The Rhode Island School of Design will replace its Center for Design and Business with a newly-created division called Media and Partners, according to incoming President John Maeda.

Since its creation 10 years ago, the center has worked with a range of businesses, including NASA, DuPont, Microsoft, Intel, Nissan and General Foods, to build partnerships with members of the RISD community. Collaborations have included classroom-based “sponsored studios,” longer-term research, and less structured, customized collaborations. All of these partnerships share the goal of uncovering new ways to explore and solve design challenges.

And design challenges crop up in the most unexpected places. “Design is not just about designing products,” explained Saul Kaplan, executive director of the R.I. Economic Development Corporation. “It is also about designing the consumer experience, and has applications in such diverse sectors as health care, education and public safety.”

The key, says Maeda, is finding a balance between the needs and pace of business, and interests of academia.

“How do we strike a balance between what is good in academia and what is good about engaging with partners?” he asked in an interview with PBN last week. This interaction is complex and intensive, necessitating what Maeda called a “high-bandwidth” style of collaboration.

Maeda’s vision for Media and Partners is to expand on the work of the Center for Design and Business and strengthen RISD’s capacity to collaborate with businesses. By also absorbing RISD’s existing communications and design division, Maeda hopes that Media and Partners will position RISD as a leader in digital communications media.

Maeda, currently associate director of research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab, is optimistic about the potential of partnerships with businesses of all kinds.

He said he sees “a clean-slate model” in which someday Providence might become “a test bed for new telecommunications technology, new ways of conducting e-commerce, and new ways of staying in touch with family and friends.”

The center’s transformation, announced by RISD on Feb. 6, won’t officially begin until June 2, when Maeda takes office. •