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 September, the HPI School of Design Thinking in Potsdam celebrated its 15-year anniversary with its Design Thinking ImpAct Conference – with students, alumni, project partners, friends, and family attending the two-day conference, along with more than 50 speakers.
All celebrations culminated with the third d.confestival – a Design Thinking conference-meets-festival hosted at the newly built HPI d-school building (funded by the Hasso Plattner Foundation), home to the Hasso Plattner d-school Afrika at the University of Cape Town in October.
Over the course of three days, the d.confestival brought together a boisterous mix of change-makers from business, government, education, and social development to celebrate the success of Design Thinking globally and explore its potential for dialing up Africa’s creative potential to solve complex problems across the continent.
There were two big celebratory moments at the d.confestival: firstly, the GDTA celebrated its five-year anniversary of connecting the international Design Thinking community with members and delegates who attended.
Secondly, and with what was an African celebration of note, the official opening of the HPI d-school building was a momentous occasion as over 400 guests attended, explored the building and event experiences, and danced the night away to local talent, a night to remember. The building was officially launched by Prof Dr. Hasso Plattner and Prof Mamokgethi Phakeng, UCT’s Vice-Chancellor, who unveiled the building naming plaque before the dancing began on 13 October.
On the last day of the d.confestival, it wrapped up with the announcement of the winning teams for the Global Design Thinking Challenge (a four-week hybrid challenge) to innovate and create solutions for the fourth UN Sustainable Development Goal. As part of this Challenge, learners had the opportunity to create global impact.
Our speakers:
Prof. Uli Weinberg, GDTA President and Director at the HPI School of Design Thinking, Jenni van Niekerk, Program Curator d.confestival, Dr. Claudia Nicolai, Academic Director at the HPI School of Design Thinking, and Sherif Osman, Program Lead at the HPI School of Design Thinking.
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!
After 16 years of running projects using Design Thinking, teaching it, living it, Arne came to some important conclusions. During this session he shared these moments of clarity and darkness and left participants optimistic, energised and proud to be part of the Design Thinking movement.
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 a discussion with GDTA President Uli Weinberg, Ricardo Ruffo and Reinaldo Campos from Echos Innovation Lab in Brazil shared how they are creating online Design Thinking learning experiences between Australia and Brazil.
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.
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”.
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.
At our GDTA Spotlight session on October 21th, Joann Halpern guided us through a “Designing Your Life” workshop, which has been adapted from Bill Burnett and Dave Evans’ book on this subject.
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”.
Join us for an exclusive GDTA Spotlight session featuring Andrey Khusid, founder and CEO of Miro! Discover the inspiring journey behind Miro’s creation, the pivotal role of Design Thinking in its development, and the founder’s unique philosophy that shaped the intelligent canvas model. Andrey will share insights on Miro’s latest AI features and his vision for the platform’s future. Don’t miss this chance to learn from a leader who has transformed collaborative workspaces worldwide.
At this GDTA session on June 15, 2021, Alejandro Rodriguez, Associate Director for Industrial Design Department at Tecnológico de Monterrey, and his team talked about “Education and Design Thinking: How Tecnológico de Monterrey is applying Design Thinking across all their campus, education and innovation.”
In our session held via zoom on March 10th. 2022, from 9:00 – 11:30 am (EST) / 3:00 – 5:30 pm (CET) via Zoom, we collaborated with the IEEE Standards Association and Vienna University of Economics and Businesss to talk about “Value-Based Engineering in Design Thinking”. For more information about the event, agenda and speakers please visit the GDTA Spotlight Special website. […]
At our GDTA Spotlight session on May 23rd, 2023, we welcomed Guido Caicedo, Executive Director of i3lab, Dr. Sharon Guamán-Quintanilla, Academic Coordinator, and Isabel Alcívar, Lecturer and Design Thinking Facilitator. They discussed about “Turning freshmen into DThinkers.”
The D-School Potsdam is stepping into a new chapter! With a fresh brand identity and an updated teaching structure, they continue to push the boundaries of Design Thinking education. At the GDTA Spotlight: “Crafting Tomorrow”, Monika Frech, co-head of the academic program team shared
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.
How passion, collaboration, and persistence turned an idea into a thriving business. Born from one of the first cohorts of the D-School Potsdam, Dark Horse defied the odds to become a sustainable business venture.