(Re)designing the design education in a knowledge-based economy

Several global trends in new product development, such as increased global competition, flux of boundaries between institutions and intensiveness of knowledge in the management of consumers and their needs, have changed the traditional work of industrial design engineers, so that they must now be closely involved in the entire product development process, and interact and intensively communicate with other disciplines. Their competences need to be adjusted and updated. this should start with the design education. In the presented paper we propose an approach in design education, that covers the emerging trends in NPD and educates studens in such a manner that their transition from study to practice is carried out effectively and smoothly