• Develop a strategic design project proposal for, and in collaboration with the client organization, based on (but not necessarily in direct accordance with) the challenge given by the client.
• Execute the project through an appropriate and argued application of design process models (e.g., emphasizing iteration, complexity, and framing, in dynamic environments) and entrepreneurship techniques such as Business Model Canvas, in order to develop the project proposal.
• Develop and apply a plan for engagement, involvement and communication with relevant actors, such as stakeholders and users, in relation to your work on the project proposal.
• Clearly and effectively communicate the project proposal and the design process preceding it.
• Manage the development of the project, with special emphasis on managing stakeholder relations; cross-functional team management, time management and effective communication skills.
• Reflect on your work as team, including your role as consultants to the client.
• Provide a comprehensive analysis of the client organization in relation to those of its challenges that are relevant to your work and propose theoretically argued changes to the organization, in alignment with the project.

The students will through a semester-long company case be working in cross-disciplinary teams in studio workshops, applying theoretical models and their derived tools to the case. This semester emphasises research-based learning in interaction with real-life stakeholders. Teaching will be focused on process consultation and project management providing relevant techniques and models (e.g., business model innovation and practice theories).

Groups develop a strategic plan and/or process outline, using the theory package provided. Feedback and formative evaluation will be given as part of panel sessions with external participants throughout the project process.

The workshops will cover both discussion of theoretical topics and practical design activity. Groups will receive supervision on projects from different angles: From the business/organizational side, from the practice-oriented side and from the artistic, design-related side.

During the project process, the students achieve a reflected approach to strategic design and the high complexity of a project process.

The students will work with a narrative approach, learning about mechanisms of storytelling. A central aim is to provide the students with tools for effective communication; how to present a process or a project, and as a tool to understand stakeholders and engage them into dialogue.

This course will tentatively be organized around the following topics:

• Strategic design as concept
• Process consultation
• Actor-network theory
• Design and Entrepreneurship project management
• Business model innovation