As more industries and sectors recognize the need to shift to circular economies, the demand for skills to facilitate this shift has rapidly grown. Life-Centred Design is an intensive five-day course that gives participants access to those skills, and opportunities to practise them on realistic problems. We will introduce you to a fast, effective, and broadly applicable design toolkit for researching strategic innovation opportunities and prototyping service concepts.

Our focus is on nuanced applications specific to CIID’s design practice with an emphasis on tools and techniques for Sustainable innovation, all applied through learning by doing. This hands-on course will guide you through the process of designing new sustainable business models, products and services. It begins with understanding an ecosystem of stakeholders and actors, discovering their hidden needs and dependencies, and culminates in a sustainable solution which integrates the triple bottom line of People, Planet, and Prosperity.

Prerequisites

No specific prerequisites are needed, other than an open mind, a curious approach, and hands that are ready to make things.

How you’ll learn

We’ll start with an introduction to sustainability, main definitions and principles, then move on to specific skills structured around three main phases of the Life-Centred Design process: Inspiration – Ideation – Implementation. The Inspiration phase includes research planning and fieldwork, trends and signal hunting, and analysis techniques such as needs mapping and actor cards. The Ideation phase covers opportunity finding, large-volume idea generation, and idea prioritisation and refinement. Finally, the Implementation phase includes concept mapping, co-creation, and experience prototyping and testing.

What you’ll learn

• How to combine Systems Thinking, Circular Design and Future-Casting tools to create sustainable innovation.
• A series of new tools that can be taken back to your work, including:
  • Ecosystem maps
  • Inclusive research
  • Cause & consequence analysis
  • Ideation for sustainable solutions
  • Development of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
  • Evaluation of ideas for social and environmental impact
  • Development of probable and desirable future scenarios, based on insights and trends
• How to act as an ambassador of Life-Centred Design inside your organisation.

What to bring

• Notebook and Pen
• Laptop