To better cultivate compound innovative design talents with engineering foundations and awareness, innovative spirits, and "hardcore" abilities guided by industrial demands, and to help enterprises solve practical design problems and expand talent recruitment channels, the Industrial Design major at the Xi'an Jiaotong University and Politecnico di Milano Joint School of Design and Innovation specifically invites enterprises/organizations to submit design projects (topics) intended for incorporation into the "Design Practice" course. The goal is to forge an innovative design talent cultivation model through a tripartite collaborative education model that involves enterprises posing questions, students answering, foreign teachers leading lectures, Chinese teachers co-teaching, joint guidance from foreign and Chinese teachers and enterprise mentors, and shared course outcomes. This endeavor aims to serve as a starting point for actively exploring solutions to the era's challenge of independently cultivating innovative design talents within the context of industry-education integration.
I. Collaboration Mode
Leveraging the undergraduate course "Design Practice" (Design Practice 1-6 distributed across 8 semesters) offered by the Industrial Design program at the Xi'an Jiaotong University and Politecnico di Milano Joint School of Design and Innovation as the collaboration vehicle, we aim to establish a practical teaching platform that fosters in-depth industry-education integration and cooperation between enterprises, institutions, and higher education institutions. Enterprises/organizations will propose design practice projects (topics) based on actual engineering/design needs or societal issues, taking into account application scenarios. Once approved and sorted by the school, these projects (topics) will be incorporated into "Design Practice 1-6." The Chinese and foreign faculty teams for "Design Practice 1-6" will form Sino-foreign and school-enterprise cooperative teaching teams according to the training program and course syllabus. Through Italian lectures, Chinese co-teaching, and guidance from enterprise mentors, the teams will organize teaching knowledge points centered on the course objectives, using the projects (topics) as carriers. Through division of labor and collaboration, they will carry out course teaching practices and project guidance, ultimately evaluating student outcomes jointly by the three parties.
Enterprise Involvement:
Project Proposal:
Based on the design application/problem scenarios and actual needs of the enterprise/organization, propose authentic design projects (topics) suitable for incorporation into the "Design Practice 1-6" course for joint school-enterprise guidance. The difficulty level of the projects (topics) should be appropriate for the undergraduate "Design Practice" course in Industrial Design, and the design/creative content should align with the course objectives (refer to Annex 1: Design Project Solicitation Form). The course team will guide students in forming design groups, who will then complete the project proposals and, under the guidance of the teaching team, develop design concepts and implementations during the corresponding design practice course sessions.
Enterprise Mentors:
Appoint highly skilled, responsible, and experienced engineering and technical experts as enterprise mentors (or form a mentor team) to collaborate with Italian lecturers and Chinese co-teachers in introducing design projects (topics), participating in select teaching sessions, communicating with students as needed, attending the final course presentations for "Design Practice," and evaluating course outcomes, completion status, and student performance throughout the process. When necessary, enterprises can provide support such as visits, experimental materials, and venues to facilitate the completion of design projects (topics).
Benefits for Enterprises:
By obtaining creative/innovative solutions/ideas for engineering technologies, products, services, or systems, enterprises can lay the foundation for talent attraction, recruitment, and direct promotion/assessment. Additionally, they can gain access to jointly built and shared high-quality research resources with the Joint School of Design and Innovation, as well as potential opportunities for deep collaboration with Xi'an Jiaotong University and Politecnico di Milano.
II. College and Course Team Roles
College Responsibilities:
The college establishes a Sino-foreign faculty team to conduct theoretical lectures and tutorials, ensuring the orderly progress of the course. It collaborates closely with enterprises to jointly validate and refine practical topics that align with professional training objectives and course requirements, giving priority to school-enterprise cooperation topics in terms of topic selection, faculty allocation, resource support, and excellence recognition. The college provides experimental and practical spaces and conditions for the design projects (topics) introduced into the course, and offers institutional support for the implementation and transformation of design project outcomes.
Course Team Involvement:
The college selects highly skilled, capable, and responsible teachers to serve as Chinese co-teachers. These teachers work closely with Italian lecturers and enterprise mentors (or mentor teams), strictly adhering to the requirements and plans of the school and college, to jointly conduct course teaching practices. Italian lecturers and Chinese co-teachers integrate lecture content and design projects seamlessly according to course objectives, fostering mutual growth through teaching and research.
Promotion and Collaboration:
III. Intellectual Property Rights and Requirements for Enterprise Design Projects (Topics)
Open-Ended Topics:
Solicited projects (topics) can include open-ended issues such as enterprise design projects, clinical needs, or research topics. The results of course design projects jointly guided by both parties are shared by both the school and the enterprise. If the enterprise intends to further develop the design outcomes, it must sign a separate agreement with the Chinese and Italian instructors and the student team.
Project Clarity and Suitability:
The design projects provided by enterprises should have clear objectives and appropriate difficulty levels, suitable for collaborative creation based on the course within the school-enterprise team. Projects (topics) aimed solely at enhancing brand awareness or product sales are strictly prohibited. The college will conduct preliminary review and sorting of the collected design projects (topics), and the "Design Practice" course faculty team will contact the confirmed projects (topics) for incorporation into the course. By obtaining low-risk, low-cost engineering technology and product innovation solutions, enterprises can establish new models for talent attraction, recruitment, and direct promotion/assessment.
IV. Introduction to Current Solicitation and Timeline Requirements
The solicitation of Sino-foreign cooperative industry-education integration industrial design "Design Practice" projects for enterprises/organizations is valid on an ongoing basis, and all enterprises/organizations are welcome to stay informed. For this round, we will solicit enterprise design projects (topics) intended for inclusion in the "Design Practice 3" course during the summer mini-semester of the 2023-2024 academic year. Course introductions and start dates are as follows:
(Note: The specific course introduction and timeline details would typically follow this section, but as they were not provided in the original text, they have been omitted here for brevity.)
Introduction to "Design Practice 3" Course Content:
The course aims to provide a hands-on experience in product design and development, with a focus on implementation from a design perspective. Following the conceptual design phase, students are required to develop the subsystems of their products down to individual components, learning to address the feasibility of their designs from an engineering standpoint. Additionally, students will learn and apply the fundamental principles of ergonomics and product interaction.
Course Start and Duration of "Design Practice 3":
Deadline for Design Project Solicitation for "Design Practice 3" in the Summer Semester of the 2023-2024 Academic Year:
Italian Lead Instructor for "Design Practice 3":
Italian Assistant Instructor for "Design Practice 3":
Profile of Professor Giorgio Colombo:
Professor Giorgio Colombo serves as a professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Politecnico di Milano, where he coordinates the Master's program in Design and Engineering at the School of Design. He is also a supervising professor in the Product Development Laboratory for Mechanical and Design Engineering, a mentor for graduate students in Digital Design in Mechanical Engineering, a member of the Doctoral Board in Mechanical Engineering, and a member of the Italian National Association of Mechanical Design.
Professor Colombo has held positions at the Italian National Research Council's Machine Tool Institute in Milan and as an Assistant Professor at the Polytechnic University of Parma from 1991. Since 2001, he has served as an Assistant and then Associate Professor at Politecnico di Milano, rising to the rank of Full Professor in 2016.
The research interests of Professor Colombo's team include product development, digital human modeling in industrial and medical fields, the application of data models and AI technologies in design and manufacturing processes, and the use of virtual and augmented reality in industrial and medical contexts. He has coordinated numerous Italian national and EU research projects and collaborated with several Italian and multinational companies, such as Pirelli Tyres, Baker&Huges, Artsana, and Zoppas Industries. Currently, he is involved in projects like 5G TIMBER and RaRe2 EU. Professor Colombo has published over 200 papers, many of which are indexed in SCOPUS and ISI, in journals, books, and conference proceedings. He has served as conference chair and program chair for international academic conferences and is currently on the editorial boards of several international journals.
Profile of Marco Rossoni:
Marco Rossoni has been an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Politecnico di Milano since May 2021. He obtained his Master's degree in Mechanical Engineering in December 2015 and his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Politecnico di Milano in April 2020. After completing his Ph.D., he served as a Researcher at the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Bergamo.
Professor Rossoni has published several solo and co-authored papers in journals and international conferences. He has also served as the Theme Chair and Sub-forum Chair for conferences such as IMECE and CIE ASME. His research interests focus on methods and tools that support product development processes in Industry 4.0. Specifically, his research emphasizes the following areas:
Information and Knowledge Management Systems (e.g., knowledge engineering and ontological models)
Computer-Aided Design
Artificial Intelligence technologies
Virtual Reality
His research activities are primarily conducted through EU-funded projects and collaborations with industries, including projects like Horizon 2020 ProRegio, H2020 FET ROSE, and Horizon EU 5G Timber. Collaborating enterprises include Artsana SpA and Zoppas Industries, among others.
Chinese Co-Instructors for "Design Practice 3":
Li Hongwei, Associate Professor in the School of Mechanical Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, primarily conducts research on engineering-based product industrial design innovation, biomedical device product design and development based on biomechanics, and design research, teaching, and design services oriented towards additive manufacturing. He has completed over 30 design projects commissioned by enterprises as the first author and has numerous successful cases in design-driven innovation of production factors and industrial upgrading. His designed products have received 2 iF Product Design Awards, 1 Red Dot Product Design Award, 1 Red Dot Concept Award, the Best Creativity Award at China Good Design, and other accolades. He has published more than 20 academic papers, applied for 39 invention patents, 15 utility model and design patents as the first author, with 12 invention patents granted and 6 patents converted. He has led 16 key research and development projects in Shaanxi Province, Xi'an Science and Technology Plans, and enterprise-funded projects. Additionally, he has hosted 8 industry-university-research cooperation projects and provincial/university-level educational reform projects, participated in 12 various educational reform projects. The course "Innovative Thinking and Robot Maker Practice" he teaches was approved as a national first-class online course in 2020, and "Design Practice" was approved as a first-class social practice course in Shaanxi Province in 2021. He won the first prize of the 16th Teaching Achievement Award of Xi'an Jiaotong University as the second author. His students have won gold medals in the Internet+ Competition, the National Mechanical Innovation Design Competition, and the Future Designer National College Art and Design Competition, among others.
Lin Xiaoman, Lecturer in the School of Mechanical Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, focuses on research and teaching in human-computer interaction and industrial design, specializing in promoting industrial upgrading through design-driven innovation methods. As the project leader, she has undertaken and completed more than ten enterprise-funded projects. She has hosted 6 projects including those of the Shaanxi Higher Education Society and university-level educational reform projects, and participated in over 10 additional educational reforms. The "Design Practice" course she teaches was approved as a first-class social practice course in Shaanxi Province in 2021. She won the first prize of the 16th Teaching Achievement Award of Xi'an Jiaotong University as the third author. She has received the Second Prize in the First Half of 2019 Teaching Competition, the Third Prize in the First Classroom Teaching Innovation Competition, and the Third Prize in the First Half of 2023 Teacher Teaching Competition (Innovative Teaching Track) at Xi'an Jiaotong University. Her students have won 47 awards, including 5 international, 8 national, and 29 provincial and ministerial level awards.
IV. Application and Submission Methods
Interested organizations are requested to fill out the attached "Solicitation Form for Sino-foreign Cooperative Industry-Education Integration Design Practice Projects" and send it to the email address: ruixue_wong@xjtu.edu.cn
Project Solicitation Contacts:
Contact Phone: 029-88960095
For any additional cooperation intentions or ideas related to Sino-foreign cooperative industry-education integration design practice, please contact Li Hongwei. Contact Email: lihongwei@mail.xjtu.edu.cn
