Rector of Kolding School of Design Carina Christensen and Deputy Director Inge Bendixen of Southern Denmark Health Innovation signed the new three-year partnership agreement at Kolding School of Design on 17 August 2026.
Kolding School of Design and Southern Denmark Health Innovation strengthen collaboration on the healthcare system of the future
For a number of years, Kolding School of Design has had a strong focus on health, welfare and life science-related challenges across education, research and collaborations with external partners. The new agreement with Southern Denmark Health Innovation takes this work to the next level.
The partnership creates a long-term framework that brings Kolding School of Design’s design expertise and research capabilities into closer contact with Southern Denmark Health Innovation’s access to healthcare practice, clinical environments and experience of implementation and scaling.
The ambition is to bring design even closer to the challenges facing the healthcare system, while giving students and researchers opportunities to develop and test methods and solutions in the real-world settings where they are ultimately intended to work.
- We are not starting from scratch. Health and welfare are already areas in which our students and researchers work with complex challenges and develop solutions together with people and organisations in real-life settings. What is new is the strength and continuity of the collaboration. Working with Southern Denmark Health Innovation gives us an opportunity to connect strong professional and academic environments even more closely and create a more direct path from design knowledge to tangible value in healthcare, says Carina Christensen, Rector of Kolding School of Design.
Design projects close to patients and practice
The partnership is rooted in the Region of Southern Denmark’s innovation strategy and its four missions to create a healthcare system that is more patient-centred, health-promoting, resilient and sustainable.
One particular area of focus will be the development of future care pathways closer to home. As more treatment moves closer to people’s everyday lives and outside traditional hospital settings, new needs and questions arise: How should products, spaces, services and digital solutions work? How do we create positive interactions between people and systems? And how do we develop solutions that patients, relatives and healthcare professionals can all use?
This is where design can contribute methods for user involvement, visualisation, prototyping, testing and the development of new products, services and systems.
The collaboration will include bachelor’s and master’s projects, internships, guest teaching, joint innovation programmes, professional development, and research and development projects.
Students will, for example, be able to work on everything from the design of waiting areas and patient rooms to textiles, dialogue tools, wayfinding and digital interfaces, in collaboration with Southern Denmark Health Innovation and other healthcare environments across the region.
- If we are to succeed in developing a healthcare system that is resilient, sustainable and centred on patients’ needs, we need to bring different disciplines into play. Design has a particular strength when it comes to understanding needs, making complex challenges tangible and developing solutions together with the people who will use them. This partnership gives us a stronger and more systematic link between design expertise and healthcare practice, says Inge Bendixen, Deputy Director of Southern Denmark Health Innovation.
Knowledge should flow both ways
The partnership will also strengthen Kolding School of Design’s educational programmes and research environments. Experience gained through concrete collaborations will feed back into teaching at bachelor’s, master’s and PhD level and contribute to the school’s continued development of knowledge within health, welfare and healthcare innovation.
In turn, Southern Denmark Health Innovation and units across the Region of Southern Denmark will gain easier access to design expertise, students and research environments.
The partners will also explore opportunities for joint research and development applications and new innovation activities.
The partnership agreement came into effect on 1 August 2026 and will run for three years.
About Southern Denmark Health Innovation
Southern Denmark Health Innovation is the Region of Southern Denmark’s unit for healthcare innovation and operates as a knowledge centre, consultancy and project organisation. Its work includes user involvement, the testing and development of innovative products and services, professional development, funding, and programme and project management.
About Kolding School of Design
Kolding School of Design is a higher education and research institution offering bachelor’s, master’s and PhD programmes in design, as well as continuing education with a focus on strategic design. The school’s knowledge base is built on research, design-led development work and practice-based knowledge created in collaboration with companies, organisations and public-sector partners.
Want to learn more? Please contact
Lene Friis, Head of Research and Development Labs, Kolding School of Design
Mobile: +45 20 30 81 26
Email: lnf@dskd.dk
Anne Friis Hansen, Senior Consultant, Southern Denmark Health Innovation
Mobile: +45 21 79 44 58
Email: anne.friis.hansen@rsyd.dk
The collaboration was launched with a joint kick-off meeting at Kolding School of Design, where the partners began exploring the first concrete opportunities and areas of focus within the partnership. Alongside Deputy Director Inge Bendixen, Southern Denmark Health Innovation was represented by Senior Consultant Anne Friis Hansen. Kolding School of Design was represented by Rector Carina Christensen, Head of Projects Lene Friis and Head of Programme for Design for People Canan Akoglu.
