GDTA Spotlight with Linda Hickman
At the GDTA Spotlight session on April 26th, 2023, we welcomed Dr. Linda J. Hickman, Associate of the London School of Economics. She talked about “Design Thinking for Startups.”
On April 30th, 2024 Prof. Jeanne Liedtka from University of Virginia shared the insight from her most recent book, The Experimentation Field Book: A Step-by-Step Project Guide, co-authored with Natalie Foley, David Kester and Elziabeth Chen, published in February, 2024.
It explores the critical role of experimentation in driving innovation, from idea generation to practical implementation. Providing valuable guidance for personal and organizational growth.

Jeanne Liedtka: is the UTC Professor of Business at the University of Virginia’s Darden Graduate School of Business. With interests at the intersection of strategy and design, Jeanne has written eight books and multiple articles on the subject of strategy, innovation, and design thinking, and consulted with a diverse set of organizations including IBM, Samsung, NASA, The United Nations, and the government of Singapore.
At the GDTA Spotlight session on April 26th, 2023, we welcomed Dr. Linda J. Hickman, Associate of the London School of Economics. She talked about “Design Thinking for Startups.”
In 2022, the Global Design Thinking Alliance (GDTA) set out to celebrate Design Thinking coming of age, as well as the discipline’s global expansion.
In our session held via zoom on April 7th, 2022 at 4:00 pm (CEST) / 10:00 am (EDT), we welcomed our speakers Lynne Martin, Strategic Lead for Design for Business at V&A Dundee, and Annie Marrs, Lead Officer at UNESCO City of Design Dundee. Lynne and Annie talked about “Entangled Values: The Power of Networks”.
At our GDTA Spotlight session on January 18th, we were welcoming our speakers Isabella Stranger, Gastón Roca and Yael Gitman from D-School Chile. They talked about how the first Latin American D-School came to life at the very core of a Chilean University, what they have built in 3 years of history, and what challenges they are hoping to tackle next.
Join us for a free session of the GDTA Spotlight on Tuesday, June 18th at 9.00 am SAST / 7.00am GMT for “Connecting the African Design Thinking Community: An Emergent Learning Network” with Jenni van Niekerk!
In our last session on June 28th, 2022, at 3:00 pm (CEST) / 09:00 am (EDT), we welcomed our speakers Prof. Dr. Falk Uebernickel, Professor for Design Thinking and Innovation Research at Hasso Plattner Institute, and Dr. Danielly de Paula, Senior Researcher at Hasso Plattner Institute.
How can Design Thinking drive real change? Since 2015, Impact Week has evolved from a volunteer initiative into a thriving social enterprise, empowering communities, fostering skills, and sparking impactful social businesses.
At our GDTA Spotlight session on November 12th, Maria Stashenko, Director, Design Thinking Center Moscow, talked about “Innovation Pace in Times of Pandemic: Research Insights”.
In this session, Dr. Assaf Krebs, Dr. Yigal David, and Daniel Altman of GDTA member institution Shenkar College of Engineering, Design and Art talked about: “Intermediate spaces – Two perspectives on engineering, design, Design Thinking, and life itself. From Sound Engineering to Human Surfaces”.
Western University is a large, public university in Canada with 11 faculties and schools. Since 2013, they have slowly built up the presence of Design Thinking across the university.
Transform with Design presents examples of creative organizations across industries and geographies, and recounts the stories of how they adapted design thinking to build their innovation capabilities. Written by leading industry experts and design-thinking scholars, the book features ten anecdotal experiences by professionals who detail the implementation of design thinking as it unfolded for them. Contributors share how they navigated the many barriers and obstacles they encountered along the way and describe their experience from early beginnings to the present, revealing valuable lessons for anyone who finds themselves in a similar situation.
At the GDTA PowWow on April 30th, 2021 Claudio Dell’Era, Associate Professor in Design Strategy and Director of the Observatory “Design Thinking for Business” of the School of Management at Politecnico di Milano talked about “Transformations in Design Thinking: from Creative Ideating to Critical Reframing“.
On Tuesday, May 21st we held a free interactive 60-minute session with Maria Stashenko & her team form Design Thinking Center Asia. After a brief introduction everyone played a round of their game live online:
The Global Design Thinking Alliance, in collaboration with the IEEE Standards Association and Vienna University of Economics and Business, invited you to the GDTA Spotlight Special Edition “Value-Based Engineering in Design Thinking,” which took place on March 10th, 2022, from 9:00-11:30 am (EST) / 3:00-5:30 pm (CET) via Zoom.
In our session held via zoom on February 17th, 2022 at 3:30 pm (CET) / 9:30 am (EST), we welcomed our speaker Jeanne Liedtka from UVA Darden School of Business.

Martin Schwemmle: “Future Skills Navigator: Upskilling Humankind For a Better Future”