A Design Thinking for Future Innovation masterclass developed in collaboration with Gunma Prefecture Japan and the Royal College of Art.
At a glance
RCA Executive Education developed an intensive three day masterclass for Gunma Prefecture in Japan to support their aims to create a “digital creative industry” centred on entertainment as well as the planning a new institution called the "Digital Creative School (tentative name)" to nurture the world's top talent to lead this industry.
Working in collaboration with Gunma Prefecture Japan, the masterclass was led by Dr Ashley Hall and Dr Nazlı Terzioglu from the RCA School of Design.
Key details
Gallery
About the masterclass
Course structure
This masterclass explored design thinking, introducing it as a framework for participants to tackle complex challenges and find solutions. Throughout the three days the participants were involved in practical exercises, group discussions, and creative workshops giving them access to explore innovation methodologies and design thinking principles.
The model of the workshops followed an intensive research beginning followed up with challenging brainstorming sessions, culminating with the final day being focused on narrative building. There was also an exclusive keynote talk delivered by Jun Murakoshi, Product and Service Designer from Takram, an international design innovation firm, where he presented the power behind generating ideas and how to do so.
Themes
Participants worked on four themes addressing issues in Gunma Prefecture and Japan: reducing food waste; raising awareness of disaster preparedness; marketing retreat-style travel experiences; and reducing youth outflow from Gunma Prefecture.
Course outcomes
On the final day of the course, the participants were able to consolidate their learning and discovery into final presentations and receive feedback from the course leaders.
In one of the brainstorming sessions, there were over 2000 ideas generated between the participants. One of the participants remarked that "writing one idea per minute on paper was intense, and seeing a vast number of ideas laid out before us was astonishing. Watching these ideas converge into a single concept was an unforgettable experience."
Participants came away with a wide range of outcomes to take back to their own practice or organisation. Including some of the following:
- An introduction to principles and models of design thinking
- An overview of design challenges and opportunities
- Real-world applications of design thinking
- Strategies for sharpening innovation thinking, evaluating and prioritising ideas
- Structured approach to creative thinking and creative decision making
- A reinvigorated sense of what can be achieved through conversation and storytelling
About RCA Custom Executive Education
Custom Executive Education Masterclasses and Workshops
Through our portfolio of innovation masterclasses and workshops, the RCA provides senior-level professionals and business leaders with critical business skills. We deliver courses for businesses, organisations and universities on design thinking, service design, creative leadership, disruptive innovation, entrepreneurship, human-centred design, artificial Intelligence and healthcare design.
We can tailor the curriculum for a day, a week, or several weeks over the course of a year with interrelated projects. Courses can be delivered online, on-campus, hybrid or at partner organisations. Previous courses have been delivered in Dubai, Japan, Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Germany and Mexico.
Find out more here.
Please get in contact with us if you would like to discuss developing a custom programme:
- Peter Christian, Head of Executive Education
- Hattie Allen, Senior Executive Education Manager
