Business, Strategy & Innovation

Isabelle Vérilhac, Director of Innovation and International Affairs at the Cité du design-Ecole supérieure d'art et design, President of the Bureau of European Design Associations (BEDA), presented a talk at the Business, Strategy & Innovation webinar of the 2021 edition of the Cumulus International Association of Universities and Colleges of Art, Design and Media conference. 

The event took place online on Wednesday 9 June from 9:30 to 11:00. 
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Cumulus is the only global association to serve art and design educationand research. It was founded in 1990 and has today over 280 prominentuniversity members from 56 countries. It is a forum for partnership andtransfer of knowledge and best practices with the aim to buildand maintain a dynamic and flexible academic scene which would bring togethertop level educational institutions from all parts of the world. 

Design Culture(s), the theme of the 2021 edition

Design Culture(s) is investigating not simply on the concept of culture as a monolithic expression of a specific knowledge that reflects on itself, but as the product of an investigation that is open to many different “Cultures” which are emerging and revolving around it in society, in the places and in history.
Design as expression of Culture(s) is taking into consideration the cultures we are inheriting from the past and which should be granted for the benefit of future generations, so intertwining past and future, tangible and intangible, innovation and tradition.

This is the time when it is urgent to multiply the opportunities for knowledge sharing and dissemination, in order to tackle the cultural, societal, economical, technological and industrial shifts of the future, through design education and research.

Business, Strategy & Innovation working group

The Working Group deals with the relationship between design schools and companies, and the evolution of design as a strategic discipline of innovation in a socio-economic context disrupted by shifts in ecological awareness, digital culture and the rise of artificial intelligence. The designers have to take the role of project managers and show an economic and managerial intelligence towards their productions. This group is chaired by Christian GUELLERIN, L’Ecole de design Nantes Atlantique.

Webinar speakers:
 – Kari KIVINEN, Education outreach expert European Observatory on Infringements of Intellectual Property Rights European Union Intellectual Property Office

– Päivi LAHDESMAKI, Senior Advisor in the Hague Registry

– Srini SRINIVASAN, President of World Design Organization

– Isabelle VERILHAC, Head of International Affairs and Innovation, Cité du design, Saint-Etienne, France, BEDA President-elect.

During the online webinar, Isabelle Verilhac presented 2 projects which fit the 3 keys terms (sustainability, aesthetic, inclusion) of the New European Bauhaus initiative, launched by the European Commission.

1/ FabEcole, program with ESADSE students and local companies, focused on material and know-how of the enterprises;
2/ Digital Tools for Creative Cooperation, ERASMUS+ program led by ESADSE in partnership with Estonian Academy of Arts (EKA), Tallinn, Estonia, and University of Applied Sciences, Hochschule für Gestaltung (HfG), Schwäbisch-Gmünd, Germany.