From 8 to 10 May 2025, DIVE’25 – the first Federal Congress of Design took place in Munich as part of the Munich Creative Business Week. More than 80 experts from design, politics, business and academia came together to discuss the role of design in times of social, ecological and technological transformation. The conference offered an interdisciplinary programme including keynotes, panels, workshops, round tables, stage interviews and more.
At the closing panel of the German Design Day, Prof. Dr. Sandra Groll, Head of the international Master’s programme in Brand Strategy at Brand University, contributed a talk entitled “Shaping What Remains and What Changes”.
She highlighted how ecological, social, technical, and human transformation processes open up new spaces for design. Design, she explained, operates in the in-between, shaping interfaces between different systems. As a form of coping with contingency, design is indispensable: it means learning from differences, rethinking them, and reshaping them in new ways.
Her participation reflects Brand University’s strong commitment to engaging with current debates in design. It shows how research, teaching, and practice are closely connected, preparing students to shape brand and design strategies responsibly in a changing world.
