (technical) solution for a client/partner or other organization while taking possible restrictions in the design processes into account.
• You are able to show your creativity by intuitively using the most effective ideation techniques in order to generate original ideas.
• You willeffectively select a tech-related solution for the client including integrated social, ethical, and environmental impact.
• You will deliver a prototype, all the while demonstrating the various iterations by using insights from diverse perspectives in order to develop it into a ready-to-implement solution.

This minor is open to all ambitious students who want to understand and apply emerging technologies. No specific technical background is required—just a strong sense of curiosity and motivation to explore, experiment, and connect technology to real-world impact. Whether you're from a design, business, creative, or technical study path, this minor can be tailored to fit your interests.

The minor follows the following structure:

• Weekly thematic lectures and hands-on tech lab sessions.

• Coaching sessions with experts and formative feedback moments.

• Access to a fully equipped lab with software and hardware for independent or team work.

• Field trips to (inter)national innovation hubs and tech events.

Your finalportfoliowill demonstrate how you've integrated research, ideation, prototyping, and stakeholder feedback. It will be assessed based on:

• Your ability to analyze trends in emerging technologies and their industry impact.

• The identification and realization of tech-driven value creation for an organization.

• The creation of a compelling concept and prototype that gains stakeholder buy-in.

• Team collaboration, leadership, and reflection on your personal and group performance.

• Integration of ethical, societal, and environmental considerations throughout the project.