Industry, business and community

Industry, business and community

The Department of Industrial Design supports inventors, industry leaders, entrepreneurs, and enterprises in Suzhou and beyond to assess novel design concepts to create new and innovative designs and technologies. We partner with these entities in the research, design, development, and commercialisation necessary for realising their technologies as they shift to a designed-in-China, manufactured worldwide, strategy.

If you’re in industry, there are three main ways in which to collaborate with our Department:

Student internships

Students in our undergraduate programme can participate in industrial internships, offering them real-world work experience that builds industry knowledge and contacts. The companies that host our students benefit from employing some of the brightest new industrial design talents in China. Our students are taught by a multidisciplinary, international team of academic staff and have technological knowledge combined with excellent English language skills and a global perspective. Their knowledge of China, as well as cutting-edge technical skills, mean they are a huge asset to any company looking to employ people who can positively impact their production and Research and Development (R&D).

Real-world projects

Students in our undergraduate programme additionally have multiple opportunities to work on real-world projects, either as part of their three-month design studio modules, or as part of their final-year project. These projects can be defined in partnership with companies seeking to gain cost-effective support for their R&D activities. Students benefit from working on projects with stakeholders who have real market needs and technological constraints, while companies are able to benefit from our students’ unique, international perspectives.

Staff collaboration

Our multidisciplinary, international team of academic staff have a wealth of practical and professional industrial design experience and can collaborate on short- or long-term consultative projects with industry. These projects may benefit from research grant funding, as well as new perspectives that those working in academia can bring.

Contact

If you are in industry and are interested in any of the above opportunities, please do get in touch.