Fudan University Design Thinking for Business Futures Masterclass

Overview

RCA Executive Education developed an intensive three day programme for over 30 senior-level CEOs, General Managers and Business Leaders from the Fudan EMBA International Study Programme.

The course included talks from 10 industry experts, two practical interactive group workshops and an exclusive off-site field trip to the Battersea Power Station.

Course structure

For Fudan EMBA students, we created an open collaborative innovation environment for participants to use design thinking tools. The RCA philosophy of ‘“learning by doing” is a different way of teaching than at the business schools, and is one of the reasons that Professor SUN Yimin, Associate Dean School of Management at Fudan University, chooses to bring her students to the RCA in London each year.

The course focussed on:

-Sustainability: ecologically re-visioning lifestyles for the future

-Disruptive innovation: finding new disruptive innovation opportunities in product technologies and features that underpin manufacturing processes and 5 star consumer experience

-Customer focus: learning about what can be achieved through a people-centred approach, with real-world case studies to demonstrate how customers can fuel the development of a business

Guest speakers were invited from a range of industry sectors and scale; from multi billion global businesses like SharkNinja to innovator-entrepreneur start-up Notpla run by RCA graduates and winners of the Earthshot Prize, a £1 million grant to continue their environmental work.

High speed physical brainstorming workshops on future brand provocations and identifying disruptive technologies developed by Dawn Ellams, Senior Tutor (Research) and supported by a team of RCA student and graduate ambassadors, enabled participants to collaborate and problem-solve before presenting back to the group.

A site visit to Battersea Power Station showcased examples of regeneration, design, innovation, place-making, branding and technology in the real world, with exclusive brand talks from Porsche and Petit Pli, concluding at Lift 109, an epic new viewing experience with spectacular 360 degree views of the London skyline.

Guest presentation: Ryan Mario Yasin, Petit Pli

Invited RCA alumni guest speakers and tutors:

-Chelsea Franklin, Senior Concept Designer, PANGAIA

-Nick Hooton, Product Manager at Notpla

-Jun Kamei, Founder, AMPHICO LTD

-Ryan Mario Yasin, Founder & CEO, Petit Pli

-Lili Eva Bartha, Chief Executive Officer GN3RA

-Dawn Ellams, Senior Tutor (Research), RCA

Invited external industry speakers:

-Simon Wells, Global Vice President Engineering, SharkNinja

-Alasdair Jakes, Group Marketing Manager at Porsche Retail Group Ltd

-Hongbin Zhuang, CEO of Emotech

-Alex Baker, Director of Communities and Sustainability at Battersea Power Station Development Company

Battersea Power Station visit: Porsche NOW store

Outcomes

Participants came away from this course with:

-creative confidence to work in a team on design-led innovation

-state of the art environmental considerations, methods, insights and experience to leverage design thinking for innovative future businesses

-the latest real world case studies and practices in material innovation, sustainable packaging, product design, technology, AI and metaverse, regeneration and branding

-a set of design thinking tools and methodologies.

Guest presentation:Nick Hooton, Notpla

Each year the Fudan University School of Management chooses to come to the RCA to learn about design thinking as part of their EMBA international study programme that also includes a few days at HEC Paris, a world-class business school. Here is a case study about the Disruptive Global Innovation Masterclass the RCA hosted in 2019.

We have run similar courses for Fudan University, the National University of Singapore, Nanyang Polytechnic and in collaboration with Imperial College London for various universities in China.