Collaborate with us

The Department of Design has extensive collaboration with Norwegian companies in the form of student theses, master's theses, research projects, workshops, courses and other assignments. Our students collaborate with experts in many fields.

Internationally, we collaborate with universities and research institutions in projects and networks. We also collaborate with international universities through exchange agreements where we annually welcome exchange students from all over the world to us and also send out our own students.

However, the students cannot carry out regular redesign and styling. The projects must have an emphasis on research and design thinking, so that they avoid competing with existing companies in the area.

At the Department of Design there is much flexibility for customizing collaboration with private, public and non-profit organisations. The collaborative construct will be based upon the needs and requirements of the key stakeholders as well as the specific module / course requirements.

In particular, the Department of Design encourages collaboration with external parties through the following courses:

TPD4129 - Systems Design

For this course, we are inviting organisations with an interest in exploring constructs with respect to Systems Thinking and Design, challenging students with cases that requires them to think and design, back and forth from holistic to more concrete solutions. The design outcomes can be tangible, intangible or a combination of both.

TPD4166 - Strategic Design

For this course, organisations in search of innovative solutions, and those who are interested to reinvent themselves, are invited to contact the Department of Design. Students, acting as junior consultants, will be working in small groups of 3–4 with organisations through a structured product planning process.

The case can be presented either as

• a broad area for exploration, relevant for organization, while setting the base for incremental or radical innovation.
• or as the organization itself in search of new values, which can be intervened though new products, new services, new production processes, new ways of marketing and branding, etc.

As collaboration is expected to be engaging among the actors, several constructs can be arranged.

The expected outcome is a formulation of a comprehenisive strategic design direction projected over a short-, mid-, and long-term perspectives and supported by visualized design concepts.

TPD4195 Design Studies / TPD4260 Design and Entrepreneurship

In this course, students take the initiative to arrange and undertake an externally contextual project. Here, they have the option to:

1. Take part in a (design) competition
2. Pitch for startup or innovation funds
3. Engage in crowdsourcing by designing for Indiegogo or Kick-starter
4. Design for a legitimate organization
5. Write a research paper for a conference or journal
6. Design for an exhibition, etc.

TPD4142 Design Thinking

For this course, we invite organisations with an interest in exploring human-centered design solutions, while at the same time addressing social, technological, economic, environmental and political challenges.

As the students come from different disciplines, but are being introduced to design thinking principles, the intervention to the problem can be tangible, intangible, a combination of both, and not necessary within the scope of industrial design.

Are you a teacher at a secondary school or upper secondary school who would like a guest lecture, a tour or have other needs related to youth enterprises?

Contact us about the possibility for cooperation.