Miikka J. Lehtonen is a multidisciplinary academic with a research and teaching focus on engineering, design, and business. He believes in learning by doing, and this belief is reflected in his teaching methods. As a consequence, in 2018 he and his colleagues established Nordic Rebels, a movement transforming learning and higher education. To date, Nordic Rebels has won several national and international awards, one of them being the Danish Design Award in the Better Learning category.

Prior to joining Dubai Institute of Design and Innovation (DIDI), Miikka has worked at Aalto University in Finland and the University of Tokyo in Japan. In addition, he also has prior work and teaching experience in Denmark, the United States, Russia, India, and China. Miikka’s current research interests and teaching methods focus on visual methodologies and knowledge production, management and creativity in game companies, design practices in multinational companies, and PechaKucha. He received his PhD from Aalto University School of Business in 2014, and he has published in such outlets as Industry & Innovation, Design Management Review, and Asian Business & Management.

At DIDI, Miikka is responsible for developing the Strategic Design Management program as well as jointly responsible with the rest of the faculty in creating a whole new design school, first of its kind in the MENA region.