WHAT DESIGN
CAN DO
19.-23.10.2026
Sustainable Digital Futures
This year, NEXT GEN DESIGN comes to Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven. From 19 to 23 October, What Design Can Do hosts a week of exhibition, talks and collaboration at Next Nature Museum.
NEXT GEN DESIGN starts from a simple belief: the next generation of designers will help shape how we respond to the environmental and social challenges ahead. The programme gives them room to explore new ideas, test them and share them with a wider audience.
During the week, young designers work together, exchange perspectives and develop their ideas into concrete proposals, inspired by talks and the wider programme of Dutch Design Week. The setting fits the moment. DDW’s theme R.A.W. (Rebel Authentic Worth) embraces the unpolished and the experimental: first versions, works in progress, ideas still taking shape.
Alongside the programme, a free exhibition presents selected works by a new generation of designers.
FESTIVAL PROGRAMME
19.10.2026 10:00
Next Gen Design Residency Official Start
Based on the theme ‘sustainable digital futures’ and hosted by Next Nature Museum, the participating designers will work in teams of two on a 2 day workshop. Inspired by educational talks and the broader inspiration of DDW, and facilitated by a design educator, the teams will identify opportunities, define concepts and materialize them into prototype outcomes.
19.10.2026 14:00
Next Nature Tour
With Digital Futures, DDW explores how technology is reshaping our world and experiences; from virtual realities and artificial intelligence to global platforms and personal journeys. Hosted by Next Nature and considering where designers raise critical questions and imagine new ways of living and creating.
19.10.2026 18:00
WDCD x DDW
Dutch Design Week (DDW) returns to the essence of design in 2026. Under the theme R.A.W. (Rebel Authentic Worth), DDW embraces the unpolished, exploratory and experimental.
20.10.2026 12:00
EDU TALK: Worldbuilding & Digital Spaces “TBA”
Sondi
Sondi an artist and researcher from Germany, born in Cameroon and based in the Netherlands. Her practice centers on worldbuilding and worlding, particularly within digital spaces and video games. She examines how power and narratives operate within virtual environments, tracing encoded biases, algorithmic discrimination, game mechanics, and the portrayal of people, places, and ecologies.
20.10.2026 15:00
Hands-on Residency Working Session
Participants will brainstorm and reflect upon the residency theme, form groups, and begin to speculate and develop their projects.
20.10.2026 17:00
What Design Can Do brings NEXT GEN DESIGN to Dutch Design Week 2026
From 20 to 22 October, What Design Can Do presents Futures Worth Living at Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven. The exhibition shows the 50 projects selected for the second edition of the NEXT GEN DESIGN competition, made by young designers from across Europe. All of the projects build on circular design principles, and each one takes on a global challenge: taking back control of our data, designing for co-creation and repair, rethinking healthcare and food systems, and finding ways to share our environment with more than just humans. Together they show what Europe's next generation of changemakers can do.
21.10.2026 10:00
Digital Futures exploration
Residency participants will have time to explore the Dutch Design Week program.
22.10.2026 10:00
Hands-on Residency Working Session
22.10.2026 14:00
Presentation practice & feedback
Teams share their artefact and project with Elli Schindler from designaustria.
22.10.2026 15:00
Hands-on Residency Working Session
Residency teams will refine, synthesize, and finalize their projects and prepare final presentations.
23.10.2026 10:00
Presentations
Groups will present their projects in 3 minute presentations to the jury.
23.10.2026 11:30
Jury deliberations & ceremony
Winners will be announced
23.10.2026 14:00
End of Residency Programme
23.10.2026 19:00
PROMPT conference
Find out more about WDCD
VISIT www.whatdesigncando.com
06.06.2025.
WDCD 2025
WDCD 2025 revolves around three interconnected themes, each unpacking a core challenge of our time.
- Climate Futurism invites us to rethink what progress looks like. Beyond carbon targets and efficiency metrics, how can design help regenerate systems and shift entire worldviews? This isn’t greenwashing—it’s about long-term resilience and radically local solutions.
- Truth to Power tackles the murky terrain of manipulation, disinformation, and AI’s role in shaping narratives. How can creatives wield new tools with integrity? Expect conversations on ethical storytelling, digital justice, and the politics of visibility.
- Belonging Beyond Borders is perhaps the most personal of the three. With growing tensions around migration and identity, this theme explores how design can build spaces—physical, cultural, emotional—where everyone feels seen and heard.
Together, they form a lens through which design is not just decorative or problem-solving, but deeply political.
FESTIVAL PROGRAMME
02.06.2025 10:00
Next Gen Design Residency in Amsterdam
06.06.2025 21:00
Edu Talk with Mary Nyaruai Mureithi
Mary Nyaruai Mureithi
Kenyan changemaker and founder of NYUNGU AFRIKA
06.06.2025 21:30
Edu Talk with Thami Schweichler
Thami Schweichler
Social Entrepreneur and Founder of United Repair Centre
06.06.2025 22:00
Next Gen Design EXHIBITION Opening: Next Gen Expo
The Exhibition will take place at the Pakhuis de Zwijger
05.07.2024.
Using design for positive impact
This summer, hundreds of creatives, activists, policymakers and start-ups will meet in Amsterdam for the 12th edition of WDCD Live. This year’s festival will take place at the beautiful Muziekgebouw and features an immersive programme on design and climate justice.
Leading the conversation will be a line-up of rebellious thinkers, makers and doers from around the world: including fashion designer Bobby Kolade, architect Afaina de Jong, graphic designer Clive Russell, as well as the winners of the global Redesign Everything Challenge. Join us to explore how creative activism can be a powerful tool for disruption.
During the festival, we’ll explore what this might look like in practice through the lens of three core themes: Designing for Climate Justice, From Ancient Knowledge to AI, and Designing for the Circular Transition.
The main stage programme will present talks by over eight leading figures in the creative industry, along with a series of musical performances designed to energise the crowd. Visitors will have the opportunity to engage more deeply through the breakout programme, which includes smaller workshops and panel discussions on themes such as cultural heritage, community-building, and the role of new technologies.
FESTIVAL PROGRAMME
14.11.2024 08:30
NO WASTE WORKSHOP
Facilitator/lecturer: Lara Snatager (WDCD) and Tugce Akbulut (WDCD)
05.07.2024 10:00
The Re-Generation: Manifesting Climate Futures Beyond 2050
Facilitators: Gustavo Nogueira de Menezes, Sophie Tendai Christiaens & Katy Barnard
Speaker: Natsai Audrey Chieza, Founder and CEO of Faber Futures / Co-Founder of Normal Phenomena of Life (NPOL)
05.07.2024 17:30
Creativity and the Climate Movement
Clive Russell
Co-Founder of This Ain’t Rock’n’Roll / Co-Founded of the Ocean Rebellion/ Graphic Designer
05.07.2024 16:30
Waste Colonialism and the Fashion Industry
Bobby Kolade
Fashion Designer
05.07.2024 15:00
Biodesign for a Planet First Future
Natsai Audrey Chieza
Founder and CEO of Faber Futures / Co-Founder of Normal Phenomena of Life (NPOL)