Discussion: View Thread

Design Thinking has over the last years received increasing awareness and popularity among researchers and practitioners alike. By combining approaches found in design and ethnography with technology and business skills found in strategic and innovation management, it offers a third way for problem solving and idea generation. The past and current economic situation has taught us that the world needs fresh ideas and new perspectives which can only be achieved by thinking in broad and integrative ways (Chen and Miller, 2010). To achieve divergent thinking, it is mandatory to have a diverse group of people involved. Design Thinking relies on diversity and apparent opposites, on combining seemingly contradictory traits as expertise versus empathy or focused versus open mindsets – creating so called "T-shaped" persons. Design Thinking is currently being taught and integrated in academic and executive curricula worldwide: the d.school at Stanford University, the Rotman School in Toronto, the HPI School of Design Thinking at Potsdam, Germany, d.thinking Paris in France, or the i.school in Tokyo, Japan to name only a few. Moreover, the HPI School of Design Thinking is actively supporting activities at Design City Kolding, Denmark, the Moscow State University Russia, the Design factory at the Aalto University Helsinki, the Communication University of China, Beijing and initiatives in India and South Korea in order to establish Design Thinking institutions in academia. Based on the success of last year's PDW where 35 people from 15 different nationalities, ranging from East to West, joined, we want to open up the space and start building a global network of Design Thinkers. We will on the one hand generate a hands-on classroom experience for the participants in order to expose them to the basic principles of Design Thinking and how to apply them in their respective environment. We will create an atmosphere of mutual learning and sharing in order to solve individual, corporate, or societal problems. Taking part in this workshop, the participants experience a complete Design Thinking cycle: empathy by observation, project definition, prototyping, soliciting feedback, and iterating. An international faculty will guide participants through each stage of the process and provide insights on how to apply and teach Design Thinking to everyday work processes and problem solutions. On the other hand, the facilitators will give different views and approaches of Design Thinking in academia, industry, and consultancy.

Attendance is limited to 40 people. Please send us an email with a short CV and your motivation to attend this workshop to aomregistration2011@hpi.uni-potsdam.de before July, 31st 2011.