On 28.03-28.04.2022 WSB Universityresearchers and lecturers together with Cieszyn Castle staff conducted classes as part of the pilot Joint Master Degree Programme, which was prepared by an interdisciplinary and international team from 4 European universities, with the support of technology clusters, as part of the INTRIDE project co-financed from the Erasmus + programme. 

The pilot involved students from:

– University of Florence – Department of Architecture & Design (Florence, Italy),

– ELISAVA – private centre of higher education affiliated with Pompeu Fabra University (Barcelona, Spain),

– The University of Art and Design in Cluj-Napoca (Cluj-Napoca, Romania),

– The WSB University

Conducted by the WSB Universityand Cieszyn Castle, module 2 concerns the topic “Economic, business model and circular economy”:

The following classes were conducted as part of the project:

– Circular economy (Paweł Sobczak, PhD., Tomasz Szulc, Phd)

– Strategic partnerships and alliances in creative industries (Prof. Joanna Kurowska- Pysz, Prof. Łukasz Wróblewski)

– Innovations by design. Design management in business (Lubomira Trojan – PHD student of AWSB and Deputy Director of the Cieszyn Castle.

– and FINAL WORKSHOP – Service design as a tool for innovations. 

The classes were held in a hybrid form. Exercises and lectures were conducted online, while Final Workshop took place in Cieszyn, at the Castle Cieszyn.

Students from Poland took part in the classes, and students from other countries connected remotely. Pilot participants had a very difficult task. They had to design services for a so-called Free Shop, a shop with free products for Ukrainian refugees. The students interviewed managers, volunteers, city residents and above all refugees from Ukraine. Their task was to prepare strategies and proposed solutions for the operation of the free shop, its promotion among residents and refugees, ensuring a constant supply of necessary goods, identifying the most needed goods, etc. 

As a result of this workshop, two development strategies were created and presented in front of an international group of experts.

The next module will be conducted in May and June by The University of Art and Design in Cluj-Napoca (Cluj-Napoca, Romania). 

The final of the project will be an international meeting of students and lecturers in Cluj-Napoca, Romania on 20-24 June 2022, where, using the acquired knowledge, students will prepare their final projects with the theme of ‘new experience of sitting’.