Take up the challenge to design a  meaningful  innovation for 1 billion people. Use your creative thinking and process skills to design  radical  solutions and approaches.  In a  transformative  programme consisting of thematical weeks  on  e.g.  Trend  Watching,  Design Psychology, Cross Cultural Differences,  Creative User Research,  Creative Concepting, Prototyping, Business modelling and Exposition Design you will gain all the knowledge you need to change the existing.  Just think of all the possibilities that could become reality by taking up this challenge!   

​In this one semester programme you will need to draw upon logic, your imagination, creativity, intuition and systematic reasoning in order to explore the possibility of what could be. You will design innovations that will possibly benefit a substantial part of the world. You will learn how to master design methods and process skills which are key to innovation. You gain deep insights about users and relevant stakeholders, define and reframe problems, in order to generate solutions or alternative approaches that are more effective than those that already exist. During one semester you will be challenged to take the next step from 'problem solving design' to 'sense making design' (Bannon, Kolko).   

​Design research methods like trend watching, cultural hunt, creative ideation, cultural probes, key insights, context mapping, non-human personas, extreme user scenarios, customer journey mapping, business model canvassing, dragons den sessions and testing will help you in your creative design process. The course has a solid personal, knowledge and practice-oriented programme to develop a design driven mindset. You will get input, coaching, workshops and feedback from experts in the field, senior lecturers of Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences and (international) guest lecturers. 

Radical innovations 
​The programme responds to new developments within the domain of Cultural Design, Value Sensitive Design and Innovation Design. In the programme you work on designing new 'radical' innovations. To achieve this, you will organise your own network of ‘interpreters’ (Verganti) to help you in the different stages of your design process. The Rotterdam approach is a mindset which is important in the programme: innovative, practical and results-oriented, socially involved, entrepreneurial and a focus on (interdisciplinary) collaboration.  

​The Designful Innovation programme is closely linked to the Start Up Academy of the Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences. 

​Impact one billion people  
​During the programme you will be challenged to design an innovation and corresponding prototype(s) which should be meaningful to no less than 1 billion people.  In different thematical weeks you will gain all the knowledge you need to change the existing.  
Curious? The course runs from August/September until (the end of) January. Every year the programme ends with an exposition prepared and organised by the students. All classes are taught in English. 

Have a look at last year’s projects!

And of course, you can follow us on Instagram. 

​Are you the student we are looking for?  
The programme is open to exchange students from partner universities abroad and students from Dutch universities of Applied Sciences with a curious mindset and an interest in human behaviour, design and technology. You will study as a group of students from all around the globe with different backgrounds. Key is the diverse knowledge of the group in terms of educational background, culture, skills and interests. Together we organise fieldtrips, cultural lunches, social activities and many other things. 
​Next to taking classes and workshops, you will also look beyond the borders of the classroom by visiting expositions, events, museums and going on fieldtrips to for example: Antwerp, Brussels, Cologne, Düsseldorf, Amsterdam, Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven. 

If you have successfully completed the Designful Innovation programme then you are able to:

• Apply different types of design research when translating them into innovative concepts.
• Analyse how innovations are created and 'map' how different innovations relate to each other.
• Create a new network for interpreters in order to come up with a vision for new concepts.
• Define and apply design principles for 'design driven innovation'.
• Design in and for a cross-cultural environment.
• Realise and communicate believable prototypes for a 'design driven innovation concept'.
• Present design driven concepts individually, with conviction, defend them and critically assess them.

1. you have successfully completed your internship.
2. You have obtained a minimum of 90 credit points from the main phase of your study programme.

English skills: You have sufficient oral and written English language skills (level B2). Preferably you are a third- or fourth-year bachelor student.

In the past, students with a background in Communication and Multimedia Design, Interaction Design, Communications, Leisure Management, Tourism Management, Informatics, Business Design, Innovation Management, Architecture, Social Work, Product Design and Entertainment Design, participated successfully in the programme.

Mandatory Literature  

• Lewrick, Michael, Link, Patrick (2020), The Design Thinking Playbook, John Wiley & Sons  

• Boeijen van Annemiek, Zijlstra, Yvo (2020), Culture Sensitive Design, Bis Publishers 

• Verganti, R. (2016), Overcrowded Designing Meaningful Products in a World Awash with Ideas, The MIT Press  

• Vianna, M. (2013), Design Thinking, business innovation, MJV Press (free download)  

• Reader and worksheets: (free downloads)  

 Classes are scheduled on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.

Practically all the programme assignments are made individually. Students are allowed to work in groups of two to three people during some of the assignments, in order to brainstorm and gather new insights together. The theory from the modules 'Design Driven Innovation 1 + 2', 'Cross-cultural/International Business modelling' and 'Transformation Design' will be tested through assignments, presentations, and preparing as well as organising and executing workshops and mini expositions with a group of students.

The practice based modules 'Convince the world' and 'Make it Happen' will be tested through fieldtrips, classroom participation, organising and realising a final exposition and a final innovation report. There are no written exams for this programme.

Content & Programme 
The programme contains of 6 modules in total:  

• Design Driven Innovation 1: 4 ECTS 
• Design Driven Innovation 2: 4 ECTS   
• Cross-cultural/International business modelling: 3 ECTS 
• Transformation Design: 4 ECTS   
• Convince the World (practice): 8 ECTS   
• Make it Happen (practice): 7 ECTS  

Two of the modules are practice based in which you will work on your own innovation project. The other modules are centered around transfer of knowledge in the field of Trend Watching, Design Psychology, Intercultural Communication, Business Modelling, Theory of Innovation, Making/Prototyping and Design Methods/Tools. 

Various educational methods
The course has a solid personal, knowledge and practice-oriented programme to develop a design driven mindset. We use a range of educational methods: (guest) lectures, tutorials, workshops, pressure cookers, co creating sessions, dragons den sessions, pitches, field trips and excursions (abroad).
You will get input, coaching, workshops and feedback from experts in the field, senior lecturers of Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences and (international) guest lecturers.

You will have to demonstrate that you have carried out research thoroughly and with a critical mindset, for both the knowledge based as well as the practical modules. All classes are taught in English.

Follow our information session! 

This information session is an interactive online meeting in Teams. You can join on your mobile phone, laptop or tablet.

We'll start with a short presentation about the minor. We will also show you some work of previous students. After that there is time for questions.

Click on the date you prefer to join the information session.

Tuesday 2th of April from 16.00 – 16.30 h

Tuesday 2th of April from 17.30 – 18.00 h

Wednesday 3th of April from 16.00 – 16.30 h