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Milan's Domus Academy bets on AI and futures thinking with two new master's degrees

Thu Mar 26 2026

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As artificial intelligence reshapes entire industries, one of Europe's most storied design schools is asking a pointed question: what if designers, not just engineers, led that transformation?

Domus Academy, the Milan-based design institution known for its Radical Design heritage and Compasso d'Oro recognition, has announced two new master's programmes set to launch in Autumn 2026 — the Master in Design x AI and the Master in Design Futures. Both arrive at a moment when the creative professions are navigating an unprecedented convergence of technological acceleration and societal uncertainty.

86%
of companies will be impacted by AI and information-processing technologies by 2030, according to the World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs Report 2025

The numbers tell a clear story. Yet the educational response to that disruption has lagged, with international organisations flagging a widening gap between the pace of AI adoption and what schools are actually teaching. Domus Academy's answer is to position design — with its emphases on human experience, ethics, and systems thinking — as the connective tissue that technology alone cannot provide.

The two programmes

Master in Design x AI

Focuses on designing AI-powered products and services with an emphasis on ethics, social responsibility, and meaningful human-machine interaction beyond traditional interfaces.

Interaction Designer AI Researcher Design Strategist AI Product Expert

Master in Design Futures

Introduces future-oriented methodologies — Speculative Design, Design Fiction, Critical Design, Experiential Futures — guiding students to imagine scenarios that do not yet exist.

Futures Researcher Strategic Designer Innovation Lead Service Designer

Both programmes are grounded in the school's "Learning by Designing" methodology — a pedagogy that blends academic frameworks with company workshops, live project briefs, and mentorship from industry practitioners. The goal is graduates who can navigate AI with both strategic and creative vision, not merely implement it.

"We are not only teaching students how to navigate today's challenges; we are equipping them with the conceptual and practical tools to imagine and design the futures we deserve."

— Silvio Cioni, Director of Education, Domus Academy

The Design Futures programme in particular signals a broader cultural bet. Drawing on the tradition of the Radical Design Movement — which Domus Academy traces its philosophical roots to — the curriculum approaches emerging technologies from a critical and cultural standpoint, deliberately resisting the pull of fast-changing trends in favour of deeper, longer-horizon thinking.

Both degrees practically carry 60 ECTS credits and receive official recognition from the Italian Ministry of University and Research. Scholarships are available across all of Domus Academy's master's programmes, including the two new ones.


About Domus Academy

Founded in Milan and closely tied to the city's design culture, Domus Academy has built a reputation that extends well beyond Italy. Its academic offering spans Bachelor of Arts, two-year Master of Arts, and Academic Master's programmes, all MUR-recognised, across the fields of Fashion, Design, and Business. A 2025 internal survey found that 91% of graduates found employment within one year of completing their diploma — a figure the school cites as evidence of its career-oriented approach.

The first intake for both the Design x AI and Design Futures programmes is scheduled for Autumn 2026. The school is currently accepting applications, and scholarship candidates must submit their application and project by 13 March 2026.

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Sara Srifi

Sara is a Software Engineering and Business student with a passion for astronomy, cultural studies, and human-centered storytelling. She explores the quiet intersections between science, identity, and imagination, reflecting on how space, art, and society shape the way we understand ourselves and the world around us. Her writing draws on curiosity and lived experience to bridge disciplines and spark dialogue across cultures.