Luisa Collina

Luisa Collina received her PhD in 1998 from the Politecnico di Milano where she is full professor of Design and Head of the Master of Science program in Product Service System Design. Since 2013, Collina serves as President of Cumulus, the International Association of Universities and Colleges of Art, Design and Media. With a specialty in both design and interior design, Collina is increasingly focussed on design driven Innovation, service and strategic design. Her teaching and academic work is flanked by important collaborations on the national and international level with other universities, research centers and businesses looking for an expertise in strategic innovation projects in the design related fields. While the results of her academic and research activities have been published widely and presented at conferences around the world, Luisa Collina continues to showcase her dedication to connecting academic and research findings to both contemporary issues and business trends. As delegate of the Rectorate from the Politecnico di Milano, Luisa Collina is the scientific coordinator of the university’s important contributions to, and involvement in the Expo Milan 2015. She is also curator of a number of important exhibitions such as “Milan 2033. Seeds of the future. 150 years Politecnico di Milano” at Triennale di Milano (in 2013), the “Expo 2015. A laboratory for the environment” section at the Italian Pavilion, XIV Venice Biennial (in 2014), and the “Building the Expo” exhibition at MADE expo (in 2015). She will be serving as a member of the scientific board of the XXI international Triennale that will be hosted in Milan in 2016. ‘There’s a major value to Be Open,’ Luisa says. ‘In the past, designers expended a lot of energy on keeping their knowledge to themselves because, if they didn’t, they felt they were losing money and their identity. But people are recognising now that it is better to be open and share knowledge. Be Open to me is all about collaborating, about joining the dots between different ideas. One reason why people are now more open to sharing is new technology, whose major advantage is that it can be accessed by so many people. Even so, face-to-face communication is just as important. It’s hard to feel empathy for others when communicating only online.’