Professor Lou Yongqi, PhD
Dean of the College of Design and Innovation
Tongji University, China
Professor Lou Yongqi, PhD, is dean of the College of Design and Innovation at Tongji University in Shanghai, China. He is also vice president of CUMULUS, the International Association of Universities and Colleges of Art, Design and Media; and a board member of the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (Icsid).
Yongqi has been the pioneer in China for design-driven innovation education that connects design, business and technology. He was the one of first designers in China to connect social innovation and sustainable design thinking with rural development. He is founding executive editor of She Ji: The Journal of Design, Innovation and Economics published by Tongji University and Elsevier. In 2014, the president of Finland honored Yongqi with the Order of the Lion of Finland as a Knight, First Class.
DesignX, a New Era of Design Activism: Emerging Practices in Shanghai
In 2014, Professor Lou Yongqi, PhD, gathered scholars at Tongji University to discuss how design could address the complex issues that the world is currently facing, and the role that design and designers should play. The result: a manifesto, DesignX, a New Path of Future Design, opened a dialogue of creating new design education, research and practice models in the new era. To make these changes happen, Yongqi finds a new culture of design activism should be encouraged. He will share some pilot cases led by the College of Design and Innovation at Tongji University, that extended the boundary of design in many ways with key challenges in education, social inclusion and urban-rural interaction. Learn how design schools can be the agent for positive social change with entrepreneurship mindset and know-how.
