Who is an Innovation Designer?
Here is what an Innovation Designer does, the essential skills required, and how AI-driven education can prepare you to lead meaningful innovation. Read here below!
A rapidly emerging professional figure, the Innovation Designer has a clear objective: to use design principles as a strategic lever to foster innovation and drive change within companies, institutions, and organisations in continuously evolving market scenarios. With a multidisciplinary approach combining design thinking, human-centred design, and systems thinking, they identify needs and opportunities and turn them into project solutions—products, services, experiences, strategies—that generate real value for their target audiences.
The Innovation Designer integrates into multidisciplinary teams and works daily with designers, managers, researchers, engineers, and stakeholders, undertaking tasks such as:
- Conducting market research, leveraging advanced AI tools, to identify trends, user needs, and untapped opportunities for the brand;
- Assessing design solutions that are more innovative than those currently offered by competitors;
- Organising brainstorming and co-design sessions with fellow professionals to define roadmaps and priorities;
- Leading the end-to-end design process, identifying possible criticalities, and orchestrating ideation, prototyping, testing, and final implementation phases;
- Measuring the effectiveness of adopted solutions by establishing and monitoring specific metrics.
To succeed as an Innovation Designer, it is essential to invest in a high-quality academic path that provides solid design foundations, project awareness, and strategic thinking—always focusing on innovation and the integration of cutting-edge tools such as Artificial Intelligence. AI has become indispensable for professionals in this field, as it simplifies complex and repetitive phases of the design process—from data analysis to pinpointing issues during prototyping.
Equally important is gaining hands-on experience through internships at design studios, consulting firms, public institutions, and corporate research and innovation departments, enabling you to engage directly with real-world dynamics. Finally, a well-curated portfolio is necessary to demonstrate your expertise over time.
These are the key skills required for Innovation Designers to stand out in the market:
- Strong foundations in design and business strategy: they must master design principles, methods, and languages to turn insights into concrete, effective solutions. They must also understand a company’s business model, market positioning, and goals while identifying new innovation opportunities;
- Systems thinking: they must analyse data and contexts, designing data-driven solutions with well-assessed environmental, social, and economic impact;
- UX awareness: they must prioritise user experience, ensuring it is not only meaningful but also easy to access and enjoy;
- Ethical and sustainable approach: they must design with an eye on inclusion, social responsibility, and environmental sustainability;
- Deep knowledge of emerging technologies: they must be able to use advanced tools—such as Artificial Intelligence, machine learning, AR, VR and more—to explore future scenarios more deeply;
- Project management experience: they must be able to coordinate large multidisciplinary teams, carefully planning activities, timeframes, and resources.
A professional at the forefront, an Innovation Designer can work in:
- Design studios geared towards innovation: developing products, services, and experiences capable of reshaping market dynamics;
- Consulting firms: guiding companies of all sizes in adopting new technologies and contemporary perspectives, turning design into growth opportunities;
- Corporate research and innovation departments: aligning the creative process with business goals and overseeing design processes;
- Universities and research centres: developing experimental projects using equally advanced technologies;
- Cultural institutions, public bodies, and NGOs: designing new services and experiences that enrich communities, respond to practical daily needs, and create meaningful social impact.
Domus Academy Milan offers Specialist Two-Year Programmes, One-Year Masters, and Semester Courses aimed at training future Design Strategists capable of thriving in a competitive sector thanks to a multidisciplinary approach combining design principles, strategic thinking, and technological innovation.
Domus Academy’s Master in Design x AI, in particular, teaches students how to design for and with AI—developing products, services, and experiences that use Artificial Intelligence both as a strategic design lever and as an advanced technological driver, aligning with business evolution and guided by principles of ethical and social responsibility.
Students on the programme—through lectures, workshops, and projects with partner companies—learn to experiment with new approaches to design based on complex insights.
An integral part of the Master is the internship experience at leading organisations in the sector, providing targeted, practical training and valuable professional connections.