Is service design another specialisation within the design discipline, or is it somehow reshaping design itself, transforming both what we mean by design and the role and responsibilities of designers? In this journal paper the role of service design is examined in business and in the public sector as a tool for strategic innovation, and how it is transforming the role of the designer and the profile of the profession.

This paper explores the opportunity to apply service design methodologies to complex and strategic challenges in both the public and private sector. It examines the opportunities for service transformation that new and emerging digital technologies present and the implications for the role of the designer and the practice of design itself. We are experiencing a unique combination of digital technology innovations. We have the tools to transform existing services and to innovate new ones, and the imperatives for innovation in the public realm and private sectors are more intense than ever. Design has raised its level of ambition in terms of the complex social, economic and environmental challenges it wishes to address, but it must also raise its intellectual and technical capacity to realize this ambition. The paper identifies the specific new skills required and the role of educators in achieving this end.