On Sep. 20, Tsinghua University (PBC School of Finance, and the Academy of Arts & Design) and IDEO held a co-operation signing ceremony at the Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University. LU Xiaobo, Dean of Tsinghua Academy of Arts & Design, LIAO Li, Executive Associate Dean of Tsinghua PBC School of Finance, and Charles Hayes, Executive Managing Director, Asia and Partner at IDEO attended the ceremony.
The three parties had a brief meeting right before the ceremony. LU Xiaobo said in his remarks that the new century has brought with it new technology, new business and new mindset. Chinese companies are undergoing a significant transformation at the moment and are faced with new challenges as China continues to transform from “Made in China” to “Created in China”. Design is a discipline which combines art, science and business, and its core role is to create value. Today, design has moved beyond physical creation to organizational and system innovation - a reflection of the important role of creativity. LU added, “Design thinking has become an important methodology and tool. Businesses and society are faced with challenges including how to leverage design-driven innovation to change the way enterprises transform their organization, and how to help Chinese companies elevate their creative competitiveness. ‘Lead a Creative China 2030’ is a design thinking centered creative leadership program designed in this context for innovative Chinese companies.”
Following LU’s talk, LIAO Li said that with China’s economy stepping into the new norm in recent years, China now embraces an important strategic opportunity featuring adjustment in the pace of economic growth, industrial structure upgrading and shift in the mode of economic growth, though it is also faced with many challenges. Finance sits at the core of modern economy and plays a pioneering role in the new economic norm. Financial innovation is of extreme importance to China’s transformation. Today, the nation has elevated finance, cultural innovation and design to the strategic level. There is a growing demand for interdisciplinary, innovative and diverse talents globally. It is imperative to cultivate talents who embrace a global perspective and innovation. As LIAO mentioned, through the collaboration of the three leading organizations, PBC School of Finance hopes to identify a feasible mode of cultivating innovative talents and to make contributions to enterprise development and social progress as China continues the transformation journey from “Made in China” to “Created in China”.
Charles Hayes, Executive Managing Director, Asia and Partner at IDEO said, “In the context of China’s effort to boost its economic position in the world, having a cohort of creatively confident business leaders who deliver positive impact through design, who know how to unleash the potential of organization to out-compete others, and are skilled at maximizing and perpetuating organization’s capability to innovate, is indispensable.” He added that IDEO is delighted to be collaborating with Tsinghua University in a pursuit to create new value by working with leaders who want to build a creative China.
In this collaboration, Tsinghua University (PBC School of Finance, and the Academy of Arts & Design) and IDEO join forces in China to offer chairmen, c-suite executives and founders of businesses a first-of-its kind executive education course - “Lead a Creative China 2030”, designed to prepare them to be part of the Created in China 2030 vision.
Featuring a new teaching approach for cultivating future business leaders, and driven by design thinking to elevate product, brand and service innovation as a competitive edge, “Lead a Creative China 2030” broadens creative thinking, uncovers and enables entrepreneurs’ creativity and leadership by merging disciplines of design, art, business and finance, with the aim to enable Chinese enterprises to become world-class innovative companies. The course is unique in teaching participants through a human centric design lens, and is developed using the values and tools of design thinking. Core to the teaching approach is the principle of leveraging participants’ creative confidence and raising their skills in creative leadership. This year-long course will officially open in November 2017.
Representatives of the three parties posed for a group photo after the signing ceremony.
About us
PBC School of Finance, Tsinghua University was founded as a joint venture between the University and the People's Bank of China (PBC). With the mission of promoting excellence in the finance industry and financial regulation through top-notch education and cutting-edge research, Tsinghua PBCSF, following advanced education modes of international financial programs and business schools, is committed to building a world-class platform for financial education and finance and policy research.
Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University is one of the best academies of fine arts in China. It is considered to have the best teaching and research conditions in art and design in all Chinese colleges and universities and secures a position well ahead of its international competitors in cross-disciplinary areas as well as in promoting the integration of science and art. Throughout the years, it has cultivated outstanding design talents both at home and abroad. In the Global Art and Design School Ranking 2017, it ranked No.1 in China. It is committed to becoming a world-class academy of arts & design by cultivating design and art innovation leaders.
IDEO is a leading global design company committed to creating positive impact through design. For over 25 years, it has worked with leaders of ambitious enterprises from around the world to successfully bring to market new products, services and ventures, and is recognised as one of the most innovative companies in the world. The 1999 ABC news program “Nightline” which followed an IDEO team as they redesigned the shopping cart in four days is still used today by business schools as MBA teaching material. IDEO has won over 40 Red Dot awards and 30 iF Hannover awards.
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