Terra Carta Design Lab

Discovering high impact solutions to the climate crisis

The Sustainable Markets Initiative’s Terra Carta Design Lab is a global competition, inspired by its guiding mandate the Terra Carta , which invites students to design high-impact solutions to address the damage being done to our planet.

Launched by His Majesty King Charles III, then The Prince of Wales, and Sir Jony Ive in 2021, the Design Lab recognises the role art and design have in helping to address the climate crisis, and partners with prestigious design schools to discover student-led, high impact and commercially viable solutions.

Terra Carta Design Lab Partners

The inaugural Terra Carta Design Lab in 2022 partnered with the Royal College of Art (RCA). For the 2023/2024 competition year, the Design Lab brings its search to the global stage and is proud to partner with four prestigious schools: the Dubai Institute of Design and Innovation (UAE), National Institute of Design Ahmedabad (India), Rhode Island School of Design (USA) and the Royal College of Art (UK).

Global Judging Panel

All entries are judged by a panel of experts at each school, with a top ten shortlist presented to the Global Judging Panel for final assessment. The Global Judging Panel is led by Sir Jony Ive, renowned designer and Chancellor of the Royal College of Art, and Jennifer Jordan-Saifi, CEO of the Sustainable Markets Initiative.

Multidisciplinary collaboration has never been more important,” said Sir Jony Ive. “It is incredibly rewarding to see an even broader group of students use deep creative collaboration to develop thoughtful ways of tackling the multifaceted challenges of the climate crisis.
I'm incredibly proud to be part of the Terra Carta Design Lab and the momentum it has built over the past two years. The mission of addressing the climate crisis is more relevant and urgent than ever, and I'm very excited to see the ideas these international design students will have developed by next Autumn.

Sir Jony Ive, Chancellor of the Royal College of Art