Nabil Harfoush
Faculty of Design
Nabil is Full Professor at OCAD University, Toronto, co-founding faculty of its Strategic Foresight & Innovation MDes program, Director of the Resilient Design Lab (Toronto) and co-founder of the Strongly Sustainable Business Models Group (SSBMG). He was also a Visiting Associate Professor at Harvard’s School of Engineering & Applied Sciences (SEAS) 2018-2021 where he taught graduate and undergraduate courses including courses for the Master of Design Engineering (MDE), a joint program with Harvard’s Graduate School of Design.
Nabil has a master’s in computer engineering and a Ph.D. suma cum laude in digital data communications from Dresden University of Technology (TU Dresden) in Germany. He is also a graduate of the Executive Development Program of York University’s Schulich School of Business.
In his multiple careers he has advised national governments, consulted for international organizations such as UNESCO, WHO, the World Bank and IDRC; started 3 companies; and has served as CIO in technology companies. He has been invited to speak at Harvard's Kennedy School, École des Ponts, Politecnico de Milano, London School of Economics, University of Berkeley, Autodesk, BMW Foundation, and others.
Nabil has more than 50 years of experience as an engineer, executive, entrepreneur, organizer, and educator. His current interests are in sustainable business design, resilience of organizations and communities, strategic foresight applications, and leadership of highly diverse multi-disciplinary teams.
Charting Interdisciplinary Innovation Programs
Map of Experiences
Creating Innovation Leaders: A Global Perspective
Published: December 13th 2016
Within the debate among academics a theme has emerged during the last decade for schools of art, design, engineering & applied sciences, centered around the subject of enabling innovation and positive world transformation by design. This chapter provides data about the emerging trans-disciplinary model.
The Master of Design in Strategic Foresight and Innovation (SFI) at OCAD University
Creating Innovation Leaders: A Global Perspective
Published: December 13th 2016
The Master of Design in Strategic Foresight and Innovation (SFI) is creating a new kind of graduate, one equipped with the skills, tools and methods required to positively impact society, enhance business resilience and sustainability, and navigate complex organizational and cultural change.
Developing Sustainable Business Models
Disrupting Together: How Teams Consistently Innovate
Published: December 13th 2014
This book integrates a broad network of international leaders on innovation to demonstrate the tight linkages between innovation and opportunity recognition. Building on the award-winning Philadelphia University curriculum redesign that is reshaping how innovation is taught worldwide, these experts highlight how to identify relevant opportunities more effectively than ever before. The team covers every facet of innovation, including design processes, team development, ethnography, audits and charrettes, opportunity shaping and assessment, business models, value delivery, systems thinking, and more. Master the art of innovation in teams! Disrupt Together introduces a breakthrough transdisciplinary, team-based approach to innovation that integrates business, design, and engineering, and can deliver powerful results for both new ventures and existing companies with case study examples from education, healthcare, branding, and consumer product and service design.
The Impact of Mobility on Social and Political Movement
Mobile Technology Consumption: Opportunities & Challenges
Published: December 13th 2013
The strength of social and political movements is often correlated with the cost and risks of organizing the effort. Reaching large numbers of people to inform them of a movement’s goals, and the ability to recruit supporters, has historically relied on mass media, both printed and electronic, along with traditional canvassing, public assembly, and public speaking. This has naturally favoured economic and political elites who had easier access to media channels, and who controlled in many cases the rights to public assembly and free speech. The emergence of affordable communications in general and mobile communications in particular, is bringing radical change to this balance of power. This chapter explores some of these changes and suggests directions for future research in this area.
Doktor-Ingenieur
Type: Fakultät Elektrotechnik und Informationstechnik
TU Dresden
Diplom-Ingenieur
Type: Fakultät Elektrotechnik und Informationstechnik
TU Dresden
TCPS 2: CORE 2022
Type: Certificate of Completion
Interagency Advisory Panel on Research Ethics
OCAD University Violence De-Escalation
Type: Proof of Completion
OCAD University
Workplace Harassment - Faculty
Type: Certificate of Achievement
United Educators
The Executive Program
Type: Schulich School of Business - Executive Development
York University
Director
Type: Resilience Design Lab
OCAD University
Full Professor
Type: Faculty of Design
OCAD University
Visiting Associate Professor
Type: School of Engineering & Applied Sciences
Harvard University
Adjunct Professor - SDMBA Program
Type: College of Design, Engineering & Commerce
Philadelphia University
Associate
Type: School of Engineering & Applied Sciences
Harvard University
Invited Speaker
Type: Centre for International Development - GEM
Harvard Kennedy School