Business Design Lab

The Business Design Lab (formerly Business Design Center) was a cross-disciplinary centre, a research, education and design initiative established at Aalborg University, focusing on projects at the intersection of business and design. It was conceived in 2011. The goal of the centre was to provide a space where researchers and students from different departments of the university and managers interested in the confluence between business, innovation and design could work together. Academically, it served as an incubator of new approaches and ideas at the intersection between business and design with a strong focus on the design of business models. During 2023, having achieved its objective of incubating new ideas and approaches and facilitating their progressive diffusion across different areas of the business school, it was decided that the centre would be progressively closed. Termination of this project occurred at the beginning of 2024. During its years in operation, the Lab facilitated the development of dozens of projects and collaborations with companies, serving as a hub where innovative ideas at the intersection of business and design could thrive. It provided an environment conducive to exploration and innovation, fostering the exchange of knowledge and expertise among researchers, students and industry partners. It played a pivotal role in catalysing new approaches and methodologies in business design, which today are variously taught to students at AAU or practiced in companies by the fellows of the centre.