About Us

The Global Design Thinking Alliance (GDTA) is a vibrant international community of institutions advancing Design Thinking in education, research, and practice.

Together, we explore how human-centered innovation can address the world’s most complex challenges.

GDTA is the global platform for exchange, debate, and exploration of best practices in Design Thinking education, training, and research.

We connect leading Design Thinking institutions across five continents.
We foster learning opportunities for both experienced and aspiring Design Thinkers.
We collaborate to shape a sustainable and inclusive future.

Meet our Founding Members

GDTA was founded in 2017 by pioneering institutions from Europe, Asia, Africa, and North America. Our founding members continue to shape the alliance through their leadership and innovative approaches to Design Thinking.

Uli Weinberg
HPI D-School Potsdam, Germany

Sara Araya
Openlab, Stockholm, Sweden

Darren Meister
Ivey Business School

Richard Perez
HPI d.school Cape Town, South Africa

Dato Lee Yew Meng
Genovasi D-School Malaysia

Linda Hickmann
London school of economics

Liao Xiangzhong
Communication University of China

BECOME A MEMBER?

Join a global network of leading institutions advancing Design Thinking. Membership is open to academic institutions worldwide engaged in teaching and researching Design Thinking.
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What is Design Thinking?

At GDTA, we embrace Design Thinking as more than a method: it is a mindset rooted in People, Place, and Process.

This shared understanding unites our global community.

 

People:

Design Thinking teams are formed in an expressly multi-disciplinary manner to allow for ideas that extend far beyond the borders of the individual member’s own discipline. We move from an individualistic way of thinking to a we-culture of mutual creation. Our experience and research show that collaborating teams react faster, use their collective intelligence better and generate working processes with greater sustainability.

Place:

Ideas flourish best in a free and flexible working environment. Variable space is adapted to the needs of each  team and their project. Tables and partitions can be moved on rollers. Walls and almost all other surfaces are used freely to visualize thoughts and to share results. Shelves of colorful materials invite participants to illustrate ideas quickly and to bring them to life.

Process:

Using the six-step iterative and human-centered Design Thinking innovation process, the team navigates into the solution space. The process requires an open culture of failure because in Design Thinking we like to think in the realm of the impossible.

 

Why does the world need Design Thinking?

Because today’s complex global challenges cannot be solved in isolation. The GDTA connects institutions worldwide to advance Design Thinking and shape a collaborative, sustainable future.

 

Global Design Thinking Challenge

From September 8th to October 14th, 2022, the HPI School of Design Thinking, in collaboration with the Global Design Thinking Alliance and Siemens Stiftung, invited the global Design Thinking community to join a unique learning experience: The Global Design Thinking Challenge.

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Designing Digital Transformation: Focus on Business

On August 14, 2018 Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI) and the Global Design Thinking Alliance (GDTA) hosted a conference dedicated to the topic “Designing Digital Transformation in the Business World” at Hasso Plattner Institute, New York.

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Designing Digital Transformation: Focus on Society

On August 13, 2018 Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI) and the Global Design Thinking Alliance (GDTA) hosted a conference dedicated to the topic “Designing Digital Transformation: Focus on Society” at Hasso Plattner Institute, New York.

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Designing Digital Transformation and Education

From August 9-10, 2018 Hasso Plattner Institute and the Global Design Thinking Alliance a conference dedicated to the topic “Facing Global Challenges in Education – Innovation, Design Thinking and Education in the 21st Century” at Hasso Plattner Institute, New York.

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