At the workshop The Strategic Value of Design Rights: Turning Protected Design into Competitiveness and Growth, held at the Faculty of Design on 21 September 2026 in cooperation with EUIPO and BEDA, Asst. Prof. Aleš Lipnik, PhD, presented the findings of the Slovenian national report of the AIDEA project – Artificial Intelligence for a New Design Education Approach. His presentation, Design, AI and Intellectual Property: Who Creates the Future?, drew on focus group discussions with students, higher education teachers, and representatives of companies and organisations.
The findings show that all three groups see opportunities for AI to support the design process, particularly in exploring different possibilities and developing ideas. At the same time, each group emphasised different concerns: students reflected on the impact on their own creativity; teachers stressed the importance of preserving independent and critical thinking; and professional practitioners focused on the reliability of AI outputs, responsibility and the protection of intellectual property. They shared the view that producing content more quickly does not, in itself, lead to better design.
The findings of the national report will be incorporated into a joint report bringing together the work of all project partners and will provide an important basis for the further development of design education. For young designers entering the labour market, learning to use new tools must go hand in hand with developing creative judgement, ethical responsibility, and an understanding of authorship and intellectual property rights.
Learn more about the project: https://aideaproject.com/
