Master in Business Design

Design the future of organizations through strategy, innovation, and design. You will apply qualitative research, identify trends, design future scenarios, and implement innovation methodologies to enhance organizations’ adaptability to market changes and disruptions. You can pursue the master in Barcelona or Madrid.

How to apply

Presentation

We are living in a new era defined by rapid change and increasing complexity, where organizations must adapt—or even transform—to remain relevant.

This new context requires a new way of competing and a new organizational mindset. Companies need a new profile of professionals: individuals who can embrace uncertainty, manage change, and turn challenges into solutions that generate a positive impact.

The Master in Business Design prepares you to lead innovation and transformation within organizations, helping them shape their future in an increasingly complex world. You will learn to combine business and strategic tools with design methods to lead innovation processes and develop solutions that create value for organizations, customers, users, and society.

Throughout the program, you will work on real projects in collaboration with companies, tackling innovation challenges in real-world contexts. You’ll also explore leading innovation ecosystems in Barcelona, Madrid, and Berlin, visiting startups, hubs, and companies to understand how the future is being shaped across various industries.

This master’s program is designed for individuals who want to drive change, create impact, and help shape the future of organizations, while contributing to a more sustainable and positive future for society and the planet.

At Elisava you can take master and postgraduate courses of different degrees of specialisation that combine theoretical knowledge, reflection, experimentation, and practical projects. Find the design master you are looking for.

Student profile

This master’s program is aimed at professionals with a design mindset who seek to acquire a set of tools, methods, and strategic capabilities to become change agents.

People who are curious, critical thinkers, and highly motivated to transform organizations and generate a positive impact through innovation and design.

Admission requirements

To enroll in the Master in Business Design, you must hold an official undergraduate degree or equivalent.

A background in design is not required. What truly matters is that you have a designer’s mindset—curious, willing to learn and unlearn, open to experimentation, and equipped with a strategic, collaborative, and change-oriented attitude.

Objectives

  • Preparing professionals to lead innovation and transformation processes in complex and uncertain environments.
  • Developing a strategic mindset and critical thinking to address business and societal challenges with impact.
  • Applying research, design, and management methods to develop human-centered solutions.
  • Building skills for identifying opportunities, defining strategies, and managing teams in dynamic contexts.
  • Providing the tools and knowledge needed to turn relevant problems into solutions that create value for organizations, users, and society.
  • Fostering collaboration within multidisciplinary teams, encouraging a culture of learning, creativity, and experimentation.
Highlights

MA in Business Design programme

1 Structure

The program is divided into two complementary parts, each consisting of three specific modules and one transversal final project. The structure is designed to guide participants from strategic exploration to the implementation of transformational solutions, combining research, design, and innovation.

 2 Identify

Explore the environment and anticipate change to identify strategic challenges.

The first part of the master’s focuses on developing a strategic perspective by combining research, trend analysis, and futures thinking. It includes the following modules:

1.1 Design Research: Learn to conduct rigorous research using both qualitative and quantitative methods to uncover needs, behaviors, and hidden opportunities.

1.2 Trends: Build your ability to identify, analyze, and interpret social, technological, economic, and cultural trends—and translate them into innovation opportunities.

1.3 Futures Thinking: Explore multiple future scenarios to design impactful solutions today. Learn how to build scenarios and apply strategic foresight tools.

 3 Transform

Turn challenges into meaningful and actionable solutions.

The second part of the program focuses on transforming identified insights and opportunities into desirable, feasible, and viable solutions. It includes the following modules:

2.1 Corporate Innovation: Rethink business models, manage innovation portfolios, and foster a culture of experimentation and transformation within organizations.

2.2 Service Design: Design useful, coherent, and meaningful services and memorable experiences by integrating user needs, internal processes, and strategic goals. You’ll apply a collaborative, iterative, and human-centered approach.

2.3 Lean & Agile: Implement solutions efficiently and adaptively using iterative and collaborative methods rooted in experimentation and continuous learning.

*Each module includes a team-based project. At the end of each part of the program, students develop a transversal project that integrates the knowledge and skills acquired.

 4 Complementary modules

In addition to the core modules, the program includes several key transversal components that enrich the overall learning experience:

Business Design Mindset:
This transversal module runs throughout the entire program, helping you cultivate a strategic, creative, and adaptive mindset—essential for leading innovation and transformation processes. Through collaborative dynamics, personal reflection, and practical application, you will develop and strengthen key skills such as empathy, resilience, and critical thinking. By the end of the master’s, you will not only be able to design solutions but also lead with purpose from a human-centered and systems-oriented perspective.

Learning from Ecosystems and Experts:
This module bridges the master’s content with the real world. Through field trips to Barcelona, Madrid, and Berlin, as well as sessions with entrepreneurs, innovators, and industry experts, you will gain insight into how innovation takes shape in various contexts. You will identify emerging trends, explore new methods, and build a professional network that will broaden your strategic vision. Reflection and synthesis will help you connect these learnings to your projects and personal challenges.

Final Projects (Thesis):
You will complete two transversal projects that consolidate your learning in each half of the program. In the first phase, you will focus on identifying strategic opportunities. In the second, you will transform these opportunities into validated, high-impact solutions. These projects—developed in teams and in collaboration with real organizations—will allow you to apply the whole journey of the master, from exploration to implementation.
If you want to know more about the Master in Business Design download the brochure here:
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Career opportunities

Today’s market demands professionals who can navigate complexity, lead innovation processes, and turn strategic challenges into impactful solutions. Business Design equips you with the mindset and capabilities to take on this challenge across a wide range of roles and sectors.

Upon completing the program, you’ll be prepared to drive transformation within established organizations, launch new initiatives, or join innovation, strategy, or design teams in companies, consultancies, or startups. Possible career paths include:

  • Business Designer
  • Strategy and Innovation Consultant
  • Product Manager
  • Innovation Manager
  • Design Strategist
  • Customer Experience Designer
  • Brand Strategist
  • Service Designer
  • Product Marketing Manager
  • Content Strategist
  • Entrepreneur or Intrapreneur

Do you want to know more about the Masters’ School?

Each academic year, students with very diverse professional and cultural profiles of more than 80 nationalities from all over the world attend their master’s or postgraduate training at Elisava. We want to promote connections and networks among students beyond the context of each master’s degree to promote the exchange of knowledge through very diverse projects: we organize interdisciplinary workshops and conferences; transdisciplinary projects with students from several master’s degrees; collaborations with companies, institutions and NGOs…

Interdisciplinary workshops Collaborations with companies, institutions and NGOs Elisava Masters’ Talks and lectures Elisava Alumni

Masters’ Scholarships

Do you want to study the MA in Business at Elisava? In this section you will be able to check all the information on the annual call for scholarships, which recognize, reward and disseminate the talent and excellence of future master’s students.

Elisava Masters’ Scholarships