The Dubai Institute of Design and Innovation (DIDI) is delighted to announce the opening of its first Graduate Exhibition. Taking place in Building 7 at Dubai Design District (d3), where DIDI is located and running until 5 June, the exhibition presents future-centric projects by the university’s senior students, who are graduating this summer with the first Bachelor of Design of its kind in the region.

DIDI was established in 2018 to nurture and empower a new generation of designers, innovators, and entrepreneurs in the Middle East and beyond, and this first Graduate Exhibition reinforces Dubai’s position as global hub for design and creativity.

The exhibiting students are showcasing the culmination of their unique academic journey at DIDI. From the creation of an NFT fashion collection that will be linked to a charitable foundation by one student to a phygital companion that assists children in developing emotional regulation skills by another, visitors to the exhibition will see the university’s program of design and innovation-centric thinking at play across a variety of models, prototypes and digital interactive presentations.Other concepts presented by the students include: an application which aims to support early to mid-stage Dementia patients with reminiscence therapy using artificial intelligence and augmented reality; a speculative system and projects built for a plant and human bicentric society on Mars; an interactive physiotherapy solution for children; an option to customise high heels using a three step process involving pressure identification testing.

Commenting on this milestone exhibition for the university, Mohammad Abdullah, President of DIDI, states: “Providing the first integrated Bachelor of Design of its kind in the region, we at DIDI are deeply focused on and committed to nurturing the region’s next generation of designers and innovators. We are immensely proud of the calibre of our students and the thought-provoking works that are on public view. As the first intake of students to join our programme and now the first to graduate, we have seen them undertake a remarkable and enlightening journey over the last four years to develop a heightened design and innovation driven mindset.

The demand for bright, courageous, innovative and empathetic minds has never been stronger, as we head to the fifth industrial revolution and see the working relationship between increasingly smart technologies and humans evolve yet further.  Our students represent that future-focused cadre of thinkers, innovators and disruptors who will define the world of tomorrow and make an impact.”

Hani Asfour, Dean of the DIDI, adds:“It is truly a proud and defining moment as the first graduating class of DIDI showcase their final projects and we are confident that the ingenuity, inventiveness and thoughtfulness of our students will inspire and amaze visitors.  Our rich and design-driven innovative DNA at DIDI seamlessly integrates design, technology and strategy and the projects on display demonstrate the diversity of subjects students explore, as well as the design thinking they embody to take their creations to the next level. From exploring fashion and child development to those advancing the design dialogue and tackling the metaverse, students are employing our disciplines of tech fluency, visual literacy and strategic proficiency to explore technologies and conversations that may well define the future.”

The Graduate Exhibition leads up to DIDI’s first ever graduation ceremony, which is set to take place on 6 June. The university’s first intake of students is set to graduate after an enriching four years at the university.

With a world class curriculum designed in partnership with MIT and Parsons, DIDI offers the first multidisciplinary design programme of its kind in the region. DIDI’s vision is simple: to prepare students for a world where today’s jobs may not exist in the future. The university’s four year-long Bachelor of Design (BDes) course incorporates four disciplines: Product Design, Multimedia Design, Fashion Design, and Strategic Design Management.This cross-concentration path allows students to seamlessly blur the boundaries between traditional fields of design, increasing their ability to practice empathy, solve complex problems, think critically, and develop a heightened level of emotional intelligence.

The Graduate Exhibition runs until Sunday, 5 June, from 10am-10pm.