With the rapid development of artificial intelligence technology, AI, as one of the core forces, is rapidly expanding the innovative boundaries of the digital world. Its multimodal fusion capability makes it possible to co-generate multiple forms of content such as text, images, audio, and video, bringing brand-new possibilities in the fields of content creation, art design, education, and so on.
The 2025 Shanghai International Summer School (Digital and Intelligent Design Innovation Workshop), funded by the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission and organized by the College of Design and Innovation at Tongji University, will invite experts and professors from both domestic and international institutions to participate in guidance and teaching. We will invite students from all over the world to Shanghai, where they will visit various sites to learn and experience China's long-standing history and culture, and select themes that can inspire their creativity. Subsequently, under the guidance of teachers, they will use cutting-edge AIGC artificial intelligence technology and intelligent manufacturing technology to transform their creative ideas into feasible multimedia design solutions.
The workshop will be carried out in conjunction with the "3rd 'Yuanchuang Future' Metaverse Design and Creativity Competition," and will be divided into two major competition tracks: "Immersive Interactive Dining Experience Design" and "AIGC Short Video Creation and Adaptation," from which students can choose to participate.
About: 3rd 'Yuanchuang Future' Metaverse Design and Creativity Competition
| Four keywords
AIGC, AI real-time interaction, immersive dining experience, IP creation
Redefining the Future of Dining Experiences with AI and Digital Art
Amidst the global industrial reshaping by AI and the metaverse, immersive dining is emerging as the most explosive new field! The Shanghai International Research Institute of Design Innovation at Tongji University, in collaboration with the organizing committee of the Xuhui District Metaverse Competition, is launching the first domestic cross-border workshop focused on "AI + Dining + Digital Art."
Selected participants will receive --
International Top-Restaurant Practical Scenarios: In-depth cooperation with Shanghai's Peace Hotel, Rowers Club, and European chain restaurants.
Cross-Cultural Creation Opportunities: Chinese students engaging with European dining aesthetics, European students exploring Eastern culinary philosophy.
Industry-Academia-Research Full-Chain Empowerment: Outstanding outcomes will be fast-tracked to the Metaverse Competition with full support for commercial transformation resources.
| Three Core Exploration Directions
1. Cultural Gene Decoding
Chinese round-table dining etiquette × Digital translation of Eastern aesthetics
Western dining ceremony × European art synesthesia (Italian Renaissance/Viennese music/Spanish folklore)
Middle Eastern dining culture × Projection art innovation experiments
2. Technology-Enabled Creation
Using AI-GC to generate dynamic menus and scenario-based narrative content；Developing table projection interaction systems (light/shadow/music/touch linkage)；Creating multi-sensory immersive dining experiences
3. Business Model Incubation
Pathways to combine artistic content with dining revenue, cross-cultural IP commercialization courses, and international restaurant pilot projects.
| Exclusive Benefits for Participants
1. Cross-border team creation: 1:1 collaboration between Chinese and European students
2. Master workshops: Joint guidance by Michelin chefs and digital artists
3. On-site R&D bases: Historic buildings on Shanghai's Bund & century-old European restaurants
4. Full accommodation subsidies + creation fund support
5. Top enterprise fast-track: Outstanding participants will join industry-academia-research transformation projects
| Target Students
Chinese Students:Students majoring in Digital Art, Interaction Design, or Food and Beverage Management, who are eager to use technology to spread Chinese food culture.
European Students:Students with backgrounds in Visual Arts, Music Technology, or Cultural Studies, who are enthusiastic about Eastern aesthetics and innovative technologies
(Students with knowledge of Middle Eastern/Mediterranean cultural backgrounds are especially welcome.)
| Funding Policy
For students invited from Tongji University's strategic partner institutions: no tuition fees will be charged, and accommodation in Shanghai will be provided
| Application Method
Application deadline: June 21, 2025
Contact email: 18666002@tongji.edu.cn
Please submit your Personal Resume to: 18666002@tongji.edu.cn, [Email Subject] Application for Boundless Dining Experience - Name - Nationality
Countdown to the deadline: 10 days!
Join this revolution to redefine the future of dining — Make AI a cultural translator, and turn the dining table into an artistic stage across continents
| Bios of Instructors
Su Yunsheng
Executive Vice-President of Shanghai International Institute of Design and Innovation, Tongji University; Professor of Practice and Doctoral Advisor of Shanghai International School of Design and Innovation, Tongji University; Executive Dean Assistant of College of Design and Innovation, Tongji University; Director of Dayou Urban Renewal Expert Committee PhD in Urban Planning, Registered planner; Part-time Professor of University of Damstein, Germany; Chief designer of anti-pandemic isolation space products represented by Huo-Yan Air Laboratory featuring membrane structure and negative pressure.
Dr. Su Yunsheng has been active in cross-disciplinary, cross-scale planning of AI city and the innovative design of urban products and service systems. He owns a number of global landing cases, patents and applications in areas including smart home design centering on green ecology and sustainability, modular building construction and supply chain integration. Meanwhile, he has addressed and trained personnels from governments and enterprises in various circumstances.
Apart from working as the innovation director of Master Planner for Shanghai 2010 World Expo, Dr. Su Yunsheng has also led the conceptual planning of Beijing Tongzhou Canal city as well as the protection and development planning of various historical villages and towns, including the six towns in Jiangnan areas. He has been part of the planning projects on around 10 international cities in countries including Angola, Zambia, and Russia.
Jarmo Suominen
Jarmo Suominen has background from Architecture and Design and is working in both of these fields. His research of service logic in architecture and design will enable service driven urban development in novel and sustainable way. Current research is focusing to the new ways of learning, working, and living based on service logic and innovation. He has received numerous grants and over 5 millioneuros worth of funding for research projects he has led. He had strong understanding both ofacademic requirements and practicalities of business life.He has led various multidisciplinary projects between industry, academia and public organizations. Jarmo Suominen has won numerousarchitectural competitions and has got prizes from 20 architectural and design competitions.
Since 1999 Jarmo Suominen has been working in Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT as a visiting scientist in MIT Media Lab and from 2002 as professor in University of Art and design, now part of Aalto and Department of Architecture in Aalto. Since 2012 he has been working with Tongji university, and from 2015 got High end foreign expert status from China Foreign experts Bureau and is now professor at Tongji Design & Innovation. He has a practice focused on service innovations in architecture since 2001. He is a board member of Radical Design Week and is now leading a Sino Finnish Challenge program for 2017 year China.
Constantinos Terzidis
Constantinos Terzidis is a professor at the College of Design and Innovation at Tongji University and the founder of the Shangxiang Lab. Previously, he was an associate professor at Harvard University Graduate School of Design (2003-2011) and assistant professor at the University of California at Los Angeles (1995-2003). He holds a PhD from the University of Michigan, a Masters from Ohio State University, and an engineering diploma from Aristotle University. His areas of concentration are language, algorithmic design, and AI. He is author of numerous academic papers and the sole author of four academic books: Permutation Design (Routledge: 2014), Algorithms for Visual Design(Wiley: 2009), Algorithmic Architecture (Architectural Press: 2006), and Expressive Form (Spon:2003). He is the organizer of two Critical Digital Conferences at Harvard in 2008 and 2009, one Algode conference in 2011, and two conferences at Tongji's D&I on design/art and AI in 2019 and 2021. In 2010 he was awarded the ACADIA award for innovative research in digital design and in 2019 the high-end foreign expert. Between 2011-2017 he launched and ran a startup company called Organic Parking, Inc. that dealt with parking optimization through the use of smart phones.
Richard Hsu
Senior Ambassador for TEDx in China / Founder of The Pan-Asia Network / Commercial Advisor for Luxembourg in China / International Advisor, National Soft Power Strategy Development Board of Thailand / Part-time professor of Practice at the College of Design and Innovation, Tongji University
Richard currently holds multiple roles. He has been for 12 years, Senior Ambassador for TEDx in China, he serves as advisor to a few European and Asian city governments and institutions. Additionally, he has been a part-time professor at Tongji University's School of Design and Innovation for over 8 years. Richard Hsu shapes identities, designs systems, builds radical connections. His company crafts meaningful brand narratives that bridge and cross cultures, identities, and strategic visions, drawing from his lifelong exposures to global cultural, commercial, social and economic phenomenons. Across his 44 years of inter-disciplinary work experience, he has served companies, institutions and city governments, such as TED Conferences, Sotheby ’s Auction, Museum of Modern Art NewYork, Isetan and Bloomingdale ’s department stores, The New York Times, Danish Design Center, Government of Thailand, Malaysia and Luxembourg. Mr. Hsu has lead and mentored corporate leaders, entrepreneurs and start ups.
He has enjoyed living, working and learning from countries and people across US, Europe, South East Asia, China and Japan. Richard is thrilled to bring his experiences to institutions, cities and the next generation.
| Workshop samples
Examples of expected workshop outcomes.
Sample 1
Sample 2
Sample 3
| Workshop Daily Schedule
