Archive

Business model design

Teaching

Hi – I’m Jen van der Meer.

I’m an Assistant Professor at Parsons School of Design Strategies, focused on Strategic Design & Management.

I teach in our BBA, Strategic Design & Management program, our Transdisciplinary Design MFA, and University-wide lectures at The New School. I am also the Co-Director of the Impact Entrepreneurship Initiative which runs a Fellowship and university-wide courses. 

You can follow along as I share frames, references, and tools and ask for perspective from folks across multiple practices and disciplines. If you are curious or are an expert in these topics – I’d love to invite you to join one of my classes. If you want a short version – you can take an exec ed class this Spring.

Spring 2023 Teaching: 

Business Model Design – Elective for Upper Undergraduates and Grads

I’m currently starting a new course to rethink all of the business model design frames and tools, with an aim to strengthen relationships and trust with and for communities.

Social Impact Entrepreneurship and Design – Impact Entrepreneurship 

I’m also re-shaping this course that I’ve never taught before, I’ve only designed the syllabus – a practice/theory/practice course designed for students who have built strong relationships in their communities, and want to engage in participatory action research, co-design, and business model design.

Innovation: From Concept to Ecosystem: Designing Strategies for Change

The ability to innovate and re-invent in a smart and efficient way continues to elude most organizations despite significant investments of time and resources. Parsons’ stakeholder-centric, holistic approach to design-led strategy can help organizations learn to apply fresh thinking in addressing challenges and transforming ecosystems.

We have weekend and full week versions of this class. 

Additionally:

A recent paper on ownership wayfinding methods for social innovators in the Social Innovations Journal

Changing Barriers to Fundraising Cultures: Ownership Wayfinding

Our Co-Director Jen van der Meer published a paper in The Social Innovations Journal partnering with AshokaVol 16 No 1 Identifying and Addressing Cultural, Geopolitical, Structural, and Educational Barriers to Social Innovation.

 

Other courses I have taught:

Business Models and Entrepreneurial Strategy

New Design Firms

Sustainable Business Models

Venture Lab a course that is part of the Impact Entrepreneurship Initiative

TransD’s Superstudio

And a course that was recently reshaped that centered on Design Leadership, but has been blended into a few courses in the Strategic Design masters.

Past: NYU, SVA, Columbia, Barnard

Lean startup, product ecology, lifecycle assessment, systems thinking:

Lean at ITP

Lifecyles and Flows

Bodies and Buildings

If Products Could Tell Their Stories

Columbia and Barnard: my first lectures on entrepreneurship and design practice.