Innovation and Future Thinking | © Proyecto:  Waiting Journey. Estudiante:  Emma Krejberg Bak

Language

English

Start date

July 2026

Frequency

Part-time

Fruition

On campus

Duration

2 Weeks

Course Coordination

Meri Sahade , Uri Casademont

Develop strategic thinking to acquire foresight; comprehend, plan and create solutions in a context of rapid and constant change.

 

In this Summer Course in Innovation and Future Thinking, you’ll be detecting signs of change, organising ideas into comprehensible models, finding new ways to assess possible futures, identifying potential barriers and opportunities, designing innovative ideas, products and services.

This course, taught in English, focuses on the strategic, innovative and creative aspects of future thinking. You’ll start with data collection and modelling, explore and adopt narrative development, strategic foresight, prototyping, and find out how to effectively inform users about new products and services. This new know-how will be put to good use in the form of a final project providing solutions for the problems found.

 

Information to decide

A course, taught in English, to acquire the methodologies and tools you need to identify and evaluate signs of change, proposing innovative solutions for future thinking.

 

Starting from the question, "Why think about the future?" you’ll discover the fundamental concepts of futuring from a theoretical perspective. In this first part of the course you’ll focus on trend identification and analysis, watching out for weak signs and macro trends. This phase is characterised by an observational analysis of urban environments.

The focus then shifts to creating scenarios, roadmaps and timelines, using retrospection and creative ideas to develop new narratives. Futurists, innovators and designers will show us how to use these techniques to put theory into practice.

You’ll study innovation practices and processes and see how they’re used by both major companies and start-ups.

To finish the course in style you’ll develop a final project to provide long-term solutions for the problems found.

The Summer Course in Innovation and Future Thinking is for students and professionals from a variety of fields and backgrounds with one thing in common: a healthy interest in innovation and creative thinking.

People looking for new ways to create products, services and business concepts will find the course both interesting and useful with its mix of strategic business vision and product design development.

If you want to combine creative skills with a rigorous approach to thinking, this course is a great place to start.

In this course you’ll develop new forecasting skills and acquire the techniques and tools you need to detect change, as well as an understanding of the dynamics of change in modern society.

 

After this course you’ll be developing concepts, services and products with greater foresight and a strategic new look. You’ll also consolidate your teamwork skills and share ideas using sector-specific language. 

It’s a course, taught in English, with a strong international focus for students from a wide range of backgrounds and a variety of profiles that is sure to enrich your learning experience.

You’ll be studying in Barcelona, a benchmark in the world of design and innovation. Two weeks in a city that leads the field in terms of observational analysis. The city itself will be your case study as you search for and find indicators, behaviours, messages and signs for predicting change. 

Syllabus

LEARNING PHASE

CONNECTION PHASE

CREATION PHASE

Faculty

Course Coordinator

Meri Sahade

Future Days Co-founder & Creative Director

Course Coordinator

Uri Casademont

Future Days Founder & Executive Director

Teacher

John Willshire

Strategic designer and futures expert

Teacher

Christina Bifano

Designer, educator, researcher

Teacher

Manuela Procopio

Service Designer and Digital Design Specialist

News

03 July 2026

July: Exhibitions, Installations and New Horizons for IED.60 Public Program

With the arrival of July, IED Graduation Days enter their busiest phase across IED’s Italian campuses, bringing with them a series of public events designed to showcase the ideas, projects and research developed by students.

02 July 2026

Product Design IED Madrid alumni Jorge Penadés designs the Museo Reina Sofía's new public space

The designer created Alhacena, an installation conceived to encourage visitors to pause, read and connect within the museum's permanent collection.

01 July 2026

Three IED Designers Win at the 2026 Spanish Fashion Academy Awards

Alumni Ernesto Naranjo, together with faculty members Miguel Becer (ManéMané) and Juan Vidal, have been recognised at the third edition of the Academia de la Moda Española Awards for their outstanding creative work.

30 June 2026

This Was IED Madrid's Graduation Shows 2026: Two Days of Designing the Future

Under the concept Times New, IED Madrid's campuses hosted the final project exhibitions for Graphic Design, Product Design, Interior Design and Fashion Design, culminating in the traditional Avant-défilé.

23 June 2026

Best Thesis Awards 2026 – IED Barcelona

Fashion that evokes nostalgia through layered fabrics; a reinterpretation of retail as a living biological interface; an exploration of how Korean Wave (Hallyu) cultural products generate value within the luxury fashion sector; and an interactive digital experience that makes a previously hidden financial language visible.

22 June 2026

Jaime Hayón, Product Design IED Madrid alumni, honoured at the Escala Interior Design Awards

The designer received the National Excellence Award, recognising the work of leading interior design professionals in Spain.

19 June 2026

Sense of Dubai, a Project by Two IED Madrid Students, Wins at the Accor Design Awards 2026

Ana Cristina Lara Sanabria and Camilla Lari Prado received the Second Prize and the Public Choice Award for a proposal that transforms Dubai’s evolution into an immersive experience.

12 June 2026

Issue 3: Future Memories - Plural Intelligences

What will we choose to remember from the present we are living through? This is the starting point of the third issue of Notes on Plural Intelligences – Future Memories.

09 June 2026

Creativity in motion: the IED.60 Public Programme gets underway

June marks a special moment for IED: the Public Program IED.60 is in full swing, with a rich calendar of events spanning fashion, design, illustration and visual arts, bringing talks, exhibitions and open events to Milan, Rome, Florence and New York for the IED community and the wider public.