Dongseo University RISE Project Group Global Design Education Hub City

SDSB (Design Summit Busan) 2025
“Designing Empathy & Futures” Successfully Held

The international design symposium “DESIGN SUMMIT Busan 2025” (hereinafter SDSB 2025), jointly organized by the Design College of Dongseo University and the RISE Project Group, successfully concluded on September 2 at Dongseo University’s Jurye Campus. Under the theme “Designing Empathy & Futures,” the event brought together global design leaders leading the international design industry and created a meaningful platform for in-depth exchange with next-generation designers.

In his opening remarks, Juyoung Chang, Dean of the Design College, stated that “design is more than a simple technique; it is the language of empathy and imagination that shapes the future,” emphasizing his hope that the symposium would become a platform for exploring both education and social innovation together.

Dongseo University President Jang Je-kook delivered a welcome address highlighting the university’s achievements in design and cultural contents specialization, its collaboration with the Minerva Project, and the significance of the launch of Stella College of Arts in 2027. He also expressed his hope that DESIGN SUMMIT Busan (SDSB) would become “a valuable venue for sharing such challenges and visions while discussing the future of design and the value of empathy.” In addition, he warmly encouraged students by saying, “As Busan grows into a global design hub, I hope all of you will seize opportunities to connect with countries around the world.”

Mikyung Oh, Director at the Busan Future Design Headquarters, also delivered congratulatory remarks, presenting the potential for collaborative cooperation between the city and universities while expressing expectations regarding the roles and responsibilities of local universities.

The keynote session, which formed the core of this summit, featured Professor Ico Migliore of Politecnico di Milano, Professor Ken Nah, Chief Designer of Busan Metropolitan City and Distinguished Professor at the Design College of Dongseo University, Davin Stowell, founder of Smart Design, and Professor Kunpyo Lee, Dean of the School of Design at Hong Kong Polytechnic University. The speakers approached the theme of “how design can expand human-centered empathy and contribute to future society” from multiple perspectives.

In particular, the “Open Floor Q&A” session following the keynote presentations became a lively forum where students directly posed questions to the speakers and engaged in active discussions. The passionate questions from younger generations and the profound insights shared by globally renowned scholars demonstrated that DESIGN SUMMIT Busan (SDSB) 2025 was more than a lecture series; it was a stage for intellectual exchange connecting generations.

DESIGN SUMMIT Busan (SDSB) 2025 was promoted as part of the platform expansion of ADCC (Asia Design College Consortium), a collaborative network among Asian design universities. It is expected to become an important stepping stone for Busan’s emergence as a hub of Asian design education and innovation, while also providing a foundation for Dongseo University to continue playing a leading role in the field.

In his closing remarks, Taewan Kim, Head Professor of the Graduate School Department of Design, summarized the event by presenting the vision that “DESIGN SUMMIT Busan (SDSB) should continue as a regular event and develop into a global design education platform connecting local communities and the world.”

This year’s DESIGN SUMMIT Busan (SDSB) 2025 was successfully completed with the full support of Dongseo University’s RISE Project Group. Dongseo University also announced that it plans to continue leading international collaboration and innovative design education while expanding new global design discourse in the future.