The Erasmus+ system's Blended Intensive Programs (BIPs) are an important academic project promoting short-term, high-impact learning experiences for students and faculty across Europe. These programs blend online and in-person learning styles, allowing students to actively participate in an international and immersive environment while also encouraging continual connection, even from a distance. This structure is intended to promote an interdisciplinary approach, while also developing those practical, cross-curricular abilities required to solve modern difficulties in an increasingly globalized society.

The participation of partner universities from different European nations, who contribute a diversity of cultural and disciplinary views, is critical to these programs. This element of international cooperation is crucial for the implementation of intensive workshops and summer courses, such as the Retail Design Summer School whose last edition took place in August 2024. For this one, Hasselt University, the host, collaborated with the Politecnico di Milano and the FH Joanneum University of Applied Sciences in Graz. Although the summer school has been around for seven years, this is the first time it applied such an interdisciplinary and blended (on and offline) format. By using the Ersamus+ program, clear benefits have emerged. The blended narrative allowed the students to process the theory given online at their own pace before traveling to Hasselt for the physical part. Upon arrival, this allowed them to immediately start the design process.

The ability to offer grants to participants for the first time allowed for a wider reach and diversity of students. Indirectly, this also had an impact on the variety of participating fields.

The Retail Design Summer School always aims to bring together students from various disciplines (interior design, architecture, product design, marketing, business development, experience design, fashion design, and communication design) to discuss the challenges and opportunities associated with the "sustainable store of the future." Given the retail sector's considerable impact on the environment, sustainability is an inescapable issue which academic institutions should conscientiously approach with respect. As teachers, researchers, and practitioners, we believe there is a need to raise awareness and do research on this issue, as well as explore novel solutions for more sustainable retail.

This summer school therefore not only represents an educational opportunity for students, but also an experimental laboratory of applied research where current issues of the retail industry can be constructively tackled. Students are invited to collaborate in multidisciplinary teams on real-world projects such as designing a brand's customer journey and environment (which they are involved in from the start), as well as building each customer touch point with an emphasis on sustainability and experience. Providing this type of training environment such a training setting allows students to explore team dynamics, learn omnichannel design skills, and consider crucial components for future retail design practice: spatial, digital, and experiential.

In brief, the Retail Design Summer School is an educational and research platform which encourages informed thinking about the industry's future and prepares the next generation of professionals to face the complexity of design for sustainable retail.

Keywords: Interdisciplinarity, blended intensive programs, international summer school, retail design.