Master in Product Service System Design

Product Service System Design is a two-year master's program taught in English at Politecnico di Milano, in Milano, Italy. This area of design focuses on designing combinations of products and services together, rather than treating physical goods and the services that accompany them as separate concerns. Students typically study how businesses can create value through integrated offerings, where a product's design is closely tied to the services, experiences, or systems built around it, such as maintenance, sharing schemes, or digital platforms that extend a product's use. Coursework often examines sustainability-oriented design approaches, since product-service systems are frequently used as a strategy to reduce resource consumption, for example by designing for durability, repair, or shared use rather than single ownership. Students commonly study design research methods, service design tools, and business model thinking, alongside more traditional product design skills, since designing a product-service system requires understanding not only the object itself but also the business and organizational structures that deliver it. Design studio work typically involves developing integrated product-service proposals from research through to a resolved concept, often addressing real challenges around sustainability, circular economy models, or changing patterns of consumption. Graduates typically pursue careers in design consultancies, strategic design roles within companies, and organizations working on sustainable business models, where they apply design thinking to problems that combine physical products with service and business considerations. Milano's established position in design education provides context for this program at Politecnico di Milano, offered in English for students from outside Italy interested in this systems-oriented approach to design.