In the context of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), future professionals must be able to sustainably overcome complex economic, social and ecological challenges. In addition to subject-specific knowledge, this requires creative agility, which includes skills such as allowing for not-knowing, changing perspectives, constructively dealing with uncertainties, emotions or fears, or unlearning outdated thought patterns. These partly non-cognitive, non-linear competencies tie in with the Inner Development Goals (IDGs) and enable people to flexibly master ambiguous or even chaotic situations, recognize new options for action and actively shape social change. Integrating such skills into organizations and curricula of education and training is essential to promote sustainable action at the individual, organizational and societal level.

“Creative Agility” is a future skill that was developed and researched by the ZHAW School of Management and Law and other adult education organizations in Europe in the form of pilot training sessions, including with the SBB, as part of the Erasmus+ project of the same name (2021-2023). The international R&D follow-up project CreAIgile Literacy (2024-2026) of the ZHAW Departments L and W focuses on the development, testing and accompanying research of multilingual training offers to promote creagile competencies in the responsible use of artificial intelligence - both in teaching (ZHAW, HWR Berlin, Unine) as well as with partners in the field, such as DERTOUR Suisse.

The first successful integration of creative agility into teaching and further education at the ZHAW gave rise to the idea of a real-world laboratory for future skills. This open inter- and transdisciplinary module is designed to enable ZHAW bachelor's and master's students to gain practical experience in creative agility and future design (futures literacy). It also offers the opportunity to try out innovative and original methods and to work together in interdisciplinary settings. ECTS credits can be awarded for the module, making it eligible for inclusion in various curricula. The innovative and sustainable teaching offer aims at long-term and sustainable implementation.

A prototype of the Living Lab will be realized in the spring semester of 2025. The module is designed as a Living Lab and is dedicated to the future skills of creative agility and futures literacy – key competencies that help to deal with uncertainties, to connect different, supposedly contradictory perspectives in a sustainable way, and to tackle sustainable solutions for social challenges collaboratively. Thirty bachelor's and master's students from various disciplines work in interdisciplinary project teams to tackle real challenges, creatively try out agile methods and develop new ways of thinking, unconventional approaches and sustainable options for action through playful experimentation.

The project at a glance

• High-quality innovative educational offering (SDG 4) that generates new future skills
• Open interdepartmental module as a real-world laboratory for future skills
• Building skills for future skills “Creative Agility and Futures Literacy”
• Linking to findings from international adult education projects with Swiss practice partners such as SBB and DERTOUR Suisse
• Living Lab as a teaching format that promotes research- and development-based learning and teaching
• 4 ZHAW departments (Applied Linguistics, Social Work, Applied Psychology, Management and Law) working together across,
• inter- and transdisciplinary lines
• 30 registrations for the first Living Lab in June 2025 from students of communication and media, social work and applied psychology at the bachelor's and master's level