Custom executive education workshops for the Korea Institute of Design Promotion
Overview
The RCA delivered a 5-day custom Global Design Workshop on Emerging Technology Futures for the Korea Institute of Design Promotion (KIDP) in Seoul, South Korea. Thirty students from nine leading graduate schools in South Korea were selected to participate.
The workshop was designed and developed by Professor Ashley Hall, Postgraduate Research Lead in the School of Design and Head of Programme for the Healthcare & Design MRes, and Dr Delfina Fantini van Ditmar Senior Tutor (Research) Innovation Design Engineering MA/MSc from the School of Design. It covered these learning outcomes:
- Understanding how to apply future methods in design
- Constructing design futures scenarios
- Integrating emergent technology into design futures
- How to map opportunities and issues of disruptive innovations
The RCA has been working with KIDP on custom short courses since 2017, delivered in both London and Korea. Click the 'previous courses' tab below to learn more.
Course Structure
The focus for the programme was: ‘How can we bring together state-of-the-art future methods to deliver more successful technology emergence to address global challenges?’
Prior to the programme start date RCA course leaders worked in collaboration with KIDP to develop and prepare the overall programme.
The workshop was framed as a safe space to learn new skills, methods, thinking and concepts. It encouraged testing, experimentation, failure and trying out new ideas and approaches. Innovation in product design should not be driven purely for the sake of technology. The workshop highlighted designers’ responsibility to address social, environmental and health challenges.
We invited inspirational expert keynote talks provided students with the latest knowledge:
- Deep Tech: Dr Elena Dieckmann, Senior Teaching Fellow at Imperial College London
- Technology Maturation: Dr Tibor Balint, Principal Human Centered Designer, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and RCA Guest Tutor
The course took place at the Korea Design Center, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea. We invited two Korean speaking RCA Alumni to support and facilitate the activities and workshops. Students worked in groups on projects that followed a phased process from concept to implementation.
Outcomes
95% of students said they would recommend this course to others.
Through a combination of lectures, workshops, tutorials, group work and presentations, students learned how to collaborate with people from different fields and disciplines.
At the end of the course, students presented their work to a panel of experts. They were challenged to address key aspects of their ideas with thought-provoking questions:
- How sustainable is the lifecycle of this design?
- What problem does the technology solve?
- Does the design respond to future society?
- What design assumptions should we be questioning?
- How can we understand the morals, ethics and values of future populations that will use products designed today?
Prizes were awarded for best innovation, best future design proposal and best presentation.
“I experienced the curriculum of great professors and it was an opportunity to expand my knowledge by collaborating with people from various backgrounds.”
Hongik University
“All promising designers must experience this course to know how to see and create the future.”
UNIST
“This workshop is a great opportunity to explore the direction and value of future design development. It also enables fused design in groups with students in other design fields.”
Hongik University
Key details
Gallery
More information
Previous courses
The RCA has been collaborating with the Korea Institute of Design Promotion (KIDP) since 2017. Prior to the event of COVID-19, each year they select 15 students from three design engineering postgraduate schools and four regional Korea Design Membership programmes, both funded by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy of South Korea, to take part in the week-long challenge workshop ‘Future Matters’, about materials and how they are used.
Working with the RCA Design Products programme, the workshop included a visit to the Design Museum exhibition Designer, Maker, User and the Institute of Making at UCL, alongside guest lectures.
We have delivered similar workshops for the Daegu Gyeongbuk Design Center, Korea.
About KIDP
Established in 1970,the Korea Institute of Design Promotion (KIDP) is the only design body in Korea to plan and implement national design policies and strategies. Affiliated with the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy (MOTIE), KIDP aims to raise quality of life for people by design and lead innovation of the Korean design industry.
The RCA and KIDP signed an expanded memorandum of understanding (MoU) in June 2022.
For the 2023 cohort, KIDP invited thirty cross-disciplinary design students from nine Korean Universities:
- Hanseo University - Unmanned Aeronautical Design Convergence Curriculum
- Hongik University - Professional Designer Training Course on Human Factors
- Kookmin University - Carbon Neutrality Convergence Design
- Korea University - Creative Convergence Design Collaboration Course
- Sejong University - Connected Design Convergence Major
- Seoul Women's University - Major in Interaction Design
- Sungshin Women's University - Future Convergence Technology Engineering
- TU Korea (Tech University of Korea) - Department of Immersive Media Design
- UNIST - College of Information-Bio Convergence Engineering
Custom Executive Education
Custom Executive Education Masterclasses and Workshops
Through our portfolio of innovation masterclasses and workshops, the RCA provides senior-level professionals and business leaders with critical business skills. We deliver courses for businesses, organisations and universities on design thinking, service design, creative leadership, disruptive innovation, entrepreneurship, human-centred design, artificial Intelligence and healthcare design.
We can tailor the curriculum for a day, a week, or several weeks over the course of a year with interrelated projects. Courses can be delivered online, on-campus, hybrid or at partner organisations. Previous courses have been delivered in Dubai, Japan, Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Germany and Mexico.
Find out more here.
Please get in contact with us if you would like to discuss developing a custom programme:
- Peter Christian, Head of Executive Education
- Hattie Allen, Executive Education Manager
Contact us
Get in touch to find out how we can help your business or organisation succeed.
short-courses@rca.ac.uk
