The students of the Master in Strategic Design presented their projects to AIRC and Emergency.

For three weeks, the students of the Master in Strategic Design of Politecnico di Milano, managed by POLI. design were asked to develop a project scenario and put all their skills and creativity at the service of two very challenging briefs presented by two Italian organizations of excellence in the nonprofit scene: AIRC and EMERGENCY. The challenge posed by AIRC focused on how to involve more people in donating to the fight against cancer; for EMERGENCY, on the other hand, the focus of the challenge was on how to creatively spread the culture and values of peace.

The students, organized into 6 working teams, 3 for AIRC’s brief and 3 for EMERGENCY’s brief, conducted interviews, investigated the perceptions of the two brands, including at the international level, researched best practices, analyzed the context and trends, with the aim of identifying new opportunities to engage people on relevant but ‘difficult’ issues such as fighting cancer and war.

The concepts of activism, ambassadorship and engagement were analysed and reformulated in their deeper meaning. The dynamics of spreading a culture of prevention on the one hand, and a culture of peace in a broader sense on the other, were the subject of strategic reasoning for all teams.

The final projects, presented on Wednesday 22 in the classrooms of the Milan Polytechnic in the presence of representatives of the two organizations and the professors in charge of the workshop, Massimo B. Randone and Margherita Paleari, besides giving some timely answers, succeeded in perhaps the highest intent: to set new and substantial questions about possible strategic activities for the two organizations, bringing reflections in some cases even structural. From the hypothesis of a Family Card to foster loyalty to Donation, to the activation of scientific knowledge and wellbeing paths for AIRC; from the idea of a Gino Strada Foundation dedicated to the dissemination and diffusion of values, to a regionalised Playlist competition for Emergency hospitals.

The value of this first extensive workshop entirely dedicated to nonprofits was of great significance for all involved, and it is hoped that it can now become a key part of the training program for POLI.design pathways.