CONVERSATIONS
Cumulus Design Conversations
A French perspective on design, at the crossroads of global challenges and growth
The Cumulus 2025 Spring Conference « Ethical leadership : a new frontier for design » will bring together more than 400 schools, researchers, and design practitioners from 60 countries in Nantes , to explore the role of design in the face of major contemporary transitions. In a world disrupted by climate change, the rise of artificial intelligence, and growing social inequalities, design emerges as a key discipline to envision sustainable, inclusive, and ethical futures.
The Cumulus Design Conversations between research, education, business representatives and design practitionners on June 5, 2025 will highlight design as a driving force for transformation: how to rethink education, skills, academic alliances, and industrial partnerships to prepare a new generation of committed designers? What attitudes, tools, and languages can make design a lever for collective resilience?
Three main axes will structure the discussions:
- Ethical leadership in design: how can designers become influential actors of change?
- Skills of tomorrow’s designer: what critical, technical, and collaborative abilities are needed to act in complex contexts?
- The role of schools in the transition: how to transform curricula and pedagogical cultures to meet the challenges of the 21st century?
Keynote Speech: Ethical Design Leadership in a World of Constraints
Speaker: Gilles ROUGON, World Design Organization, APCI
In a rapidly evolving world marked by environmental, technological, and societal disruptions, the role of designers has never been more critical. Design is no longer just about crafting better products or services—it is about embracing complexity, shaping new futures and redefining leadership.
This keynote speech by Gilles Rougon will challenge participants to rethink the positioning roles and skills of designers to better tackle the simultaneous global constraints in front of us. How can design go beyond method and management to become a strategic force in navigating these shifts? How does AI impact the designer’s expertise, and what new skills must emerge? Most importantly, how can ethical leadership in design drive meaningful change?
Roundtables
1/ Climate Change and Resilience
The Key Role of Ethical Design leadership
Climate change demands a profound transformation of industrial and social practices, where resilience becomes essential in the face of growing geopolitical and environmental constraints. Can design play a pivotal role in developing sustainable, eco-responsible models adapted to an ever-evolving world? This panel explores how various industries collaborate with design to address these challenges, showcasing concrete and innovative solutions.
Panel discussion
1. Risk New Normal: Anticipating and Managing Climate Risks
Speaker: Clara BOVE, User Research and Design Lead at AXA DCP
AXA will share insights on how the insurance industry is responding to the growing impact of climate risks and how design can help visualize, forecast, and communicate these risks to communities and policyholders
2. Producing and Living Differently: Building Resilient Spaces and Materials
Speaker: Katie COTELLON, Head of Design and User Experience at Saint Gobain
Saint-Gobain will discuss its efforts in creating materials and solutions for more sustainable living spaces, highlighting the integration of eco-design principles at every stage of the value chain.
3. Industrial Model for the Future: Designing and Scaling Resilient Value Creation Models
Speaker: Nicolas BUCHE, Business Innovation Manger at Orano
Orano will present its approaches to explore, modernize and develop innovative industrial models meeting challenges such as global energy needs, critical material recycling and health. Nicolas will discuss how design can support the exploration, understanding and acceptance of innovative and sustainable new industrial models.
4.Innovation and territorial design challenges
Speaker: Emmanuel THOUAN, President of APCI
How design labs initiatives can act as innovation accelerators within local ecosystems. Examples of successful cooperation models between designers, businesses, and policymakers.
Fruitful Conversations #1
Keynote witnesses: Srini SRINIVASAN, COO Design Innovation Institute Shanghai (China) and Past president WDO / Joseph PRESS, Dean at NACAA (China)
2/ AI and the Designer
Rethinking Intelligence & creativity in the Age of Machines
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming industries, professions, and our understanding of what it means to be human. For designers, this shift raises critical questions: How does AI challenge traditional practices and create new opportunities? What role does the designer play in maintaining human-centric values in an increasingly automated world? This panel explores the intersection of AI, design, and humanity, addressing the balance between innovation and ethics, and examining how design can lead in shaping responsible and sustainable futures.
Panel discussion
1. Design only challenged by AI ?
Speaker: Jerome FERRARI FROMAGER, Design & User Xperience Director at Orange
As AI reshapes productivity and workflows, designers must redefine their value through expanded roles, from user research to production. Jérôme explores how design skills shift, scale, and specialize to meet new demands—doing more with less, and better. His talk highlights how operational excellence, ethical frameworks, and ecosystem thinking create meaningful impact.
2. Intellectual Property
Speaker: Georgios – Alexandros TSALTAS, IP & Learning Specialist at European Union Intellectual Property Office
3. Future of Work
Speaker: Anne ASENSIO, WW Vice president, Design Experience at Dassault Systems
In industrial and operational settings, AI offers new opportunities for designers to shape processes and systems. Insights from Anne will highlight how human input remains critical in automated environments, emphasizing the designer’s role in maintaining innovation and adaptability within AI-driven industries.
4. Design, Trust and AI
Speaker: Quentin LE PAPE, Founding Designer at ComandAI
Trust is a cornerstone of AI adoption, particularly in sensitive fields of new services based on AI.
Fruitful Conversations #1 : Design Education and Resilience
Keynote Witnesses: Christian GUELLERIN, General Director, L’École de design Nantes Atlantique (France) / Yongqi LOU, Vice President of Tongji University / Fabienne MUNCH, Professor and Chair, Ohio State University (USA)
Remarks on the role of design education in preparing future professionals to tackle global challenges and foster resilience.
EPILOGUE : Design the French way !
From the Olympics to Notre-Dame — 2024 Icons
Mathieu LEHANNEUR, Designer of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic torch and cauldron
Ionna VAUTRIN, Designer of the Notre-Dame de Paris chair
Aurélien MEYER (Atelier Blam), Designer of Zeus, the mechanical horse from the Paris 2024 Olympic opening ceremony »
In partnership with APCI