DESIGNING ENTREPRENEURS: STRUCTURING AN EDUCATIONAL FRAMEWORK FOR DESIGN-DRIVEN ENTREPRENEURSHIP

The evolving global economy and an ever-increasing crisis, requires new sources of innovation to respond effectively to the problem.In this panorama, entrepreneurship has a central role: Startups are crucial in fostering innovation, creating jobs, and driving socio-economic growth.Startups, as a key entrepreneurial phenomenon, contribute to the development and dissemination of new solutions but face significant challenges, including market uncertainty and high failure rates mainly due to a lack of needs on the market.Design (Thinking), with its user-centred and iterative approaches, offers unique tools to address these issues, making a compelling case for integrating design-driven methodologies into entrepreneurship education.However, educational pathways concerning entrepreneurship that integrate design principles within their programs remain extremely rare, underscoring the necessity to (re)design curricula that incorporate this approach towards entrepreneurship.This paper explores how design integration can enhance entrepreneurship training in higher education, using the "Design Startup" course developed at the Design School of Politecnico di Milano as a case study -which embed a mix of Design and Management contents.Results indicate that this approach effectively equips aspiring entrepreneurs to address common startup challenges, such as misaligned products and inefficient resource use, by focusing on real user needs and iterative solution testing.The study concludes that embedding design methodologies into entrepreneurship education bridges the gap between creative problem-solving and business strategy, offering a replicable model for teaching entrepreneurial resilience and innovation, preparing new entrepreneurs to contribute in societal economy.