Design Thinking Research

The practice of design thinking has become widespread over the last several years, and an increasing number of individuals and institutions have come to recognize its innovative power. However, its success story has also meant that the term has evolved into something of an overused, or even misused, buzzword. The demand for an in-depth, evidence-based understanding of the way design thinking works has grown accordingly. This challenge is addressed by the Hasso Plattner Design Thinking Research Program. Summarizing the outcomes of the research program's 12th year, this book presents a broad range of scientific insights gained by researchers at the Hasso Plattner Institutes in Potsdam, Germany and Stanford University in California, in the course of their investigations, experiments and studies. Special focus is placed on the impact, accessibility and measurability of design thinking. The contributing authors seek to establish common ground, conduct modelling, anddevelop essential toolkits. The expanding field of neurodesign is also addressed in contributions that explore the neural basis for creativity and nonverbal actions. The results of this rigorous academic research are not meant to be discussed exclusively within the scientific community: they will hopefully find their way to those who seek to promote innovation through collaboration, be it at businesses or in society.

Auteur
Professor Dr. Christoph Meinel is Director and CEO of the Hasso Plattner Institute for Digital Engineering gGmbH (HPI), Potsdam, Germany and a full professor for computer science and serves as department chair of Internet Technologies and Systems at HPI. He teaches at the HPI School of Design Thinking and is Dean of the Digital Engineering Faculty of the University of Potsdam. In addition he is an honorary professor at the Department of Computer Sciences at Beijing University of Technology, guest professor at Shanghai University and concurrent professor at Nanjing University. Meinel is a member of acatech, the German National Academy of Science and Engineering, and numerous scientific committees and supervisory boards. Together with Larry Leifer from Stanford University he is program director of the HPI-Stanford Design Thinking Research Program. Larry Leifer is professor of Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University, CA, USA. Dr. Leifer's engineering design thinking research is focused on instrumenting design teams to understand, support, and improve design practice and theory. Specific issues include: design-team research methodology, global team dynamics, innovation leadership, interaction design, design-for-wellbeing, and adaptive mechatronic systems. He has started many design initiatives at Stanford including the Smart-Product Design Program, Stanford-VA Rehabilitation Engineering Center, Stanford Learning Laboratory, and most recently the Center for Design Research (CDR) in Stanford.

Résumé

Extensive research conducted by the Hasso Plattner Design Thinking Research Program at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, USA, and the Hasso Plattner Institute in Potsdam, Germany, has yielded valuable insights on why and how design thinking works. The participating researchers have identified metrics, developed models, and conducted studies, which are featured in this book, and in the previous volumes of this series.

This volume provides readers with tools to bridge the gap between research and practice in design thinking with varied real world examples. Several different approaches to design thinking are presented in this volume. Acquired frameworks are leveraged to understand design thinking team dynamics. The contributing authors lead the reader through new approaches and application fields and show that design thinking can tap the potential of digital technologies in a human-centered way. In a final section, new ideas in neurodesign at Stanford University and at Hasso Plattner Institute in Potsdam are elaborated upon thereby challenging the reader to consider newly developed methodologies and provide discussion of how these insights can be applied to various sectors. Special emphasis is placed on understanding the mechanisms underlying design thinking at the individual and team levels. Design thinking can be learned. It has a methodology that can be observed across multiple settings and accordingly, the reader can adopt new frameworks to modify and update existing practice. The research outcomes compiled in this book are intended to inform and provide inspiration for all those seeking to drive innovation be they experienced design thinkers or newcomers.

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