Responding to the profound changes under way in every sphere and significantly in the educational context too, the programme takes the design opportunities deriving from environmental and social demands which are increasingly urgent, globalisation processes and growing competition in a wide ranging and inter-connected market, by new technologies, the emergence of new lifestyles and consumer paradigms which require a renewed ability to think, create and offer complex solutions from designers. Consequently, the programme offers students the chance to develop a holistic and integrated design vision by means of an inter-disciplinary course carried out in a multi-cultural context.
A product-service system is an integrated whole of products, services, spaces, communication and digital artefacts capable of offering organic and sustainable solutions to complex questions. A system made up also of people (users, suppliers, those working in the field and stakeholders in general) that interacts to produce outcomes responding to a shared vision.
The objective of this two-year study programme is to train professionals capable to find a place within this whole in a design way, identifying opportunities and developing creative solutions, setting out a project according to methodologies ranging from ethnographic research to strategic positioning, working in multidisciplinary teams and developing leadership, entrepreneurial and, in general, proactive abilities within society.
1. design needs more integration with social issues, innovation, management.
2. design to solve problem differs from design driven by opportunities.
3. innovation means changing the engagement rules of users and stakeholders.
4. designing PSS means also designing relations between parties.
5. a creative solution depends on the way to perceive and set an opportunity.
6. technology is not a value per se.
7. innovation lies in the interstices of business and social ecosystem.
8. every kind of entrepreneurship needs PSS design approach.
9. design tools are nothing without a design culture.
10. educating designers needs more than design education.
The world is no more just tangible. The perception of the value provided by both private organizations and public entities depends more and more on “how” and “why” intangible assets are combined and blended with the tangible ones. Product-Service Systems (PSS) are blends of products, of communication strategies, of services and of spaces, with a focus on people (users, suppliers, employees, stakeholders) that result from the integration of multiple design components. They aim at satisfying the user need, as well as creating public and social value, and new value constellations for profit and non-profit organizations.
- An approach to design which always consider people, stakeholders, places and processes as integral parts of a solution;
- A design process based on research, analysis, creativity and testing, through co-designing and prototyping;
- An idea of innovation which is based on the integration of tangible and intangible assets, sustainability and new meanings;
- An interdisciplinary field, where concepts, patterns and rules of thumb pertaining to innovation management, entrepreneurship, design methodology and design tools match;
- A new dimension of the designer job, in which multidisciplinary collaboration, on-field experimentation, interdisciplinary competences, team-work and personal leadership are developed.
