Training Designers of the Future: Reflections on a Didactic Case ‘Made in Italy’

Focusing on a specific case, the postgraduate course Product Service System Design taught in English to Italian and international students of the Design Facult y at Milan Pol ytechnic, the author reflects on the present and future of designers as ‘reflexive professionals’ (to quote Donald A. Schön1) called upon to act in uncertain and vaguely defined contexts, tackle problems in highly original ways and come up with wide -ranging, experimental and innovative solutions resorting to complex and hybrid techniques and tools either purposely designed or taken from other fields.