This paper presents the approach and results of our workshop "Strategies for Synergies" hold at the 12 th EAD Conference. The main aim was to develop innovative ideas to establish interdisciplinary working in the education of designers and researchers. In this context, we wanted to elaborate which competences are necessary to work in interdisciplinary teams and how these competences could be integrated in design and research curricula. Our results show, that empathy, emotional intelligence, and communication skills, are identified as key capabilities for the success of interdisciplinary work. Educational formats, fostering those competences, are focused on practice-oriented experiential learning, to prepare students with first hand experiences.
This paper investigates how design contributes to the development of entrepreneurial competencies at academic spin-off teams. Building on the entrepreneurial competency framework of Rasmussen et al. (2011), we analysed eight start-up teams composed of people with expertise in design, the natural sciences and business management. Our study shows that design supports the start-up process on both a conceptual and transformational level. By enhancing user research and by facilitating ideation processes and early testing of ideas, design helps in identifying business opportunities. Through its ability to further vision building and experience creation, design can strengthen championing competencies. Furthermore, design contributes to resource acquisition through the use of prototypes and mock-ups that make ideas more tangible. The propositions we derive from our study can serve to guide future research, while also carrying practical implications.
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