START
7-8 October 2023
Purposes
The new technologies are giving rise to enormous changes in the processes of service management and delivery, but also in the expectations and demands that citizens place on public administrations and companies in general.
Technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence, the social media, require specific training in order to be properly used in service design processes, so that innovation is not only digital, but also social and economic.
Private companies have already started to benefit from the new tools and processes of digital transformation, almost completely adapting their internal management methods, customer relations and customer involvement, business models, etc., while public administrations are struggling to keep up; yet the advantages in terms of efficiency, transparency and social impacts are clear and would decisively benefit first and foremost the citizens.
With the recent emergency related to the Covid-19 related emergency, the importance of not relying exclusively on physical points of contact with the PA and other services in the territory became apparent. At the same time, it was possible to appreciate best practices, implemented by virtuous administrations and companies, which however still remain too rare and isolated.
In most cases, the public institutions found themselves unprepared: in being called to react to an unpredictable event, the answers were often inadequate, despite the attenuating circumstances of the emergency context.
Therefore, Public Administrations and businesses must quickly evolve the way they think and act in order to guarantee a swift response to the most recent changes.
The most recent legal reference is the PNRR n.1 Mission: "innovation of the country in a digital key, thanks to which a real structural change can be triggered".
The Master was designed to test the employees of public and private companies, creating the conditions for the development of knowledge, ability and attitudes required to be able to innovate; using the digital technologies in order to face the challenges posed by the sector of citizen services.
Starting with the general knowledge of the social, economic and technological processes of the world of services, the professional figure that the Master aims to train will be able to handle even the most complex issues, so as to identify the possible solutions and project concrete digital proposals.
Target students and career opportunities
The Master aims to train professional figures able to apply their transversal and project skills to a wide range of business settings related to the management and development of sustainable innovation processes.
Said strategic roles are part of a series of emerging careers, such as:
- Service Designer, person in charge of the organization of human resources, infrastructures and communication strategies of a specific service with the purpose of improving the interaction between a client and service
- User Experience Designer, person in charge of the coherent and functional organization of the interaction between the user and the service
- Innovation Designer, person in charge of supporting the team and the organizations during the digitalization processes;
- Data Project Manager, person in charge of the integration of data and information for the identification of innovative usage patterns
- Prospective Analyst, person in charge of predicting the future of an organization and evaluating the impact of its activities
- New Business Model Manager, person in charge of identifying new business strategies and development models for the future of the organization
- Resilient Manager, person in charge of identifying new pathways for the transformation of the core business of an organization, involving all the levels in a transversal way
- Social Media Manager, person in charge of using effectively the various social medias in order to interact with the users
- Creative Technologist, person in charge of identifying digital technologies for the innovation of specific organization processes or for the interaction with the user.
Admission
The candidates of the Master must be in possession of a Bachelor's Degree (minimum requirement for the admission to the Master), a Specialist Degree, Master's Degree and/or "old system" Degree attained at an italian University or an equivalent institution. The candidates in possession of an academic title obtained abroad must be in possession of the declaration of value of the aforementioned qualification, issued by the competent Italian diplomatic or consular representatives of the country in which they obtained the qualification.
Tuition
The annual tuition, without tax benefits, for the registration to the Master is € 10.000
Registration
Students wishing to enrol may request an appointment with the Guidance Office by calling +39 06 3400 6250
Internal Faculty
The Internal Faculty is comprised of more than 70% professors with over-five-years professional experience on the subject matter.
Scientific director
Lorenza Parisi
È stata RTD/A presso LCU fino al 2018.
She was a visiting student at the HIIT in Helsinki and the Media Lab at MIT (Boston, USA).
She participated in several PRIN research projects at University "La Sapienza" on the topics of political engagement and emergency communication.
In 2011 she attained a PhD in Communication Science at the Department of Communication and Research of the "Sapienza" University.
She authored various publications in the following areas: digital media and spatial experience, institutional and political communication.
Her research interests revolve around the participatory culture of digital media, such as civic commitment and political activism through digital media, emergency communication, scientific communication (with particular attention to the vaccines) and studies on critical algorithms, with particular attention to the social media and the algorithms of apps based on position.
Since 2012, her research is also concentrated on the study of the digital media from a gender perspective.
Current role: Associate Professor of Sociology of Cultural and Communication Processes at Link Campus University, where she teaches Internet Studies, Social Media Management, Digital Marketing, Network Society.
Between 2019 and 2021 she was a member of the teaching staff of the PhD in "New Technologies and Frontiers of Law, Economics and Society", and is currently a member of the teaching staff of the PhD "Tech for Good".
She has been coordinating the Bachelor's Degree Course in 'Innovative technologies for digital communication'' since July 2020. Previously, she coordinated the Master's Degree Course in “Technologies and Codes of Communications”.
She is scientific director of the Master in “Social Innovation and Digital Transformation” and a member of the scientific committee for the implementation of the Gender Equality Plan at Link Campus University.
Professors
Valentina Volpi (coordinator of the Master)
PHD in Interaction Design. She carries out research and development activity within the framework of funded and non-funded research projects and promotes initiatives of social innovation aimed at favouring the exchange of knowledge and projects between the university and the region. In the past, she has collaborated with various research centres as a research fellow, including CATTID at Sapienza-University of Rome and DASIC at Link Campus University. Her main research interests are Social Innovation, Human-Centred Design and Design Thinking with a focus on Co-design and UX/Service Design in smart cities and territories.
Current role: she carries out research and development activities on projects in the field of Digital and Social Innovation at Link Campus University, and teaches the following subjects:
- Social Innovation & Transformation Design, già Participatory Processes for Social Innovation, Master's Degree in Technologies and languages of communications (LM-59).
- Workshop - Making an effective presentation - Technologies and languages of digital communication A.A. 2021/2022.
- Workshop - Making an effective presentation - Technologies and languages of digital communication, Technologies and languages of communications, International Business Administration, Business Management, A.A. 2020/2021.
- Workshop - Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) - Technologies and languages of digital communication, A.A. 2019/2020.
- Technologies of participatory processes - I Level Degree in Smart Public Administration, A.A. 2016/2017 2017/2018.
- Workshop - Design Thinking and design of innovative products and services - I level Master in Environmental Protection and Environmental Crime, A.A.2016/2017.
Brunella Botte
She is currently a PhD student in Computer Science at the University of Utrecht: the research project aims to design an adaptive gamified system based on Self-Determination Theory. The project is interdisciplinary and involves the fields of both computer science and psychology.
As a member of the research team on Hybrid Learning, her research activity is mainly focused on Gamification and Serious Game Design, including the UX aspect.
Furthermore she experiments on the application of interactive technologies, such as Augmented and Virtual Reality and IoT in recreational contexts.
Current role: extraordinary professor; she carries out research and development activity within the field of Applied Games, collaborating on various financial, national and international projects and teaches the following subjects:
- Information technologies & digital applications, AA.AA 2020/21, 2021/22, 2022/2023;
- Gamification strategies, AA.AA 2021/22, 2022/23;
- Introduction to Serious Games & Gamification, 2015/16, 2016/17, 2017/18, 2018/19, 2019/20 - 2020/21;
- Interactive Storytelling, AA.AA 2018/19, 2019/2020, 2020/21, 2021/22, 2022/23;
- Computer Skills, AA 2021/22;
- Internet of Things, AA 2021/22.
Dario Carrera
PhD in public policy, accelerators and social innovation start-ups carried out at London South Bank University and University of Rome “Tor Vergata”.
Co-founder of The Hub Milano and The Hub Rome.
Member of GECES Italia and of the work group for G8 and impact finance.
Board member of Good Business Alliance UK, member of the working group for the Italian Report on Social Impact Investment, Task Force established within the framework of the G8
In 2013 he was president of I-Sin (Italian Social Innovation Network), in 2012 he was appointed member of the think tank for innovation policies of the Ministry of University and Research, Social Innovation Area.
Curator of the first Italian Social Innovation Agenda, he worked at the regulatory framework on crowdfunding in Italy and at the proposals on finance of social impact (social lending, social impact bond). He trained Liberi Nantes, a football team entirely made up of forced migrants and sponsored by the UN refugee agency UNHCR.
Current role: research fellow presso LCU in Social Innovation and Impact Economy, and adjunct professor of “Start-up & Business Models” e “Start-up & Spin-offs”.
For LCU, he coordinates the Libya Up - Labs of Innovation and Business for Young Actors of Start Up.
Massimiliano Dibitonto
After the specialist Degree in Communication Science, attained at “La Sapienza” in Roma in 2007, he attained the research doctorate in Computer Engineering at the Università di Cagliari in 2012.
He collaborated with research centres in Italy and Spain.
He carried out lectures at various universities and private institutions on IT and HCI topics, including workshops on Smart Objects and the Internet of Things characterised by a strong practical and experimental nature.
His main research themes are interactive systems and Human-Computer interaction, with particular attention to the paradigms of natural interaction and new technologies.
Current role: person in charge of the design and development of User Experience and the management and improvement of Customer Experience of products and digital services at Olivetti SpA.
Since 2012 he is co-founder and CTO of a startup where he into which he poured his skills as a designer and developer for the creation of interactive displays, receiving major awards and recognition for the company's creativity.
As a lecturer, his research areas are Human Computer Interaction and in particular interaction paradigms related to the new Internet of Things and Artificial Intelligence scenarios and Digital Transformation processes within organisations.
Giada Marinensi
He coordinated various national and international research projects, aimed at exploring the effectiveness of the interactive narrations and games as tools to support learning processes. Among the most recent are: "FACTIVE" (2022), focused on integrating the methodology of flipped learning and gamification to innovate the vocational training sector; "Harmoonia" (2020), a gamified app to promote awareness of the values of Agenda 2030; "Cyber Hunters" (2019), an interactive story exploring the importance of protecting one's digital identity; and "True Hunters" (2017), an EUIPO (European Intellectual Property Office) funded project to inform young people about the value of intellectual property and the risks of counterfeiting.
Current role: fixed-term extraordinary professor at Link Campus University. She teaches Interactive Storytelling, Applied Games and Gamification Strategies, and is responsible for a research team that investigates potential developments in these disciplines in a multidisciplinary perspective.
She teaches the current subjects:
- Bachelor's Degree Course in Innovative Technologies for Digital Communication, First Year,
- Videogame Pathway, subject “Applied Games”
- Bachelor's Degree Course in Innovative Technologies for Digital Communication, Second Year,
- Innovation and Digital Pathway, subject “Interactive Storytelling”
- Master's Degree Course in Technologies and Languages of Communication, First Year, subject
- Gamification Strategies
Manuela Minozzi
Starting from a background in theoretical physics, over the years she has worked on the subject in the broadest sense. Her areas of interest are Statistical Physics, Complex Systems (such as fracture mechanics, defects and dislocations), Acoustics, Simulations of Systems under Critical Conditions, Computational Biophysics (ion channels, membranes and interactions with antibiotics, force field, drug design), Multiscale Models, Continuum Dynamics, Elastic Metrics, Distortions, Nonlinear Elasticity. She is currently working on the structure of materials.
She teaches the following subjects: Mathematics for Management and Economic Applications.
Current role: fixed-term researcher at LCU, she also was coordinator of the Degree Course in Safety Science.
Antonio Opromolla
Research Doctor in Interaction Design, he is a member of the teaching staff as researcher of Link University
European and national research projects on themes related to civic engagement and open government, applying the tools related to design thinking and urban interaction design.
He was a PhD at LCU and co-coordinator of the research unit in “Smart City and Social Innovation” and, previously research fellow at “La Sapienza” on the same themes.
In 2020, he organized a training course titled “Il design thinking per i decisori pubblici” at LCU, with the objective of raising awareness among decision-makers on the importance of participatory processes.
Between 2019 and 2020 he was professor of “Progettazione Interfacce Utente” at the Quasar Institute.
Between 2017 and 2021 he was chair of the special session “Quality in Interaction” of the science conference “Human-Computer Interaction International”.
He is part of the editorial board of the following magazines: International Journal of Political Activism and Engagement and International Journal of Urban Planning and Smart Cities.
He is an evaluator of European projects within the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme and a member of the Italian Sociology Association.
Current role: he teaches Visual and Digital Media Culture and organizes the Social Media Laboratory within the framework of the Degree Course in Innovative Technologies for Digital Communication, and teaches Digital Transformation at the Master's Degree Course in Technologies and Languages of Communication at Link Campus University.
Furthermore, he is didactic coordinator of the Master in Service Innovation and Digital Transformation and is scientific responsible for LCU of the european research project “LINKS - Strengthening Links between Technologies and Society for European Disaster Resilience”, financed within the framework of the Horizon 2020 programme.
Giovanni Andrea Parente
UX Researcher - CONFLUX - User Experience Research & Design
Professor of Service & Innovation Design at Link Campus University.
Research fellow at Link Campus University. Researcher on User Experience applied to e-health, multimodal and sustainable mobility and social innovation.
Research and communication at LIS (Workshop - Social Innovation) Margherita Hack within the DASIC.
Activity of UX Designer, with design and planning of mobile and web services and interfaces on national and international funded projects implemented.
Current role: adjunct professor of Service Design at the Master's Degree in Technologies of Communication (LCU).
Eliseo Sciarretta
An expert in usability and accessibility, his research fields concern human-computer interaction, with a specialisation in e-health services and inclusive design.
He attained a Master's Degree in Publishing and Multimedia Communication at the 'Sapienza' University of Rome and a Master's Degree in Multimedia Techniques at the Faculty of Engineering of the same University.
In 2014, he attained a PhD in "Archiving and Management of Digital Documents" at the University of Rome "Tor Vergata".
From 2006 to 2012 he collaborated at CATTID of Sapienza University with the laboratories: LUA, as accessibility expert, and LOGOS on projects concerning e-health and social inclusion.
Current role: extraordinary professor at Link Campus University, he teaches the following subjects:
- Interaction Design in the Master's Degree in Technologies and languages of communications
- Elements of Web and Mobile Programming in the Master's Degree Course in Technologies and Languages of Communication
- Digital Media Design in the Degree Course in Communication and DAMS
- Information Technology in the Bachelor's Degree in International Business Economy
- Computer Science for Political Science - Bachelor's Degree in Political Sciences and International Relations
- Scientific Director of DASIC - Digital Administration and Social Innovation Center (LCU)
PROGRAMME
UNIT 1 - Digital Transformation Scenarios
50 HOURS
The objective of the module is to provide an overview on the themes of the Master, so as to introduce the objectives of the course.
The module revolves around the concept of digital transformation and its application in public and private contexts.
The course will provide different perspectives on this concept, covering the social and economic impact of the digital transformation processes. Furthermore, great space will be given to the operating description of innovative technologies at the base of the processes of digital transformation (ex. artificial intelligence, big data, blockchain, etc.).
The model will serve as starting point of the training course and as base for the in-depth investigations implemented in the following modules.
The following is a list of the topics covered during the module:
- Introduction to Digital Transformation and Social Innovation (10 hours)
- Social aspects of Digital Transformation (10 hours)
- Innovative Technologies for Digital Transformation (20 hours)
- Economic Aspects of Digital Transformation (10 hours)
UNIT 2 - Strategies for digital transformation
35 HOURS
The aim of the module is to pay special attention to the methods and tools required to enable the digital transformation of an organization (in particular of the public adminstrations).
To this end, there will be a specific focus on the tools offered by design to create the entire service ecosystem (from rethinking the multi-channel interaction experience to focusing on a single point of contact of the user with the service).
Furthermore, the course analyzes strategies in support of digital transformation, with a specific focus on national and european programmes.
The following is a list of the topics covered in the module:
- Human-Centered Design, Design Thinking (10 hours)
- User-Centered Design e Service Design (15 hours)
- Programmes and Support Policy for Innovation (10 hours)
UNIT 3 - Analysis of the transformation
25 hours + 20 hours workshop
The aim of the module is to provide the students with a description of the operational tools required to analyze the broader context of the public and private organizations within which to introduce digital transformation processes that would have a positive impact on society as a whole. The knowledge acquired will serve as a basis to innovation scenarios which in turn will be enable a series of digital and social transformation interventions. In this regard, the workshop will give the student the opportunity to develop the competencies acquired through the theoretical study, improving their ability to research with potential users of a service and the rest of the stakeholders and to analyze and design the overall user experience.
The following is a list of the topics covered in the module:
- User research tools (10 hours)
- Mapping the context and the stakeholders (10 hours)
- User experience and Customer Experience (5 hours)
- Laboratory: innovative scenarios (20 hours)
UNIT 4 - Development of Services
40 hours + 20 hours workshop
The aim of the module is to provide methodologies and tools required to develop effective and efficient services characterized by a high level of satisfaction of the user. In particular, we will delve into the tools that allow us to define, on the basis of context analysis, the starting problem on the basis of which to design the service, the tools for strategic planning of the service, the techniques for conceiving, designing and implementing a service with potential users of the service, and the tools for thinking about how the service can create real added value.
The following is a list of the topics covered in the module:
- Tools and methods for the definition of problems (10 hours)
- Project and Service planning (10 hours)
- Co-design and Co-creation (10 hours)
- Value Proposition and Value Creation (5 hours)
- Determining and assessing the socio-economic impact of a service (5 hours)
- Workshop: Designing the interaction of innovative services (20 hours)
UNIT 5 - Development of innovative proposals
55 hours + 20 hours workshop
The module completes the contents of the previous unit, focusing on the most practical aspects. Upon understanding how innovative services can be designed, it is necessary to learn how to implement them.
In particular, the module will delve into the methodologies and techniques for the design of services, understood as a set of tangible and intangible elements capable of producing value, will be explored in greater detail.
The technical aspects of design will be analysed, with a specific focus on the visual aspects.
The workshop will enable practical application of the acquired skills in the prototyping of a service.
The following is a list of the topics covered in the module:
- Planning of web and mobile interface (10 hours)
- Base of development of web and mobile interface (15 hours)
- Prototyping of a service (5 hours)
- Planning IoT services (5 hours)
- Visual design (10 hours)
- Evaluation and monitoring of a service (10 hours)
- Workshop: Prototyping innovative services (20 hours)
UNIT 6 - Communication and marketing
70 hours + 20 hours workshop
The aim of the module is to provide an overview on the main tools and strategies for communication and marketing related to digital and social media.
In particular, the module will delve into themes related to the construction of a marketing plan through the digital media and the risks and opportunity of communication campaigns carried out through social networks. Furthermore, the course will describe the potentialities of storytelling, to communicate the value of a service, involving the target user from an emotional and value point of view.
The learning pathway will provide the tools required to encourage the participation of the target audience including gamification, (i.e. the use of game elements in non-game contexts, with the aim of motivating the target audience to action).
The module will include a workshop session, meant to enable the candidates to test themselves with the designa and implementation of a marketing and communication plan sinergistically exploiting the tools presented.
The following is a list of the topics covered in the module:
- Digital marketing (15 hours)
- Community management (10 hours)
- Social media strategy (15 hours)
- Digital & interactive storytelling (10 hours)
- Engagement & gamification (10 hours)
- Business Model Canvas (10 hours)
- Workshop: identifying and realizing a marketing and communication plan (25 hours)
Project Work
15 CFU
Each candidate of Master's Degree is required to prepare a professional training Project Work consistent with the topics covered by the course.
Said Project Work is an integral part of the Master's teaching activity, and is subject to assessment, providing 15 university training credits (CFU).
The aim of the final project is to submit one or more innovative and/or improving solutions through an in-depth study of context variables, processes and application models. The project may involve either the innovation of an activity, or the setting up or changing of an organisational structure, or even the improvement of a new operational procedure or the development of a new process. The PW can be individual or group: in the latter case, the individual contribution will be subject to specific evaluation.
The candidates will be required to take a final test at the end of each Unit. The grade attained for each test (expressed in thirtieths) will be an integral part of the final grade of the Master.