Designing yachts in the digital era

Designing Yachts in the Digital Era results from ten years of research on the role of computational technologies and the new manufacturing models in transforming the yacht design sector. The choice of focusing on this research topic does not derive from a recognised field of study but rather from an intuition about the need to foresight the role of the new digital technologies in the transformation of the sector to understand and guide the undergoing digital transformation. The book emerges from the observation that yacht design, while a mature and multifaceted discipline with deep historical roots, remains detached from the wider digital transformation currently reshaping design, production, and industry at large. In the current design landscape, the spread of artificial intelligence, advanced robotics, connected products, immersive simulation, and data-driven design has already begun to reconfigure not only tools and processes, but also the very role of design within society. Industry has increasingly moved from the production of isolated artefacts to the delivery of services, experiences, and adaptive systems. Manufacturing has become entangled with people’s lives, continuously drawing upon patterns of behaviour and data streams to redefine its own outputs. Within this context, the continued reliance of the yacht design sector on incremental, engineering-centred practices risks leaving it at the margins of a paradigmatic change that demands fresh theoretical frameworks, new practices, and different professional roles. Responding to this critical gap, the research underpinning this volume draws upon the field of Advanced Design and is guided by a dual methodological orientation: both research for design, which seeks to support practice by providing knowledge and tools, and research through design, which treats design practice itself as a generator of knowledge. Central to the investigation is the use of Strategic Foresight, a framework well suited to fragmented and complex contexts. Over the course of a decade, this approach was operationalised through phases of framing, scanning, forecasting, visioning, planning, and acting, each of which is reflected in the organisation of the book. Historical analysis, empirical surveys, cluster mapping, field observations, and co-design workshops with key industry actors form the backbone of the inquiry, ensuring a balance between theoretical depth and practical engagement. The study demonstrates that the integration of digital technologies into yacht design is still immature and not yet fully exploited. Real-time data, connected systems, and generative algorithms are rarely used to inform early design decisions, not employ them to close the gap between performance simulation and lived experience. At the same time, a younger generation of yacht users is reshaping expectations, favouring flexible layouts, immersive connections between interior and exterior spaces, sustainable materials, and digitally enhanced on-board environments. These shifts place pressure on shipyards, designers, and suppliers to move beyond traditional workflows and to embrace digital infrastructures capable of supporting customisation, responsiveness, and sustainability. The findings of this book point towards a necessary reorientation of yacht design as a discipline. Rather than persisting in an iterative, trial-and-error approach to incremental innovation, yacht design must adopt a systemic and anticipatory stance. This entails recognising the yacht not simply as a static object but as a hybrid, adaptive, and intelligent system that interacts dynamically with its environment, its users, and its digital shadow. Such a repositioning requires designers to act as strategic mediators between technological possibilities, cultural practices, and environmental imperatives. By presenting both the critical analysis and the prospective frameworks required to interpret this transformation, Designing Yachts in the Digital Era offers a comprehensive foundation for rethinking the discipline of yacht design in the digital era. It invites scholars, practitioners, and industry leaders to consider design not merely as the shaping of forms or the engineering of performance, but as a strategic intelligence able to anticipate futures, orchestrate complex systems, and guide the sector through its most profound transformation since its emergence as a modern discipline.