OVERVIEW
'Intercultural dialogue is the best guarantee of a more peaceful, just, and sustainable world.’ - Robert Alan Arthur
We live in a time of complex, 'wicked' global challenges that have no easy solutions: climate crisis, social inequalities, forever wars, food security, pandemic threats, cyber threats, and so on. These challenges require unprecedented levels of innovation, entrepreneurial thinking, and radical collaboration.
To forge new pathways for harmonious coexistence with each other and the Earth, humanity must nurture diverse collaborations — not only between different sectors of society and fields of knowledge but also across various cultural contexts. Reimagining a sustainable future for our global community demands that we cultivate intercultural empathy and channel our cultural diversity into a powerful source of collective well-being and resilience.
In this module, students from University College Dublin (UCD), Vietnam National University in Hanoi (VNU), and National University of Laos in Vientiane (NUOL) will collaborate in multinational teams to design innovative solutions to a chosen global challenge. Guided by international facilitators, they will hone their intercultural competencies and entrepreneurial skills.
The first section of the module will concentrate on intercultural empathy, with students undertaking a video challenge centred on a 'wicked problem' arising from the intersection of two Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Students will gain insights into the SDGs and underlying Inner Development Goals (IDGs) throughout this process. They will also begin building their intercultural competencies and applying Design Thinking, a problem-solving approach tailored to multicultural contexts.
The second part of the module will be dedicated to ‘Innovation Beyond Borders’, a UCD-VNU-NUOL collaborative project. Multinational teams of students will tackle the same global innovation challenge, yet with a focus on different cultural contexts. While enhancing their intercultural competencies and mastery of Design Thinking, they will learn to devise solutions tailored to diverse cultural needs. In the final session, each team will present their innovative solution - whether a product, service, campaign, business venture, or social enterprise - and demonstrate how it addresses the global challenge in a culturally appropriate way.
Please note that assessment for this module largely takes place during class time - with the exception of a small amount of pre-work, and the individual reflective report, which is typically due within two weeks of the module finishing.
UCD INNOVATION ACADEMY
At the UCD Innovation Academy, we are Educator Practitioners with extensive real-world experience as academics, business and social entrepreneurs, tech thinkers, creative professionals, and design thinking practitioners.
Our teaching is grounded in academic rigour. Our focus is on ‘learning by doing’ in a real-world context. Classes include a combination of individual and team tasks and activities, along with discussions, presentations, and reflection.
Enrolment in an Innovation Academy module means a commitment to active participation and engagement, which necessitates attendance at all scheduled classes.
www.innovationacademy.ie