Human by Design™ Innovation Lab

Learn to see differently. Create what matters.

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Trusted by

IBM

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Webster University

Maastricht University

What We Offer

Most innovation programmes teach methods.

This lab develops the way you think, sense, lead, and create in a world that is no longer linear.

The Human by Design™ Innovation Lab is an immersive learning experience for professionals who want to move beyond standard innovation tools and develop the deeper capacity to navigate complexity, uncover meaningful opportunities, and design solutions that resonate with people, organisations, and the world around us.

The lab includes a Big Picture Briefing: a unique context-setting session that opens the field before the work begins. It bridges insights from science, ecology, and Indigenous wisdom. Together, these provide a broader lens for understanding interconnected systems, recognising patterns, and designing innovations that are both meaningful and regenerative.

This perspective is informed not only by contemporary research, but also by Mikhaël Akasha's years of learning alongside Shamanic teachers with lineages in New Zealand's Māori, Aboriginal Australian, and Native American traditions, including private teachings from a Wisdom Keeper from the notorious White Buffalo People. Rather than presenting these traditions as methodology, they serve as an additional lens that deepen observation, relationship, and our understanding of how lasting change emerges within living systems.

It connects global shifts, sustainability challenges, human behaviour, emerging technologies, organisational change, and future-facing perspectives into one living map. This gives participants a wider lens through which to see what is really at stake.

Because meaningful innovation does not begin with ideas.

It begins with perception.

Choose Your Track

Fast Track — A powerful, practical one-day immersion

  • The Fast Track is designed for professionals who want a concentrated, high-energy introduction to the Human by Design™ innovation approach.

    In one immersive day, you will move through a complete innovation cycle: from challenge framing and insight discovery to ideation, prototyping, testing assumptions, and shaping a compelling innovation story.

    You will learn by doing. Theory, tools, and frameworks are introduced only when they become useful, so every concept immediately lands in practice.

    This track is ideal if you want to quickly strengthen your innovation mindset, experience the process, and leave with practical tools you can apply straight away.

    • The Big Picture Briefing as a future-facing context setter

    • A live innovation challenge

    • Human-centred research and insight development

    • Problem reframing and opportunity spotting

    • Creative concept development

    • Rapid prototyping and assumption testing

    • Storytelling for innovation

    • Practical tools, canvases, and templates

  • A sharper innovation mindset, a repeatable process, practical tools, and renewed confidence to move from complexity into meaningful action.

Slow Track — A deeper learning journey with personal transformation

  • The Slow Track is for professionals who want to go beyond tools and develop innovation as a deeper human capability.

    Across six immersive days, you will work with more time, depth, reflection, and integration. You will not only learn how to innovate — you will explore how you show up in uncertainty, how you make decisions, how you listen, how you lead, and how you create from a place of clarity.

    This track includes the full innovation process, but adds a personal development layer that helps participants strengthen their inner capacity for change, creativity, resilience, and leadership.

    Because innovation is never only about the idea.

    It is also about the person, team, and system bringing that idea into life.

    • The Big Picture Briefing as a deep future and sustainability lens

    • Systems thinking and sustainable perspective-building

    • Human-centred research and stakeholder insight

    • Design Thinking and innovation strategy

    • Business model innovation

    • Prototyping, validation, and experimentation

    • Storytelling, pitching, and strategic communication

    • Personal reflection and leadership development

    • Coaching, feedback, and integration

    • A deeper exploration of your own innovation style

  • A more mature innovation practice, stronger leadership presence, deeper creative confidence, and the ability to guide meaningful change in complex environments.

  • The programme was very well structured and extremely intensive. The pace started from the first minutes and stayed high until the end, creating a very dynamic learning environment. What I appreciated most was the atmosphere of openness and trust he creates. This experience truly changed the way I think about complex problems and collaboration.

    Dmitrii Semenov

  • It was a recalibration of how I lead, think, and create impact—especially in environments where the only constant is change. I wholeheartedly recommend Mikhael not only as an exceptional catalyst for change. His ability to challenge assumptions, inspire new ways of thinking, and translate ideas into meaningful action is rare.

    Adrian Aalders-Thomlinson

Meet your facilitator

Mikhaël Akasha is a strategist, innovation educator, and founder of Human by Design™, where he helps leaders and organisations navigate complexity, design meaningful innovation, and create sustainable impact.

Over the past decade, he has guided transformation initiatives across higher education, healthcare, public sector organisations, defence, multinational corporations, and entrepreneurial ventures. His work brings together strategy, design thinking, systems thinking, leadership, and sustainability to help organisations solve complex challenges and build future-ready capabilities.

Mikhaël lectures on innovation, leadership, sustainability, and business transformation for Maastricht University's School of Business & Economics and Webster University Leiden Campus, contributing to MBA programmes recognised as #1 in Europe and Top 3 worldwide for sustainability by Corporate Knights.

Before lecturing in academia, he worked in international innovation and brand strategy for Fortune 500 companies including Procter & Gamble and Coca-Cola, helping organisations develop new products, services, brands, and business strategies.

Alongside his professional career, Mikhaël has spent many years learning Indigenous wisdom traditions and energetic practices directly with Shamanic teachers from Māori, Aboriginal Australian, and Native American lineages, including private teachings from a Wisdom Keeper descended from the White Buffalo People. This offers another way of observing living systems, relationships, and change. Providing an additional perspective that informs the unique lens through which the Human by Design™ Innovation Lab begins.

Every framework, tool, and exercise shared throughout the Innovation Lab has been refined through years of real organisational work, tested with leaders, multidisciplinary teams, and students across industries, and grounded in the belief that meaningful innovation begins not with better ideas, but with a broader way of seeing.

Sign Up

Fast Track

1 Day

01

02

Duration
Focus

Practical innovation tools and methods

Professionals wanting a powerful introduction

03

Best for

€777 excl. VAT

04

Investment

Big Picture Briefing, Innovation Lab, toolkit, lunch, refreshments, certificate

05

Includes

Slow Track

6 Days

01

Duration

Innovation, leadership & personal transformation

02

Focus

Leaders, innovators and change-makers seeking deeper capability

03

Best for

€4,444 excl. VAT

04

Investment

Big Picture Briefing, six immersive lab days, leadership development, coaching, toolkit, lunch, refreshments & certificate

05

Includes

Upcoming Open Labs

One immersive day (10:00 – 16:30)

Fast Track — 1 Day

Location

De Roos | Amsterdam Vondelpark (City Centre)

Maximum 20 participants to ensure meaningful interaction, coaching, and personalised feedback.

Group Size

→ Reserve your place

  • Friday 23 October

  • Friday 13 November

2026 Dates

For organisations sending multiple participants:

  • 3–5 participants: 10%

  • 6+ participants: Contact us for bespoke pricing

Team Discount

The future belongs to those who can make sense of it.

Innovation is about asking better questions.

Seeing what others overlook.

Creating solutions that resonate with people, organisations, and the world around us.

If you're ready to move beyond frameworks and develop the mindset, confidence, and capabilities to lead meaningful innovation, we'd love to welcome you to the next Human by Design™ Innovation Lab.

Design differently. Think differently. Create what matters.