Creating Environments for Health, Care and Technology: A Global Design Dialogue

A two-day symposium and workshop hosted in Milan, fostering cross-disciplinary collaboration in design-led innovation for human and planetary wellbeing with technology as an enabler.

The School of Innovation and Technology at the Glasgow School of Art is proud to host ‘Environments for Health, Care and Technology’ — a two-day symposium and workshop taking place in Milan, Italy on April 13–14, 2025.

This international event is a collaboration between the Glasgow School of Art (Scotland), The Care Lab and ELISAVA School of Design and Engineering (Barcelona), and Tsinghua University (Beijing), who will welcome participants to their China-Italy Design Innovation Hub campus at Politecnico di Milano.

Over the course of two days, the symposium will feature a dynamic programme of talks, workshops, and exhibitions, aiming to:

• Share exemplary practices in design-led innovation that tackle complex challenges at the intersection of health, care, and technology — for the benefit of citizens, communities, and the planet;  
• Explore opportunities for future international collaboration and establish a global community of practice capable of delivering innovation with real-world impact.

This event builds upon the foundation of the European Design and Innovation in Care Network, a collaboration launched in March 2024 between the Glasgow School of Art, The Care Lab, and ELISAVA.

Day 1: ‘Unpacking the Complexities around Design for Care’, will feature a series of keynote speeches and thematic panel discussions.

If you would like to come and view the exhibition featuring exemplary work from across Europe and beyond, join us in the evening for a small reception.

Day 2: ‘Mapping Future Opportunities to Transform Care through/by Design’ is an interactive workshop exploring future possibilities and key questions for design research and education, building on the key themes and shared opportunities identified the previous day. Due to the interactive nature of the workshop, spaces are limited.

If you are interested in taking part, please contact: d.mcintyre@gsa.ac.uk , with a brief statement of interest summarising what you would like to contribute to this discussion.  

If you have any other questions or would like to learn more about the European Design and Innovation in Care Network, please email: s.raman@gsa.ac.uk

‍