iF Design Academy

The iF Design Academy is the professional education arm of iF Design, the Hannover-based organisation behind the iF DESIGN AWARD, and it trains design leaders rather than designers. Its curriculum is built from short modules co-created with international design leadership experts and organised in four areas: Personal Growth, Business Fluency, Operationalizing & Scaling and Future Literacy. Courses include Mastering Design Leadership Fundamentals, Leading Business Beyond Design, Leading AI Adoption and Expanding Organizational Influence.

Each course targets a stage of a career, from designers moving into a first leadership role to established heads of design who want to scale design’s impact beyond their team; Leading Change with Confidence is taught in person with the University of St. Gallen. Participants learn with a cohort and keep access to a global community of design leaders, with instructors drawn from iF Design’s jurors, award participants and offices in eleven countries. The academy is run by iF International Forum Design GmbH in Hannover, owned by the non-profit iF Design Foundation, and guided by an advisory board with members from Compal, Harvard GSD, TUM and HfG Schwäbisch Gmünd.