How do you develop an enterprise – whether a young start-up, your family's business or an international corporation? How can you make use of creativity and innovation in order to provide for economic growth? How can practical experience with design assist you with business management – and what can a manager achieve by employing methods of Design Thinking? The answers to these questions can be found in the interdisciplinary course Management by Innovation, tailor-made to train you – with the aid of internationally successful course formats – to be a highly qualified executive.

You are aiming for a career in a renowned company? You aspire to become a successful leader, able to master the turbulence of today's economy, capable of finding quick and reliable solutions even in difficult situations? Or: you have just started your own business (or are about to do so)? Congratulations! But what comes next? What are the next steps in raising your 'young one' into a strong, healthy SME player?

Regardless of the path you choose: the interdisciplinary master's course at the NDU provides you with the required skills and knowledge. You will acquire a high quality business education, complemented by methods and practices originating in the field of design – such as the "Design Thinking" model, developed by the IDEO creative agency and the Stanford University. The reason for this is: whether you are a self-made entrepreneur or a manager, creativity and innovation are in both cases key factors on the way to success. At the New Design University, you will learn to develop and foster these capacities, and to employ them with profit in entrepreneurial context. In transdisciplinary projects, you will apply strategies, mindsets and operation principles of creative economy onto management, and try out entrepreneurial practice already in the course of your studies.
 

The course

The course shapes the students’ entrepreneurial thinking and responsible behaviour in real-world projects. During your studies, you will put business plans and models into practice, and obtain the opportunity to launch a real start-up, developing it to success in the market. You will deal in depth with the concept of Design Thinking and learn to apply it as a problem-solving technique in management. You will concentrate on creative techniques and strategies (e.g. rapid prototyping), on innovation research and management, as well as on the importance of social responsibility. In the Entrepreneurship Laboratory you will practise efficient business modelling and entrepreneurship research, while in the Trend Laboratory you will examine questions of strategic management and organisational development and engage in scientific trend research.

NDU advantages: innovative course formats and transdisciplinary projects

In terms of teaching, the master’s course follows leading international universities and business schools, offering innovative course formats with small classes, interactive learning, and a strong link between theory and practice. Among the models for some of the NDU’s course formats are the successful curricula of Stanford University, MIT Sloan School of Management, and UC Berkeley. By means of transdisciplinary projects carried out in close cooperation with students from other courses (graphic design, interior design, information design, etc.) the NDU offers an excellent interdisciplinary environment for entrepreneurial high-potentials seeking to obtain profound knowledge for future executive positions.

Profession and career opportunities

Thanks to their entrepreneurial profile, our graduates qualify for a wide range of potential careers. In addition to setting up one’s own company or taking over an existing business (corporate succession), typical starting positions will be in innovation management, business development, investment management, product development or marketing. You will also have the ideal qualifications for a career as a business consultant or business analyst.