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Outcomes | Audience | Content & AI Tools | Date, Fee & Reg | Course Series | Track Record

5 Major Unique Advantages:

  1. Global Insight, Local Impact for Life & Career Design: As the exclusive China Hub of DesignThinkers Academy—the world’s largest Design Thinking institution (across 28 countries and regions)—and with a proven local track record of developing over 10,000 Design Thinkers through InnoEdge Education and Innovation Social Lab, we have transformed global Design Thinking best practices into a focused Life & Career Design methodology.
  2. Leveraging Local Design Thinkers as the Benchmark: Building on over 2 years of joint research with the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) Doctoral Alumni Association and other recognized institutions and experts in Hong Kong and Mainland China(Details), we systematically examined a large group of Design Thinkers, including 16 leading Design Thinkers across different sectors (Details). This research examines how Design Thinking is applied in practice to Life Design and Career Development in China.
  3. Localized Assessment of Design Thinking for Life & Career Design: Building on our local research (mentioned in point #2) and the 31 global Design Thinking competencies for personal development [Details], we have developed twosets of assessment: (a) DT for Life & Career Design (Details), and (b) DT for Life Coaching Skills (Details). These serve as measurable benchmarks before, during, and after the course, allowing participants to track their growth in mindset and skill set.
  4. Internationally Recognized Certification for Professional Credibility: Upon completing the required simulation-based business problem-solving exercises and the required attendance hours, participants will receive the international certificate from DesignThinkers Academy, enhancing their recognized expertise in innovation and transformation.
  5. Open, AI‑Enhanced Guidebook for Public Learning: To promote wider use of Design Thinking for Life Design, we have converted the benchmarks in points #2 and #3 into a free public resource—the “Complete Guidebook of Design Thinking for Life Design” at www.DesignThinking.Life. This open guidebook provides fundamental concepts, practical tools, and self‑reflection exercises aligned with the course, enabling participants and the public to continue learning, conduct self‑assessment, and design their lives and careers.

Part 1: Course Aims and Outcomes

(1.1) Course Aims

Life and career transitions are critical stages everyone goes through, and they are not only filled with challenges but also offer opportunities for growth and transformation. This course is specifically designed for life or career coaches, providing innovative, AI‑enabled tools and Design Thinking techniques to help coachees navigate life transitions with clear goals, strong confidence, and a well‑defined direction.

Coaches serve as partners in helping coachees overcome feelings of uncertainty, redefine goals, and unlock their potential for growth. By leveraging AI Design Thinking principles—empathy, co‑creation, experimentation, and iteration—coaches can provide structured, deeply human, and creative approaches to help coachees reimagine their lives and create actionable strategies for achieving a fulfilling future.

This course is specifically designed to equip participants with two critical skill sets:

  • Skills for Managing Life Transitions and Career Change – Participants will learn to understand and address the personal and relational complexities of life and career change, using empathy‑driven, iterative approaches.
  • AI‑Enhanced Life Coaching Skills – Participants will gain the expertise to help coachees navigate mid‑life transitions as effective and empathetic life coaches, integrating AI tools into every stage of the coaching journey.

At the same time, the program is designed to equip participants with concrete, AI-enhanced methods for planning and decision-making, so that reflection can be translated into realistic action. By working with 6 AI Agents on Innovation Spaces (shown below), participants learn to co-create with key stakeholders, test and refine ideas, and develop clear roadmaps that increase personal fulfillment, resilience, and adaptability in a rapidly changing world.

(1.2) Learning Outcomes

This 2‑day program focuses on equipping participants with the skills to guide coachees through empathy‑based self‑exploration and AI‑supported personal transformation tailored to life and career contexts. Participants will learn to deeply understand coachees’ challenges and aspirations, co‑create options with them, and iteratively redesign their life and career journeys during pivotal phases.

Upon completion of this program, participants will be able to:

  • Use structured, AI‑supported coaching techniques to help coachees uncover and articulate their motivations, values, fears, and hidden aspects of their personality during life and career transitions.
  • Apply Design Thinking tools—empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test—together with AI to identify coachee challenges and co‑create adaptive, out‑of‑the‑box strategies for personal and professional growth.
  • Guide coachees in reflecting on past experiences, testing new possibilities, and iterating on “life prototypes” to design future paths aligned with their evolving values and aspirations.
  • Develop skills to foster genuine partnerships with coachees—framing challenges together, generating options collaboratively, and using feedback loops to refine direction over time.
  • Use AI tools for reflection, brainstorming, scenario creation, and progress tracking in ways that preserve empathy, ethical standards, and the coachee’s ownership of decisions.

(1.3) Why AI Design Thinking Matters for Life Design

AI Design Thinking strengthens Life Design by combining the core human values of empathy, co‑creation, and iteration with powerful AI tools, enabling coaches and coachees to better understand each other, work more effectively together, and continuously refine life and career paths with data‑informed insight and confidence.

  1. Empathy – AI‑supported reflection (e.g., guided questioning, journaling prompts, and pattern analysis) helps coaches deeply understand coachees’ strengths, needs, limitations, and aspirations, enabling them to approach life and career conversations with clarity, compassion, and respect for the coachee’s lived experience.
  2. Co‑Creation – AI‑enabled collaboration and visualization tools make it easier for coaches and coachees to think together, engage mentors, peers, and key stakeholders, and integrate diverse feedback to design more strategic and meaningful life and career directions.
  3. Iteration – AI‑driven analysis turns past experiences and setbacks into rich learning data, providing real‑time insights that support continuous experimentation, adjustment, and alignment with evolving goals and values, rather than a one‑time decision

In this course, AI is not used to “tell coachees what to do”, but to amplify empathy, creativity, and learning cycles within a Design Thinking coaching process.

(1.4) Tailored for Chinese Design Thinkers – Global Vision, Local Insight

This course is specially designed for Chinese Design Thinkers by combining global best practices in life and career Design Thinking with local insights from Hong Kong and the wider Chinese community. Around the world, leaders and practitioners in fields such as hospitality, NGOs, education, coaching, and business have successfully applied Design Thinking to career development and life transitions—and this approach is now increasingly adopted in Hong Kong for career progression and pivoting across diverse backgrounds.

Building on a series of seminars and webinars from 2023 to 2025 on 設計思維生命教育與16 位生涯規劃達人: 真情對話 (please click here for details) with distinguished Hong Kong Design Thinkers, this program integrates their real-life experiences and cultural perspectives. As a result, the AI Design Thinking for Life & Career Planning course is not only globally informed but also highly relevant to Chinese participants’ values, contexts, and aspirations.

Part 2: Target Audience

People who complete the AI Design Thinking for Life & Career Planning Course (Details) and are responsible for the following roles:

  • Life Coaches or Aspiring Coaches – Coaches looking to specialize in life transitions or expand their coaching techniques using AI‑enhanced Design Thinking.
  • HR Professionals and Leaders – Professionals supporting employees in managing transitions, internal mobility, and career growth through more empathetic and co‑creative approaches.
  • Therapists and Counselors – Practitioners aiming to integrate Design Thinking and AI‑supported tools into life and career counseling or coaching.
  • Trainers and Facilitators – Trainers who want to incorporate life transition strategies, iterative experimentation, and AI‑assisted reflection into personal development programs.

Part 3: Course Content and AI Tools

(3.1) Learning Mode

This 2‑day course adopts a “Learning by Doing” approach, in which participants continuously practice AI Design Thinking (Discover–Define–Develop–Deliver) using real or representative coachee cases rather than just learning concepts. Through live coaching role‑plays, small‑group exercises, and hands‑on use of AI tools, coaches experience how to empathize with coachees’ stories, co‑create goals and options, design out‑of‑the‑box “life prototypes,” and iteratively refine action plans based on feedback and reflection.

Learning is highly collaborative. Participants will work in pairs and small groups to coach one another, co‑design interventions, and reflect on their own coaching styles. They will rotate between the roles of coach, coachee, and observer, supported by AI‑enhanced demonstrations and guided exercises in virtual innovation spaces (Details).

(3.2) Session Content

  • Pre‑Course Preparation Session:
    • Before the course, participants briefly review their current coaching context and select one or two real or representative coachee cases. This preparation ensures that all in‑class activities are grounded in authentic coaching situations and that participants come with clear intentions for how they want to apply AI Design Thinking in their lives and career-coaching practice.
  • Session 1: Discover Coachees’ Hidden Needs and Life Transition Context [Tool list]
    • Participants practice structured questioning, empathic listening, and AI‑supported reflection prompts to uncover coachees’ life stages, emotions, unspoken fears, and deeper needs around transition.
    • Coaches learn to guide coachees in mapping key people, systems, and cultural influences that shape their lives and career decisions, highlighting tensions and opportunities for support.
    • Participants synthesize rich qualitative input into clear coachee-need statements that serve as the foundation for co‑creation and ideation in later sessions.
  • Session 2: Define the Coachee’s Critical Goal and Life Design Challenge [Tool list]
    • Participants support coachees in transforming broad confusion or dissatisfaction into one or two focused, meaningful, and actionable critical goals for their next chapter of life or career.
    • Coaches learn to align the coachee’s critical goal with their values, strengths, constraints, and cultural context, ensuring it remains both energizing and realistic.
    • Each coachee’s situation is reframed as a Design Thinking challenge (e.g., “How to…?”) that will guide collaborative ideation, prototyping, and iteration throughout the coaching journey.
  • Session 3: Develop Possible Paths and Prototypes for the Coachee’s Next Chapter [Tool list]
    • Participants co‑create multiple, out‑of‑the‑box future paths with their coachees—rather than seeking a single perfect answer—using AI tools to broaden perspectives and imagine new combinations.
    • Coaches help coachees compare and prioritize options based on feasibility, risks, required capabilities, impact on well-being, and alignment with their defined Design Challenge.
    • Each promising path is translated into small, low‑risk experiments or “life prototypes” that coachees can try in the real world, generating feedback for further iteration.
  • Session 4: Deliver a Co‑Created Action Plan and Iterative Transition Roadmap [Tool list]
    • Participants learn to work with coachees to build a clear, step‑by‑step transition roadmap that sequences experiments, milestones, and next actions over realistic timeframes.
    • Coaches and coachees identify support systems, stakeholders, and accountability mechanisms that will sustain motivation, reflection, and continued co‑creation.
    • Simple AI‑supported routines are introduced to help coachees track progress, capture learning, and iteratively adjust their roadmap as circumstances, insights, and aspirations evolve.
  • Follow-Up Sessions:
    • After the course, participants are encouraged to integrate the Design Thinking approach into their ongoing coaching practice by revisiting coachee cases, reviewing experiments and outcomes, and iterating action plans over time. Follow‑up sessions focus on sustaining momentum, deepening empathy and co‑creation with coachees, and using simple Design Thinking to capture learning, spot patterns, and continuously refine life and career directions.

Part 4: Date, Fee and Registration

Official Course Title: DesignThinkers Academy AI Design Thinking for Life Coaching Certificate Course (2-Day | AI Tools Included)

(4.1) Tuition Fee: FHK$6,500 (Early Bird, One Month Before Class Start) | HK$7,000 (Standard Price)

(4.2) Date & Time: 16 and 23 May (Saturday), 2026

(4.3) Mode & Language: Face-to-face Model | Cantonese Presentation with English Materials

(4.4) Course Leaders and Facilitators: The course content is localized by the DesignThinkers Academy China program team (shown below) and delivered by certified, experienced Design Thinking facilitators. They will share practical insights and proven strategies for applying Design Thinking in innovation projects and organizational transformation. This hands-on approach empowers you to integrate Design Thinking principles directly into your daily work.

(4.5) Certification and Recognition: Upon completing the course and required exercises, participants receive a Digital Certificate of Completion from the DesignThinkers Academy, verified through a secure blockchain-based certification system for authenticity and global recognition.

Part 5: AI Design Thinking for Life and Career Design Course Series

This Course Series (Details) provides a clear, connected pathway across key life and career stages and roles. It includes Life Planning for life and career transitors who are designing their next chapter, Life Coaching for coaches supporting coachees through transition, Career Guidance & Career Planning for teachers and school counsellors who advise young people, University‑to‑Work Transition for students preparing to enter the workforce, and Thriving in University for students at different stages of university life.

CodeTitleMethod(s)AI ToolsDetails
(401)2-Day AI Design Thinking for Life & Career PlanningDT3.08 SetsCourse
(402)2-Day AI Design Thinking for Life & Career CoachingDT3.08 SetsCourse
(403)2-Day AI Design Thinking for Student Career Guidance & Planning (Designed for Teachers)DT3.08 SetsCourse
(404)2-Day AI Design Thinking for Transitioning from University to WorkforceDT3.08 SetsCourse
(405)2-Day AI Design Thinking for Strategies in Thriving University LifeDT3.08 SetsCourse

In addition to InnoEdge Education’s Life and Career Design Courses, InnoEdge Consulting also offers a comprehensive suite of Innovation Programs at the Strategic, Tactical, and Foundational levels.

Part 6: Track Record

Since 2019, DesignThinkers Academy has conducted over 100 public courses (left), 11 co-hosted programs with universities, government, and industry bodies (details) (right), and 500+ in-house trainings. Programs cover business (details), social services, and public sectors(details), achieving proven results and strong industry recognition.

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