About this challenge

The Student Service Design Challenge is a global design award that celebrates, encourages and inspires the next generation of designers. It's open to current students, and is supported by a group of trailblazing organisations and public entities, as part of their mission to involve young designers in finding people-centred and future-oriented services for people and the planet.

Through this design award, younger generations – over 50% of the people in the world are younger than 27 – take part in designing better products and services, contributing directly to global efforts toward sustainable development and equitable progress. That is why we invite design students to explore non-inclusive business models and outdated design processes, and think about what they would do to improve them.

Their unbiased, playful and uninhibited approach may lead to new, disruptive ideas, increasing the chance to deliver on the promise of value-based services: providing the right service to the people who need it, at the right time, in a convenient, affordable, easy and accessible way. We encourage the next generation of designers to use their creative power to shape corporate behaviour and pressure them to take a more globally conscious set of values seriously, supporting the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and promoting long-term global wellbeing and environmental stewardship. By taking an inclusive approach to service design, we can develop exciting new service experiences that contribute value to people, the planet, and the public.

Why participate?

• Work on design with impact
• Dive into a real-life user case
• Use your curiosity and empathy for real people
• Work in a multidisciplinary team
• Learn new design methodologies and skills
• Receive guidance and coaching by professionals and experts in the field
• Get the chance to win a traineeship or design incubation prize
• Showcase your work at international exhibitions

How it works

Are you an undergraduate or postgraduate student enrolled at a higher education institution, college, or university anywhere in the world? Then you can register by forming a team of 4 to 7 students to work on a service concept that successfully addresses the topic of this year’s award. With that, you will contribute to meaningful change and help our planet and society to thrive. The briefs are curated and provided by the Challenge partners; organisations committed to contributing towards a better world now and in the future.

Each team will be coached and mentored, join live and recorded classes/lectures, participate in insightful Q&A sessions and much more. This Challenge can be likened to an intensive master’s program, complementing students’ academic curriculum and requiring their weekly commitment throughout the competition. SSDC poses real-world challenges and lets teams of students get to know and use a myriad of tools, methods, and design approaches, such as ethnography, cultural probing, user journey mapping, brainstorming, prototyping, service blueprinting and business modelling. On top of these, SSDC includes at least 6 classes and 15 coaching sessions over a period of 5 months. And it’s all for free!

In the last round of the competition, shortlisted teams will have the opportunity to pitch their service concept and show their business potential to the Challenge jury. This online event is a unique opportunity for the teams to practise their skills and convince the jury to select them as the winners of the sixth edition of the Student Service Design Challenge.

This year’s theme

Some background information
As the world faces mounting challenges related to access to health, social inequality, and environmental damage, there is a critical need to rethink how services are designed and delivered to support the wellbeing of individuals, communities, and ecosystems. The strain on existing service systems—particularly for underserved and marginalised groups—has exposed significant vulnerabilities, highlighting the need for solutions that are adaptable, inclusive, and resilient. By addressing these challenges, we can contribute to advancing global efforts, including those outlined in the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Design can be a powerful force to transform lives and build a more sustainable and just future. Consider the opportunity to redesign healthcare services for marginalised communities that ensure access to both physical and mental health care. Delve into the development of user-friendly digital service platforms that provide seniors with easy access to telemedicine, helping them stay connected with healthcare professionals from the comfort of their homes. Perhaps, explore ways to enhance services in education that break down barriers for disadvantaged groups, fostering equity and opportunity for all. Or rethink services that promote environmental resilience, such as community-driven initiatives that encourage sustainable behaviour and empower local populations to adopt greener lifestyles.

We invite students to apply service design methodologies, tools and frameworks, with a deep-rooted focus on human-centred research, co-creation, and systemic thinking to design valuable solutions. This global award and design program is a call to leverage students’ ability to integrate diverse perspectives, foster collaboration, and create meaningful impact.

The Student Service Design Challenge 2025 offers design students worldwide an extraordinary opportunity. We challenge you to reimagine how service design can meet the complex demands of our time by driving positive transformation, fostering resilience, and promoting equity at every level. Join this year's edition and let your creativity spark transformative change and have a tangible impact on the world.

What are we looking for?

The SSDC aims to push the boundaries of service design by encouraging a transdisciplinary approach to solving a prevalent global issue in a local context. We’re looking for ideas that will work now and in the future. Human-centred solutions that can start small and locally, but can be scaled up as well. Improving and enhancing people's experiences and contributing to global sustainable, inclusive and equitable development efforts championed by the UN.

A successful solution must work for individual users as well as larger groups and communities, and be ready to scale and be adjusted for others as well. Your submission will be evaluated according to the following criteria, that you can also find in the official rules of this challenge.

Criteria

People centric

Your idea is based on real people’s contexts, their needs and habits. The solution you design works for real people, and has a positive influence on their behaviour.

Experience based

Your idea provides an impactful, rewarding and lasting user experience, both physical and online, by offering an engaging solution that creates an emotional and sensory connection with the users.

Society oriented

Your idea sees into the inclusive conception of design in which overlooked users, groups or communities, are taken into account to create positive change in society.

Technology enabled

Your idea is future-ready for the ever changing digital landscape, takes into account the responsible, secure and unbiased use of data, and uses technology wisely and for the good.

Circular and sustainable

Your idea aims to tackle a global challenge like climate change, access to care, gender equality, waste or pollution, among others outlined in the SDGs. It is regenerative for our world, and supports sustainable and planet-positive innovation by conscious consumption thinking, and favouring ethical behaviour as well as empowering users.

Business viable

Your idea is based on a service-centred business model, able to launch as a viable service business and value proposition, as well as adjustable or scalable.

Key dates

The design briefs for this year’s competition will be made available by the end of November 2024. Student teams will have approximately two months to develop and submit their proposals. Final dates and deadlines will be confirmed and announced in the final week of November.

Coaching and judging

Each student design team will have regular (online) coaching and mentoring sessions. The coaches support the teams individually and as a group during the discovery phase (round 2), define phase (round 3) and development phase (round 4). Each team will also have a dedicated team coach, an IBM design strategist and practitioner. The team coaches will give each team feedback and provide help in specific areas. Former SSDC winners will kick off each round with a plenary session, sharing insights and expectations for that round, based on their own experiences as participants in previous editions of the SSDC.

At the end of round 4, each design team will submit their service concept. The Challenge jury will carefully review, discuss and validate each submission based on the challenge criteria. There will be a selection of nominees (‘Shortlist’) who will be able to pitch their concepts to a panel of esteemed judges at a Dragons’ Den event. The Challenge jury is composed of renowned design experts from various fields – related to human-centred (service) design, tech, circular design, and design-led innovation.

Dragons' Den
In the last round of the competition, the shortlisted teams will have the opportunity to pitch their concept and show its business potential to the challenge jury. This online event is a unique opportunity for the teams to practise their skills and convince the Dragons to select them as the winners of the sixth edition of the Student Service Design Challenge. The teams will be trained and coached in preparation for their pitch.

Enter competition 2025

The Student Service Design Challenge aims to support human-centred design students with the start of their careers. If you and your team members are studying at an official university, academy or college, and you would like to use your creativity to contribute to the upcoming challenge, we invite you to sign up by filling in the team registration form below.

Important: only one registration form should be completed per team. To avoid duplicate applications, make sure that a single representative registers on behalf of the entire team. 

After this first step, we will request complete information of all team members and you will receive additional information about the challenge, this year’s briefs and how to register. Each team must consist of a minimum of 4 and a maximum of 7 members, and you will all need an email address issued by your university, academy or college.