New Design Ideas

In today’s rapidly evolving creative industries, the role of “designpreneurs” - designers equipped with both creative and entrepreneurial competencies - has become increasingly essential. This study examines the essential skills required to prepare future-ready designpreneur students and evaluates the alignment between academic training and industry expectations. Through a survey involving final-year students, teachers and industry professionals in Indonesia, 28 design-related skills were assessed across five categories: Conceptual Design, Entrepreneurial, Project Management, Software and Technical Design. The findings reveal shared recognition of certain core competencies; however, significant gaps remain - particularly in entrepreneurial and project management areas, which were rated significantly higher by industry respondents. These results indicate that current design curricula may not yet fully address the hybrid skill sets demanded in today’s creative economy. This study extends previous frameworks on design competencies by integrating entrepreneurial skills and refining existing categories to reflect the designpreneurship context. Furthermore, it contributes to the global discourse on design education by offering practical insights into how experiential, studio-based and lean entrepreneurial learning models can help bridge the gap between academia and industry.