Our Design Management Professional Diploma cohort travelled to Hamburg, Germany on November 20th for the international module of the programme, for two intensive, but very rewarding classroom days with international peers, followed by a site visit to the Design Lab at Airbus on Thursday, November 22nd.
To witness the scale of the industries and the wider European markets that the German-based professionals were engaged in was highly rated from an insight and education aspect, as well as the enhanced experience of the international perspective on the module content and assignment presentations. There were in-depth insights into the design and development of products and services at a mass scale with many different layers of gatekeepers, testing and corporate objectives.
There were endless discussions both in the classroom and afterward socially, and the experience was described as ‘very thought-provoking and interactive, with invaluable perspectives and learning’, from both the German-based and Irish peers as well as from the teaching team.
The addition of the multi-cultural aspect and resulting peer learning as well as the opportunity to build and grow an international peer network was highly valued by our participants, and was described by another participant as ‘really interesting and fun to share the experience with so many like-minded design professionals’.
The visit to Hamburg was topped off with an optional site visit to the Design Lab at Airbus, described as ‘slightly mind-blowing in many respects’, to have been allowed so much time to and to experience such an in-depth tour of the design and innovation labs, including hangers where planes were being tested for sound, comfort, new materials, and new paint finishes for example, as well as multiple design and innovation studios where all the research, development and testing of new design and product development is underway.
Topics covered on the site visit included design, innovation, failure, testing, politics of design, business opportunities, client experience, lead times and speed of delivery.
Applications for Design Management Professional Diploma 2022 are closing 11th March 2022. Find out more here.
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