Society-Centered Research and Innovation Through Design
Inaugural Conference of the Munich Design Institute (MDI), November 13, 2026, Research Campus Garching
The Munich Design Institute (MDI) establishes the sixth Integrative Research Institute at the Technical University of Munich: As a transdisciplinary platform, the MDI will connect numerous academic departments and research institutes at TUM as well as stakeholders from design, society, business, and politics.
The MDI explores visionary, strategic, and implementable solutions for a livable future through design, bridging research and practice and putting TUM's Agenda 2030+ of "Society-Centered Research and Innovation" into action: Originally focused on form and function, design today shapes complex systems, experiences, organizations, and even political processes. Design research advances new forms of knowledge, building shared understanding and making multidimensional challenges accessible across disciplines. Grounded in concrete research questions and methods such as prototyping, visualization, participation, and technology-driven design research, the MDI generates creative outcomes and insight through iterative and non-linear processes of research and making.
Join us for the opening conference
On November 13, 2026, researchers, designers, and stakeholders from academia, business, and politics will gather at the TUM Research Campus in Garching to mark the official opening of the MDI and discuss the potential of design methods for scientific discovery, innovation, and social transformation.
Tickets:
Early Bird: €79.00 (until September 30) Standard: €99.00 (October 1 – November 8) Last Minute: €159.00 (November 9 – 13)
Ticket price includes catering for the full day. Conference languages are German and English. Translations can be accessed live on your own smartphone. Please bring your device and headphones with you.
Presenters whose submission was accepted by the scientific program committee attend free of charge — no ticket purchase needed here. Please register using the personal code sent to you separately.
On the Skin: Wie kann Designforschung zur Gestaltung medizinischer Wearables beitragen?
Anna-Lena Moeckl (HfG Offenbach; BAfG Bayreuth)
10:55
Discussion
11:10
Coffee break
11:35 Focus Area 2: Creative Spaces and Organizations (Chair: Prof. Dr. Katja Thoring, TUM)
11:40
Subjectivity in Action: Articulating Sensory and Perceptual Experience as Shared Design Knowledge
Prof. Dr. Paulo Eduardo Tonin (Politecnico di Milano)
12:00
Welche räumlichen, materiellen und sozialen Konfigurationen fördern kreative Zusammenarbeit und organisationales Lernen in Organisationen, in denen KI-Agenten routinemäßige Aufgaben übernehmen?
Prof. Dr. Christine Kohlert; Alexander Strub (Drees & Sommer)
12:20
The Studio as Incubator: Learning from Architecture for Organizations in the Age of AI
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Christos Chantzaras (Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences)
12:40
Discussion
12:55
Lunch break
14:00 Focus Area 3: Emerging Technologies (Chair: Prof. Dr. Oliver Alexy, TUM)
14:05
From Uncalibrated Empathy to Systemic Bias: The AI Multiplier Effect in Public Service Design
Danial Alemasoum (University of Lapland)
14:25
Jenseits des Chats: Eine interaktive Pattern-Bibliothek als Designforschungsinstrument für die Souveränität gegenüber KI-Systemen
Dominik Witzke (HfG Schwäbisch Gmünd)
14:45
Calibrated Boundary Spaces: Demonstrator Design as Formative Steering across the Innovation Cycle
Dr. Christian Wölfel; Kirsten Wolfrath (TUD Dresden University of Technology)
15:05
Discussion
15:20
Coffee break
15:45 Focus Area 4: Social and Societal Futures (Chair: Prof. Annette Diefenthaler, TUM)
15:50
Wenn Szenarien den Workshop verlassen: Die Übersetzung von Anliegen zwischen gesellschaftlichen Arenen gestalten
Marco Kellhammer (TUM)
16:10
Designing AI with Communities: Lessons from the AI Journalism Fellowship
Archana Prasad (Gooey.AI)
16:30
The Negative Space of Futures: Designing for Undesirable and Unimagined Futures
Prof. Alejandro Lecuna; Maria Maciejko (Anhalt University of Applied Sciences)
16:50
Discussion
17:05
Impulse 2: Die Neue Sammlung – The Design Museum
Prof. Dr. Angelika Nollert (Die Neue Sammlung)
17:15
Summary and Outlook
Prof. Annette Diefenthaler & Tobias Mihr, Munich Design Institute
17:30
End of conference
The day features talks selected by the scientific program committee, organized around MDI's four research priorities:
Health, Wellbeing, and Care:
What role do co-design, participation, and inclusion play in prevention, care, and therapy?
How can digital health and medical technologies be designed responsibly?
How can design support patient-centered health research and care?
Creative Spaces and Organizations:
Which design approaches foster learning, resilient, and sustainable organizations?
How can spatial, material, and social configurations foster creative collaboration and organizational learning?
How can organizations translate creative imagination into strategic capacity for action?
Emerging Technologies:
What methods can be used to ensure that the development of AI, robotics, data science, and biotechnology is transparent, trustworthy, and socially responsible?
What new research approaches are emerging at the intersection of design and AI?
Social and Societal Futures:
How can design contribute to addressing ecological, economic, social, or political transformation processes?
What methods support future literacy, participation, and social self-efficacy?
How can diverse societal perspectives be integrated into research and innovation processes?
Abstract Submission - closed
The call for papers closed on August 31, 2026. Submitting authors will be notified of the review outcome by mid-September, alongside the detailed program. New submissions are no longer being accepted..
For accepted presenters
If your abstract was accepted, you'll receive a personal registration code by email. Use it to register free of charge; no separate ticket purchase is required. Log in to your existing account to manage your details or check your submission status
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