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”.

There are many academic institutions who have limited resources to develop and offer design thinking teaching and learning to their students. Yet the expertise and intent exist in small pockets of passionate educators within these institutions. The American University in Cairo and the Hasso Plattner School of Design Thinking at the University of Cape Town have recently run an Afrika wide Design Thinking programme that aimed to provide access to under-resourced universities by building both coach capacity as well as access for their local students to participate in Design Thinking programmes. Furthermore AUC recently prototyped a hybrid model with new and interesting models partnering with GDTA.

This session shone a spotlight on these seeds of co-creation and opportunities provided by GDTA collaboration as well as invited members and attendees to contribute ideas in a short facilitated activity.

More Spotlight Events

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” 

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 Hasso Plattner Institute Potsdam

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.

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: “Celebrate Design Thinking Coming of Age”

Design Thinking has been reshaping the minds of many students and professionals globally for the past 20 years and is fast becoming the winning mindset that drives innovation and solutions to complex problems of our time. The mindset has seen major support from academia and professional networks with some great expansion over the years.

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!

GDTA Session #8 with The Design Thinking School at the Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu

Remember the experiments and challenges you faced while starting a new project? Before 2019, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu didn’t dream a small idea would turn into so many new research projects, competitions to encourage students to innovate and the first D-School in Romania.

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.

March 2024: GDTA Spotlight with Prof. Jochen Schweitzer, & Prof. Sihem BenMahmoud-Jouini on “Transform with Design: Creating new Innovation Capabilites with Design Thinking”

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.

GDTA Spotlight – “Teach to Start Up!” with Prof. Dr. André Bresges, Executive Director of the Institute for Physics Didactics at the University of Cologne

At our GDTA Spotlight session on  December 14th, Prof. Dr. André Bresges, Executive Director of the Institute for Physics Didactics at the University of Cologne talked about “Teach to Start Up”. 

March 2025: GDTA Spotlight with HPI d-school Potsdam

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

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 with Dr. Martin Schwemmle of The Future Company

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

GDTA Spotlight with Dark Horse Innovation

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.

Session #2 with Linlin Shui, Communication University of China

In a discussion with GDTA president Prof. Uli Weinberg and other GDTA members, Linlin Shui, Head of the Design Thinking Innovation Center at the Communication University of China (CUC), shared impressions from China during the Covid-19 pandemic and explained how CUC build a prototype for an online Design Thinking course in only two weeks.

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.