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.

Global Design Thinking Challenge

Sustainable Learning in Schools

September 8th – October 14th, 2022

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.

The aim was to innovate and create solutions tackling the 4th Sustainable Development Goal as defined by the United Nations: “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.”

More than 340 participants from 12 Design Thinking institutions around the world joined our call to develop solutions fostering sustainable learning in schools.

We kicked off the Global Design Thinking Challenge at the “Design Thinking ImpAct Conference” in Potsdam, connecting learning, community, and impact in a vibrant, interactive and experiential approach. Our five winning teams presented their solutions at the d.confestival in Cape Town.[/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]

The design challenge:

Design new learning opportunities to develop future skills in a world where current educational offerings do not match people’s needs and their abilities to address 21st-century challenges.

Showcasing Ideas and Prototypes

In early September, our Design Thinking teams from across the world started their journey by understanding and reframing the design challenge. They engaged and conducted interviews with relevant stakeholders, collected and clustered the information, and formulated a point of view of their challenge context. In the second part of the program, they prototyped and tested their ideas and now showcase their innovations to you and the world.

An expert jury evaluated all entries and choose four teams to present in Cape Town based on the criteria “Most Innovative Local Solution,” “Most innovate Global Solution,” “Most Impact potential (scale),” and “Most Creative Pitch.” Moreover, we held a public online voting that determined the fifth finalist to present their prototype at the d.confestival. 

Our expert jury

Check out the video pitches of our five winning teams!

More Events

D.Conference 2025 – Design Thinking For Good

In a world facing increasing uncertainty, complexity, and inequality, design must rise as a force not only for innovation but for compassion, responsibility, and impact. D.Conference 2025 invites the global Design Thinking community to reflect on and co-create how design can serve humanity, address systemic challenges, and contribute to a more just and sustainable world.

April 2025: GDTA Spotlight with Michael Lewrick

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.

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

February 2025: GDTA Spotlight with Impact Week´s Carolin Tänzer

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.

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 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.

November 2024: GDTA Spotlight with Andrey Khusid

Join us for an exclusive GDTA Spotlight session featuring Andrey Khusid, founder and CEO of Miro! Discover the inspiring journey behind Miro’s creation, the pivotal role of Design Thinking in its development, and the founder’s unique philosophy that shaped the intelligent canvas model. Andrey will share insights on Miro’s latest AI features and his vision for the platform’s future. Don’t miss this chance to learn from a leader who has transformed collaborative workspaces worldwide.

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 Conference 2024 – AI and Design Thinking

The conference will feature a blend of keynotes, panel discussions, workshops, and interactive sessions designed to provide attendees with cutting-edge perspectives on how AI can enhance Design Thinking methodologies and drive transformative change across industries, as well as discussing it´s challenges and limitations.

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:

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.

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.

February 2024: GDTA Spotlight with SNS Institutions

In our talk on February 20th, 2024 four educators from SNS Insitutions Coimbatore, India shared their insights on Design Thinking in education starting with K12 to PhD in several streams. SNS had recently crossed 25yr mark with nearly 14K + student fraternity and nearly 37k+ alma mater. The Design Thinking Framework is applied to improve the quality of teaching methodologies to increase student engagement. For this to come true, one measure introduced is 3P Culture: Purpose, Process, People.

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 Dr. Martin Schwemmle of The Future Company

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

Global Design Thinking Conference 2023

We are excited to host you for the 2023 annual conference of the Global Design Thinking Alliance (GDTA) on October 21st and 22nd at PennState University