Every year from April to June, the city of Pforzheim, in cooperation with Pforzheim University of Applied Sciences and the Design Center Baden-Württemberg, invites international young designers to Pforzheim as part of the “Designers in Residence” scholarship programme. “Designers in Residence” is aimed at young designers from the fields of jewellery, fashion, accessories, industrial and communication design as well as other design disciplines. Interdisciplinary working methods are also welcome. A total of three scholarship holders will be invited to EMMA – Kreativzentrum Pforzheim for a three-month work phase.

Scholarship holders are provided with fully equipped workstations in the workshops at the creative centre as well as accommodation for the duration of the scholarship. The workshops at Pforzheim University can also be used if required. In addition, each scholarship holder receives a monthly allowance and reimbursement of travel expenses for travelling to and from the centre. The results of the scholarship are then presented in an exhibition at EMMA – Kreativzentrum Pforzheim.

The closing date for applications is 3 November 2025, 23:59 CET. The application can only be submitted online.

Check the details here.

Several student teams are already exploring the TITAN platform, diving into interactive activities that challenge how we think, question, and respond to online content.

The CRITICALLY YOURS design challenge invites young creatives to reimagine how we promote critical thinking and information integrity in the age of AI.

The creative journey is just getting started — Registrations are still open, and there’s still time to join!

Are you ready to design for impact?
Become part of a challenge that will culminate in a live event in Rome this November.

In the CRITICALLY YOURS challenge, one of the Awards in each category is intended for the CUMULUS association participant members.

🗓 Final event: November 20th, 2025, Rome
🔗 More info: https://www.titanthinking.eu/designchallenge

#CriticallyYours #DesignChallenge #CriticalThinking #InformationIntegrity #TITANProject #AI4Good #YouthVoice

Calling all students from around the world! The theme for 2025 is: “Living Together in an Era of Conflict: Societal Design Transcending Boundaries” We invite you to create innovative and compassionate design solutions that explore how people can live together despite conflicts, give voice to marginalized communities, and build meaningful connections in today’s digital age.

Co-hosted by Dongseo University (Korea), Kyushu University (Japan), and Tongji University (China), the competition provides a platform for young creatives to contribute toward building a sustainable and peaceful global society aligned with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It is free to enter and has been a growing platform since 2019, attracting participation from over 20 countries.

Competition website: https://www.design.kyushu-u.ac.jp/en/topics/28201/

Application Period: October 1 (Tue) – October 30 (Thu), 2025

Do you believe everything you read online?

Research shows that our critical thinking skills often falter when we encounter content shared by
friends, making us less likely to question its accuracy and more prone to sharing it ourselves.
This challenge directly addresses this growing concern by exploring how Artificial Intelligence
(AI) can help promote information quality and integrity.

It draws inspiration from the EU H2020 Research project TITAN (https://www.titanthinking.eu/)
that developed an AI tool that combines the principles of the Socratic method and experiential
learning to create an intelligent coaching application. Through interactive dialogues, users are
guided to develop the skills needed to deconstruct media narratives, question assumptions,
recognize biases, discern truth from manipulation, and independently assess the reliability of
content—thereby enhancing critical thinking and media literacy skills, and ultimately contributing
to a more trustworthy, informed, and democratic public sphere.

The CRITICALLY YOURS design challenge will culminate in a 1-day event during TITAN Final
Meeting in Rome, where students from selected schools will have the opportunity to showcase
prototypes and take part in a talk/presentation session discussing their projects.

Read more here.

Politecnico di Milano Design Department and School of Design is pleased to share with all the Cumulus community the DFA (Design Futures Art-driven) method – a practical and engaging approach that empowers students and educators to anticipate and design for future challenges through an interdisciplinary, creative, and future-driven approach.

As a result of the Horizon Europe MUSAE project, developed through years of educational experimentation, the DFA Method has been successfully tested in both academic and extra-educational contexts. It is also a core component of the Factory Model (https://musae.starts.eu/factory-model-pack/), the main outcome of MUSAE (https://musae.starts.eu/).

The DFA Method combines Design Futures (Design + Futures Thinking) with the Art Thinking approach to foster collaboration, anticipate emerging trends in technologies and domains, and transform current challenges into future opportunities. It supports sustainable and responsible innovation through an educational framework that integrates methods, tools, and case studies.

The DFA method can:

Be directly applied and adapted to various educational and research contexts
Support interdisciplinary projects across art, design, technology, and innovation
Equip students with future-relevant skills and anticipatory thinking
Enhance the employability of students by strengthening foresight and innovation capabilities

To explore the DFA method further and get more information and tips about how it can be used in the classroom with students:

Watch the video lesson, Explore the DFA method in the Introductory course.
Visit the dedicated page website for additional resources.
Review the attached Orientation Guide.
If you are interested in organising an informative session to explore the method in depth, we would be happy to provide a dedicated presentation or workshop. Please contact us at musae-design@polimi.it to arrange this.

The team is also grateful if you could share this innovative learning method with your network:

The DFA platform offers a practical, accessible guide for fostering creative, future-oriented, and inclusive learning. Case studies already demonstrate its transformative impact both educationally and innovatively.

Please join the MUSAE Integrated Stakeholder Network – an open database community of educators, designers, creatives, SMEs and other experts looking for interdisciplinary collaborations.

[Aniwow!2025] White Poplar Awards Call for Entries
The 20th China (Beijing) International Student Animation Festival, 2025

Learn more about the competition PDF
Competition website http://aniwow.cuc.edu.cn/ and in English https://aniwow.cuc.edu.cn/en_aniwow/.

The Golden Pin Design Award is now open for entries! The Golden Pin Concept Design Award is also accepting submissions for innovative proposals. 

The Golden Pin Design Award, is one of Asia’s most influential design competitions. It is open to global teams and companies, targeting commercialized works on the market. Each year, the award certifies the quality of outstanding designs and highlights their role in driving R&D, innovation, and brand value.

The Golden Pin Concept Design Award is open to unrealized design concepts or proposals, welcoming submissions from students, designers, and companies, either individually or in teams. The top three Best Design Award winners will each receive a cash prize of NT$300,000, supporting the transformation of concepts into reality.

Winning entries will gain significant international exposure, opportunities for industry collaborations, and potential market expansion. We invite designers and businesses worldwide to participate and showcase their best work. 

Submit your entry today and be recognized for your excellence in design!

Key Dates (GMT+8 Taipei Time)

• Early Bird Deadline: 17:00, May 20 (Tue.), 2025
• Regular Registration Deadline: 17:00, June 24th (Tue.), 2025 
• Award Ceremony: December 2025, at the Taipei Performing Arts Center, Taiwan

Categories:

Product Design, Communication Design, Spatial Design, Integration Design

Registration Fee – Golden Pin Design Award:

• Early Bird : NT$7,000 per entry
• Regular : NT$9,000 per entry

Registration Fee – Golden Pin Concept Design Award:

• Early Bird : NT$1,000 per entry
• Regular : NT$1,500 per entry

Official Website: https://goldenpin.org.tw/goldenpin/en

Join the 10th Design Intelligence Award – call for entries!

Established in 2015 and hosted by Cumulus partner China Academy of Art, the Design
Intelligence Award (DIA) is the first international academy award in China’s design field. It
serves as a platform for the evaluation, promotion, exchange and cooperation of contemporary
innovative design, as well as an innovation accelerator that transforms creative ideas into
industry and the future. With “Intelligence of Humanity, Living Wisdom, Fusion of Tech & Art,
Brain of Industry, Empathetic Life Intelligence, and New-Quality Intelligent Form” as its core
values, DIA champions the return to the fundamental essence of design “Intelligent
Manufacturing”.

We warmly invite designers, entrepreneurs, institutions, and students worldwide to participate
in the 10th edition of DIA!

This year’s DIA Features two main groups: the Product Group and the Innovation Incubation
Group.

Product Group：
– Application Deadline: 20.06.2025
– Eligibility: Open to all enterprises, universities & colleges, institutions, and individuals.
– Entry Requirements:
Entries must either (1) be products launched within 2 years prior to the submission date,
or (2) be unreleased prototypes with industrial feasibility
– Categories: Cultural Innovation, Life Wisdom, Industrial Equipment, and Digital
Economy.

Innovation Incubation Group:
– Application Deadline: 20.09.2025
– Eligibility: Exclusively open to university-affiliated teams. Participants must submit
either a valid student ID or a graduation certificate issued within the past 5 years.
– Entry Requirements: Entries must be unreleased products capable of delivering
functional and aesthetic prototypes by November 1, 2025.
– Categories: Life Health, Smart Cultural Tourism, Smart Mobility, Intelligent Hardware.,
and an open-ended category (“X”), encourages exploration of unknown fields.

Participation in the DIA is free, and the award offers a total prize fund of 5 million RMB
(approximately €625,000).

Ready to showcase your innovation to the world?
Learn more about DIA: https://en.di-award.org/
Register now: https://en.di-award.org/?invite=FL2025-AHWX5L5

See the call for entries here DIA call for entry- Cumulus