Technological advancements continue to play a significant role in addressing societal challenges. The intersection of technology, business, and design provides opportunities for developing innovative solutions that respond to critical social needs. Within this framework, different initiatives aim to bridge the gap between scientific research and real-world applications, fostering multidisciplinary collaboration.
The Technology for Social Innovation (TeSI) program is an educational initiative designed to identify disruptive applications and business models for cutting-edge technologies. It brings together students from different academic backgrounds, including business management, engineering and design. The course is built around a selection of breakthrough technologies, developed under ATTRACT, as a starting point for innovation.
The program follows methodologies rooted in human-centred design and design thinking, and the teams are formed with a mix of students from the three disciplines mentioned before, fostering collaboration across different areas of expertise. They explore the selected ATTRACT technologies and identify potential applications far from the original scope and that address societal needs, and the groups receive support from a coaching team and participate in a three-day ideation process at CERN IdeaSquare. Furthermore, they also have several interactions with researchers, allowing them to gain insights into early-stage technological development.
TeSI equips participants with a range of competencies, including the ability to assess the impact of novel technologies, communicate and justify innovation-related decisions, and lead independent and collaborative work. They engage in exploratory projects that require ongoing reflection and adaptation to new information.
“I feel it has been enriching for my future career in many dimensions: from learning to design a project taking responsibility on every step, to working with people with various backgrounds, which increased the exposure to many different expertise. Being able to learn from every one of my teammates will for sure enrich my future career,
commented Elisenda Loppacher, a student from the Esade MiBA program.
Over the course of three rounds, the TeSI program has engaged 82 students from more than 14 nationalities, developing 18 solutions that tackle societal problems such as health, agriculture, pollution, etc. through the exploration of nine ATTRACT technologies: SNIFFIRDRONE, HYGER, MEGAMORPH, among others. Throughout this process, students were mentored by 9 faculty members and coaches from diverse backgrounds, providing a range of perspectives and approaches.
This program is coordinated by Esade Fusion Point, an experiential learning lab and partnership between Esade Business School, IED Barcelona Design School and Universitat Politècnica De Catalunya (UPC).
Here you can watch a video of the TeSI program:
For additional information about the program, visit here.
Technological advancements continue to play a significant role in addressing societal challenges. The intersection of technology, business, and design provides opportunities for developing innovative solutions that respond to critical social needs. Within this framework, different initiatives aim to bridge the gap between scientific research and real-world applications, fostering multidisciplinary collaboration. The Technology for Social Innovation […]
