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-The creative economy foresees the generation of 8 million new jobs in 2030 in nine large economies in the world, including Spain, according to Deloitte
-Given the latent demand for professionals in the field of the creative economy, by companies and consultancies, Elisava Madrid will be born, a university that will be a pioneer in offering training in a field hitherto unexplored in our country: the confluence of design and creativity with business
-The implementation of this new educational model in the capital is involving an initial investment of €1.5M
-Similar educational models already work successfully in certain universities of reference in pedagogical reinvention, located in Denmark, Sweden and the United States.
Madrid, March 13, 2024.- Recent reports have highlighted the importance of creative thinking as a key factor for the optimal functioning and productivity of the business sector.
Some relevant data are the superior performance, by 200%, of companies that invest in design compared to those that do not (Design Council of the United Kingdom) and the fact that 70.1% of the companies surveyed in Spain Design Index recognizes “design as a strategic element in business”. In fact, the creative economy itself, which includes initiatives that generate development and wealth through creativity, foresees the generation of 8 million new jobs in 2030 in nine major economies in the world, including Spain, according to a report by the consulting firm Deloitte.
This evidence highlights the transformative role of creativity in the competitiveness of companies. This, together with the strong change in social paradigm, marked by the emergence of innovative trends that put users at the center and disciplines such as artificial intelligence, highlight the need to train a new generation of entrepreneurs.
With the aim of responding to this latent demand, next fall Madrid will host the first university in Spain focused exclusively on training entrepreneurs in the field of creative industries. This is how Elisava Madrid will be born, with a new pedagogical model that will offer education in an educational terrain hitherto unexplored in our country: where design and creativity come together with business.
Elisava, Faculty of Design and Engineering, is the first design school in Spain, founded in Barcelona in 1961. For more than 60 years it has offered training to more than 25,000 students in collaboration with companies, institutions and universities around the world.
The headquarters of the new university will be located in Acid House Madrid, a creative center that will open its doors in spring in the Legazpi neighborhood, a few meters from the Matadero Contemporary Creation Center. The first courses, limited to 20 places each, already have open registration and will begin to be taught next October. In Spanish and English and in face-to-face and semi-face-to-face formats, the master’s degrees that will begin will be Beyond Branding, Research for Design and Innovation, Strategic Design and Creativity and Design Leadership.
The implementation of this new educational model in the capital is involving an initial investment of €1.5M by the actors involved, that is, Elisava and Acid House, and mainly addresses infrastructure, design of training programs and teaching staff.
The director of the new school, Edgar González, an educator and architect with more than 25 years of experience working at the intersection of design, technology, city and innovation and in universities such as IE University or IE Business School, explains: “it is a new and disruptive educational model, which addresses the contemporary challenges of corporations and develops innovative solutions for them. To do this, it uses the design thinking pattern, as well as its creative methodologies, with its tools and processes, and applies them in the business context, creating effective human-centered strategies.”
The new pedagogical program, aimed at transversal profiles, is inspired by Elisava’s experience in Executive master’s programs in Barcelona. Santiago Albert, director of Masters and Postgraduates at the school, states: “we have a long history of executive courses, which have been successfully developed at our headquarters in Barcelona, ??and whose objective has been to train professionals capable of promoting change and innovation in corporations. As a result of this experience, we landed in Madrid with a new pedagogical model, now totally focused on training entrepreneurs in the creative industries environment through design thinking and creativity.”
Albert Folch, a designer with 20 years of experience, director of the creative agency Folch and co-founder of Acid House, defends: “we think that the model we are establishing together with Elisava can be scalable to many other cities in Spain, as well as Latin America, generating not only a new educational model but an entire creative ecosystem that is very necessary for certain technological and business environments.” And he adds: “the opening of the new university places Madrid as the new epicenter of the Spanish-speaking creative economy.”
Some of the leaders of this new educational model, which is about to arrive in Madrid, are internationally pioneering universities in pedagogical reinvention, such as Kaospilot in Denmark; Hyper Island in Sweden; or Minerva in San Francisco. In fact, Christer Windeløv-Lidzélius, former director of Kaospilot, will co-direct several of these educational programs
Elisava, Faculty of Design and Engineering at UVic-UCC, promotes education, knowledge and research in the fields of design, communication and engineering. Located in Barcelona, ??Elisava has trained more than 25,000 students in its 60 years of experience. Together with Elisava Research, the school develops projects with companies, institutions and NGOs to generate and transfer knowledge, address present and future challenges and promote change. Elisava trains professionals with the ability to design products, services and environments to create an environmentally responsible, inclusive society with social impact.
Acid House is a project born in Barcelona in 2020 based in the Poblenou neighborhood. Acid House Barcelona, ??with 500 m2, is a center that connects the creative environment and business. Its business network collaborates and develops projects with Amazon, Adidas, Estrella Galicia, Tiktok, Donuts, Vicio, ICEX, Esade and Madrid City Council, among others. Its deployment in the Madrid capital will begin with a markedly educational focus. Like the Barcelona space, the new headquarters in Madrid is designed by Arquitectura-G, 2015 Mies Van Der Rohe Award for Emerging Architect and 2022 FAD Architecture Prize. Acid House Madrid, of 400 m2, will be located, like the headquarters of Barcelona, ??in an industrial warehouse with a gabled roof.
Issuer: Elisava
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Veronica Miquel
veromiquel@4lcomunicacion.com
Barbara Barrera
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