POLI.design

Specializing Master in Industrial Design Engineering and Innovation

March 17th, 18th and 19th, 2026

The Master aims to develop professionals who are able to deal with the design and production process of large and small series industrial products, placing special emphasis on technological, production, and cost aspects, without neglecting the aspects of expressive quality.

The curriculum offered by the Master in Industrial Design, Engineering, and Innovation combines the artistic and humanistic skills related to the project culture and language of the product with techniques related to manufacturing technologies, materials, and industrial costs. This way, it aims to respond to the need to compete in an increasingly competitive international scene, in which the designer is able to enhance product value by generating innovations (aesthetic and use) that take advantage of the possibilities offered by the available technologies. It is therefore of primary importance to develop professionals that combine creative skills with sound technical skills related to the industrial feasibility of the product.

The Master programme was created to train expert designers, who can develop a new product from its concept to production. The employment opportunities are:

• working with professional firms which participate in the various product development stages, from concept to engineering;
• working with manufacturing companies belonging to the sectors which make up the Italian production industry (e.g. house hold and professional appliances, lighting, furniture, toys and children’s products);
• freelancing with enhanced skills to interact with the business world.

The professional role will be an expert productdesigner, with theoretical knowledge combined with significant experience applied to production processes. By achieving the necessary professional field experience, students can aspire to the role of product manager responsible for the development of new products.

Didactic Plan

The Master's teaching includes lectures, seminars, practical classes, and workshops. The program is divided into three main topics of study:

• large appliances;
• small appliances;
• consumer electronics and IT products.

Particular attention will be given to learning the theoretical methods and techniques behind the use of software for three-dimensional digital modelling. The course provided is divided intoareas – comprising a total of modules, workshops, and the Internship to achieve a total of 60 CFU credits (university credits).

The final exam consists of the development and presentation of an elaborate in which the candidate will take care of bringing out the experience gained during the curricular internship and all the master activities and developed projects.

Didactic Modules

The 11 learning modules:

1 – Computer-aided Design (CAD)

We learn both the theoretical methods and the practical techniques for applying dedicated software to three-dimensional modeling. This includes an in-depth understanding of the issues involved in modeling and in photorealistic rendering. We learn to handle both surface modeling and top-down parametric 3D modeling.

Specifically, we deal with the stages of form development starting from product conception and we develop skills in using engineering software during execution stages of the design that are compatible with rapid prototyping and putting items into automated production.

2 – Processes and Criteria for Designing

This module analyzes the development process in manufacturing enterprises to acquire an understanding of how to manage – at the design stage – all the variables related to planning newly manufactured products of medium complexity, with an eye to applying planning systems to industrial production.

3 – Production Processes and Methods

Students acquire the ability to understand and manage the technical, technological, organizational, and financial issues involved in manufacturing processes and the workflow of industrial logistics for medium-complexity products.

4 – Financial Evaluation of a Design

Students acquire the knowledge about the cost of running machinery, tooling up, machining, and finishing that is needed to evaluate the ‘industrial cost’ of a product. They learn to select among possible design solutions, taking into account the project’s economic feasibility.

5 – Quality Control and Certification, Patenting

We learn about certification procedures for manufactured goods and for stages of the production process, as well as the procedures for protecting inventions and a product’s planning value.

6 – Materials and Technologies

This module provides the knowledge and tools that enable designers to understand how manufactured products relate to the materials they are made of, using material-selection information systems such as the design version of the Cambridge Engineering Selector (CES).

7 – Enterprise and Innovation

Objectives include acquiring the main skills needed to organize a product portfolio coherent with company strategy and to organize the innovation process so as to integrate all the corporate skills involved, as well as some know-how for setting up, managing, and verifying the individual development projects for a new product.

8 – Tools for Design-driven Innovation

Defining the concept of innovation led by design.

This involves an in-depth look at design’s contribution to new product development, providing the knowledge needed in creating innovative product concepts.

9 – Empowerment

This course contributes to the student’s individual learning process through lessons in self-empowerment, public speaking, and teamwork.

10 – English Language

Improved language skills are needed to work in a corporate or professional environment, both for technical purposes and for managing product development.

11 – Seminars

The seminars led by professionals from the corporate world deal with issues in designing products of medium complexity, production processes, and in tools for innovation.

Workshops and Product-development Laboratory

The workshops are design simulations on topics identified in the course of training. The Specializing Master follows two sequential workshop phases, in incremental difficulty. This makes it possible to coach students gradually into a growing design awareness. Practical design work wraps up with the Product-development Laboratory, where students learn product-plan execution.

Workshop 1: Product Concept and Layout

In this design simulation, students identify usability limitations in specific product categories. They start by analyzing state-of-the-art products and users on the market, in an attempt to uncover unsatisfied needs. Using this analysis, students are expected to design a new product, including layout and determining its main components.

Workshop 2 and Product-development Laboratory: Design and executive development of industrial product

The exercise consists in the design of mass consumption products of medium complexity starting from removal and relief of an existing product. After analyzing and understanding the starting material, students are required to prepare a brief that highlights the possible areas of the project. Improvement focus on formal and usability aspects of the product, without ever neglecting the industrial feasibility aspects and methods of assembly. The level of definition of the project is accurate, with great attention to the producibility and the clear identification of all components.

Product-development Laboratory: Executive development of industrial products

Students are called upon to develop the designs laid out in the preceding phase. Specifically, they have to make detailed choices about materials, production processes and logistics, and how to present the design. This must be done with an eye to chances for optimizing product parts for actually putting it into production. Special attention is thus paid to execution design, using parametric modeling software and, where called for, physical modeling and component prototyping.

There will be a strong focus on learning theoretical methods and acquiring the techniques that underlie the use of dedicated software applied to three-dimensional modeling.