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..
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.
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.
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!
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.”
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.
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.
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.
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”
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”.
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.
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:
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”.
On September 12th, 2023 we welcomed our speakers Jessica Menold, Associate Professor in the School of Engineering Design and Innovation and the Department of Mechanical Engineering, and also Dr. Matt Parkinson, Professor of Engineering Design and Mechanical Engineering at Penn State University.
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 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.
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.