April 2024: GDTA Spotlight with Prof. Dr. Jeanne Liedtka “The Experimentation Field Book: A Step-by-Step Project Guide”

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.

More Spotlight Events

May 2024: GDTA Spotlight Special with Maria Stashenko “Playing the Future: A Trend Watching Game”

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:

December 2025: GDTA Spotlight with Anirban Bhattacharya

In his session, Indigenous Inspirations: 5 Design Lessons from 5 Tribal Women, Anirban uncovers timeless, empowering design principles drawn from the lived experiences of tribal women across India—and what they reveal about building more sustainable, human-centered futures.

Session #4 with Arne van Oosterom, Design Thinkers Academy

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.

GDTA Spotlight with University College Cork

The GDTA Spotlight session on March 23rd, 2023 was about “Art thinking and design thinking in University College Cork: An innovation ‘marriage’ made in heaven.”

GDTA Session #7 with Western University: Design Thinking Education without a D.School

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.

GDTA Spotlight Special: Value-based engineering with Design Thinking

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.

GDTA Spotlight with Mugendi  – “Empathy and Community: Human-Centered Design in Afrika”

In our session held via zoom on Mai 12th, 2022 at 3:00 pm (CEST) / 09:00 am (EDT), we welcomed our speaker Mugendi K. M’Rithaa, Professor of Industrial Design at Machakos University.  Mugendi talked about “Empathy and Community: Human-Centered Design in Afrika” 

Session #6 with Jeanne Liedtka, UVA Darden School of Business

In this session, Jeanne Liedtka, United Technologies Corporation Professor of Business Administration, University of Virginia – Darden School of Business, discussed her upcoming book “Experiencing Design: The Innovator’s Journey”.

Can Güvenir: “Design Thinking for Social Impact: A Case Study on Collaborative Public Service Design”

The last online session took place on November 21st, 2023, at 3:00 p.m. (CET). We welcomed our speaker, Can Güvenir, Design Manager and lecturer at Yaşar University.

GDTA Spotlight with V&A Dundee – “Entangled Values: The Power of Networks”

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”.

GDTA Spotlight with Prezi Co-Founder Adam Somlai-Fischer

Adam Somlai-Fischer, Co-Founder of Prezi, shared how a personal challenge sparked a global storytelling revolution. Discover the magic of spatial visual storytelling, AI’s role in transforming presentations, and the impact of LLMs on visual thinking.

GDTA Spotlight – Design Thinking Africa

At our GDTA Spotlight session on July 29th, Hoda Mostafa and Reham Niazi from the The American University in Cairo as well as Richard Perez, Phuthehi Masilo and Lucille Roberts from the Hasso Plattner School of Design Thinking at UCT talked about “Building a global virtual d-school: Co-creation and collaboration”.

GDTA Spotlight – “Designing your life” with Joann Halpern, Director, Hasso Plattner Institute, New York

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.

June 2024: GDTA Spotlight with Jenni van Niekerk

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!

Session #5 with Shenkar College of Engineering, Design and Art

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”.

GDTA Spotlight with Dr. Martin Schwemmle of The Future Company

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