From March 6 to 8, 2026, over one thousand freshmen joined the Academic Year 114 Design Thinking Course under the theme "Green Living Design," developing actionable proposals on water resources, energy use, and resource recycling. Aligned with UN SDGs, this is Taiwan's largest interdisciplinary design course.

　　Led by the College of Management and Design, the course brought together faculty across three colleges and partnered with Chang Gung University's Department of Industrial Design. 44 instructors and 51 teaching assistants guided 120 interdisciplinary, cross-institutional teams.

　　On the opening day, Lance Han, Director of Dot Design, drew on his professional experience in the design industry to open the course, using concrete case studies to illustrate how design thinking applies to green issues. Over the following two days, each team moved through contextual exploration, user empathy, problem definition, ideation, and prototyping, gradually shaping vague environmental concerns into tangible solution prototypes.

　　On March 8, teams pitched their three-day proposals to a panel spanning industry, government, academia, and the nonprofit sector. External jurors included Vice President Yen-Yu Kang of National Kaohsiung Normal University, Director Chang-Chih Hsieh and Department Manager Chi-Chu Chang of Nanya Technology, Director Lance Han of Dot Design, among other distinguished guests. Their feedback helped students refine proposals toward real-world applicability.

　　This course has been running for several consecutive years at MCUT, giving each incoming class the opportunity to adopt a designer's perspective on everyday problems from their very first semester, turning sustainability awareness into concrete action.

　　Photos and photo descriptions

　　MCUT President Thu-Hua Liu delivers the opening remarks and presents a certificate of appreciation to Lance Han, Director of Dot Design.

　　Final competition of the 114 Design Thinking Course.

　　Honorable mention teams at the 114 Design Thinking Course.

中文：「設計思考 × 永續行動」—明志科大以綠色生活設計，延續全台最大規模的大一跨域課程
This article will be simultaneously published in the SDGs E-paper.