On June 27th, 2023 we welcomed Vindhya Umapathy, Design Thinking Lead at CMR University (Bangalore, India). She spoke on the topic of “Fostering Design Thinking Mindsets amongst University Students“.
In this spotlight, CMR University shared its best practices and initiatives in developing the design thinking mindsets for students across all disciplines in undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. The session focused on their initiatives in building a mandatory course for all students, CAUSE – a global open innovation challenge, their space for creative collaboration- the ‘Design Thinking Lab’ and an upcoming initiative – the ‘Design Thinking Club’. The session also opened out to a short discussion with the audience on ways to build mindsets such as curiosity, empathy, grit, a sense of experimentation and collaboration among students.
Vindhya Umapathy is the Design Thinking Lead at CMR University. She has diverse experience of close to a decade in the fields of Design Strategy, Education and Architecture. She is driven by the impact of design on creating positive social change. As the Design Thinking Lead at CMR University, Vindhya has played a key role in designing the curriculum for all the Design Thinking courses offered by the Dept. Common Core Curriculum, she has facilitated workshops and semester-long sessions for students and faculty at the University, co-designed the space for creative collaboration – the ‘Design Thinking Lab’, and supported the launch of the annual flagship event- the ‘Design Thinking Day’ and the launch of the Global Open Innovation Challenge- CAUSE 2023.
Prior to working with CMR University, Vindhya worked as a Design Strategist with Spread Design and Innovation in Bangalore and has completed her Post Graduation in Interdisciplinary Design Strategy at the Institute without Boundaries (Brookfield Sustainability Institute), Toronto. She has also worked as a teacher in a public school in Chennai as part of the Teach for IndiaFellowship and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture.
Vindhya believes that in order to design things right, we start with the question ‘Are we designing the right things?’ – she has helped both students and organisations better understand their stakeholders in order to design for a better world – be it through products, services or experiences..
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.
At our online session on May 18, 2021 Matt Parkinson, Professor and Director of The Learning Factory, College of Engineering at Penn State University, and Jessica Menold, Assistant Professor of Engineering Design at Penn State University, talked about the Design Thinking process that contributed to the development of a new university building, dedicated to Design Thinking and prototyping.
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”.
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”.
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.
Michael Lewrick, bestselling author of The Design Thinking Playbook and AI and Innovation, leads an inspiring session exploring how Artificial Intelligence is transforming Design Thinking practices worldwide.
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.”
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.
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.
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.
Martin Schwemmle: “Future Skills Navigator: Upskilling Humankind For a Better Future”
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.
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.
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”.
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.
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.