Service Innovation and Design

Where can this master’s degree take you?

This master’s degree gives you an interdisciplinary skillset that is valuable across organisations undergoing transformation, from service business and public services to financial services, healthcare and technology. Students come from diverse backgrounds. For some, the degree strengthens their expertise and supports career progression in their current field, while for others it opens the door to new career opportunities. 

Career paths in service innovation and design 

Your expertise applies in roles such as: 

• Service designer or service design lead — designing and developing services across customer touchpoints 
• Customer experience (CX) manager — leading customer experience strategy and continuous improvement 
• Innovation lead — driving innovation processes and new service development 
• Business developer or strategist — shaping service-driven business models and value propositions 
• Foresight or strategic insight specialist — using futures methods to anticipate change and identify opportunities 
• Transformation consultant — guiding organisations through service-led change 
• Researcher or ethnographer in service development — bringing deep customer insight into product and service decisions 
• Entrepreneur — building a service design or innovation practice of your own 

Your impact 

You combine deep customer insight with creative design and strategic thinking. You don’t just improve services — you reshape the way organisations think about value, customers and the future. Your work might mean designing a new customer journey for a public service, building a service-led business model for a growing company, or applying foresight methods to guide an organisation through complex change. 

Apply in the joint application

Application period for English-language master’s programmes is held annually in January. 

Blended learning studies: 

Service Innovation and Design, Leppävaara – Application period: 7.1.–21.1.2027 – Language: English – Semester begins: 09/2027 

Daytime and fully online options are not available for this programme.

Eligibility requirements

To be eligible for the programme, you need: 

• A Bachelor’s degree (e.g. Bachelor of Business Administration) or another suitable higher education degree completed at a university or university of applied sciences 
• At least 2 years (24 months) of relevant work experience completed after the prior degree 

In discretionary admission, a relevant former higher vocational level qualification may also be accepted as the basis for eligibility. 

A prior background in design is an asset but not required — the programme is designed to build your service design and innovation expertise from a working-life perspective. 

Is this programme for you?

• Your work touches service development, customer experience, innovation, business design or strategic transformation 
• You have at least 2 years of relevant work experience after your prior degree 
• You want to deepen your expertise in service design, design thinking and human-centred research 
• You see service innovation as a strategic capability — not just a project methodology 
• You are interested in futures thinking, foresight and business design 
• You can attend monthly contact days at Leppävaara Campus 

What you’ll be able to do after graduation

You graduate with a comprehensive, future-focused competence in service innovation and design that integrates human-centred insight, strategic thinking and practical design capability. You’ll be able to: 

• Uncover deep customer insight through ethnographic research, and translate it into innovative service solutions 
• Apply design thinking and service design methods to design and prototype solutions for complex, systemic service challenges 
• Shape service-driven strategy and business models that connect customer value, organisational capability and revenue logic 
• Use futures thinking and foresight methodologies to anticipate change and identify new opportunities 
• Lead research-based development in your own workplace, evaluating service-driven transformation in practice 

These outcomes are built through six programme-specific core study units that you’ll find detailed below. 

How do studies fit with your work?

Laurea’s pedagogical model is Learning by Developing (LbD). This means your studies are anchored in real working-life development, not in abstract exercises. You apply service design, ethnographic research and business design directly to your own organisation as you study. 

Peer learning enriches your experience 

You study in an international, multidisciplinary group of professionals. The mix of industries, roles and cultural backgrounds is a defining strength of the programme — it brings new perspectives to every project and builds a professional network that supports your career long after graduation. 

Studying alongside work 

• Blended learning — face-to-face days at Leppävaara Campus combined with online study 
• Monthly contact days — 2–3 consecutive days per month (typically Thursday–Saturday) on campus 
• 1.5–2.5 years — you can progress at your own pace as a part-time student 
• 90 ECTS in three parts — core studies, complementary studies and a master’s thesis 
• Thesis from your own work — develop your workplace as part of your studies 
• Recognition of prior learning — earlier studies and competence can be credited towards your degree 

Employer collaboration 

Many employers support master’s studies through flexible scheduling, time off for monthly contact days, or by hosting the thesis project. The Learning by Developing model often produces concrete value for your employer alongside your own development. 

Concrete benefits for your career

• Recognised master-level qualification — eligible for positions requiring a master’s degree, including public-sector roles 
• Specialised expertise in service design and innovation — one of the most sought-after capability areas across industries 
• International, cross-sector network — strong connections built through the multidisciplinary cohort 
• Practical portfolio — your thesis and project work develop your own organisation, leaving you with concrete examples for your CV 
• Recognised practical profile — Laurea is a long-standing reference in service design education in Finland 

Tuition fees and scholarships

Non-EU/EEA area students in degree programmes taught in English are charged tuition fees.

Tuition fee: €11 000/ academic year for non EU/EEA students.

Read more about tuition fees and scholarships

How to apply

Applications are submitted through Opintopolku.fi during the announced application periods. For step-by-step guidance, see How to apply to Laurea.