How do we empower higher education instructors across Europe integrate human-centred AI innovation into existing curricula—in days, not months? The DT4AI project turns a proven, practice-based teaching format into a fully modular, digital programme for university educators.
Edona Elshan, Assistant Professor at the KIN Center for Digital Innovation, together with colleagues from four different universities across Europe, has received an Erasmus+ Cooperation Partnership grant for the project Design Thinking for Artificial Intelligence (DT4AI).
Building on eight semesters of hands-on DT4AI courses—featuring 40 real-world projects and approximately 240 students—developed at St. Gallen and Liechtenstein, the project will equip educators with ready-to-use materials: lecture slides, teaching notes, case studies in manufacturing, finance, and healthcare, short video “nuggets,” and an online access hub. These resources will be designed to help instructors integrate human-centred AI innovation into existing curricula.
DT4AI is a collaboration between the University of Liechtenstein (coordination, manual & material design), Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (piloting, human–AI interaction, low-code integration), Aalto University (pedagogical design, video production, case-study development), University of Münster (ERCIS) (design-science research, network outreach), and Bern University of Applied Sciences (associate partner, scaling DT curricula, software engineering).
Core Activities of the DT4AI project:
- Programme Manual & Benchmarking: Synthesize best practices and map 15+ master’s-level innovation courses.
- Content Development: Create 30+ modular teaching units, 3–4 industry cases, 30 short videos, and standardized templates.
- Piloting & Refinement: Co-design and test prototypes with 40+ educators across 4 institutions to ensure usability and curriculum fit.
- Dissemination: Launch a digital access hub, publish white papers, present at major conferences, and host “Innovation Breakfasts” and KINTalks to build a pan-European community of practice.
By marrying Design Thinking’s user-centred ethos with AI-driven problem solving, DT4AI empowers educators—and, through them, a new generation of T-shaped professionals—to drive sustainable, human-centred digital transformation across Europe.