“I think that this idea of cross-functionality may be a legacy framework.”

Throughout this season of the series I’ve been looking at the impact of AI and other emerging technology on the future of design and design leadership, and I’ve been particularly interested in examining this through the lens of some of the top academic design programs in the US. I find that looking at how students are learning design in the classroom can be a great predictor for how they will show up in the workplace in the years ahead, which of course will have a major impact on how our design teams and scaled design programs will operate. 

My guest for this episode is Vivek Rao, director of the new Masters of Engineering in Design & Technology Innovation program at the Pratt School of Engineering at Duke University. A mechanical engineer by training, Vivek spent his early career at the design and innovation consultancy IDEO. He then did his PhD studies in design, innovation, and emerging technology at the University of California Berkeley, before joining Duke in 2023.

We discuss the core idea of cross-functionality—blending design with engineering, business, data, marketing and other disciplines—a quality that Vivek himself embodies, and is instilling in his students.