This article presents the pedagogical translation and exploratory implementation of a holistic approach to sociotechnical transition design in engineering education. A review of complex adaptive system theory, sociotechnical transition theory, innovation systems approaches, transition design, risk society theory, and systemic design approaches identifies strengths and limitations in existing methods for addressing the complex challenges facing engineers, highlighting the need for a more integrative perspective. In response, we adopt the Enabling Innovation Model, an innovation science framework structured around three iterative design phases—Envision, Shape, and Pursue—to guide students through problem exploration, solution development, and implementation planning. Developed and employed at a US R1 research university, the approach integrates technical design with broader system considerations, emphasizing social impact, sustainability, and resilience. Qualitative analysis of self-reported outcomes from two cohorts (N = 77) provides preliminary evidence of shifts in students’ perspectives on solution scope, innovation processes, and contextual complexity. By empowering students to proactively shape systemic change, the model offers a potential response to calls for engineering education to produce graduates capable of designing solutions that address public welfare while accounting for global, cultural, social, environmental, and economic contexts.
Capital design is a nascent discipline that reconceives institutional asset allocation as a design practice rather than a static optimization exercise. Traditional finance treats asset allocation as a decision under aleatory risk, solvable through equilibrium models and periodic rebalancing. Yet modern institutional investors operate in complex, co-evolving environments marked by epistemic uncertainty, interdependent feedback loops, universal ownership exposures, and long-horizon systemic risks. This article offers a unified conceptual vocabulary for Capital design and positions asset allocation as a structured exploration–commitment process through which investment products are co-created and investment firms co-evolve with their environments. Through a Triple Diamond model, Capital design integrates choice-making (expanding possibilities under uncertainty) with decision-making (committing under constraints) across both internal and external environments. Capital design reframes the agency problem from one of control to one of systemic alignment, using design tools such as transparency, iteration, and stakeholder co-creation to coordinate firm, client, and societal goals. By defining the core concepts of finance, capital, risk, systemic investing, universal ownership, and design-led allocation, this article provides the foundational language that is necessary for the development of Capital design as both a research framework and a practical methodology for institutional adaptation in a dynamically complex world.
