Potsdam. On the tenth anniversary of the founding of the first university-based School of Design Thinking, Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI) has launched the website: www.thisisdesignthinking.net. Insider reports from worldwide companies and organizations as well as interviews and opinions on many aspects of Design Thinking are available here to everyone. For example, in an interview, Prof. Hasso Plattner expresses his hope that in the future “environmental problems will be addressed with Design Thinking or questions about population growth answered.” Instead of being separated according to discipline, these questions need to be tackled together,” Plattner says. 

In the summer of 2005, the founder of HPI contributed 35 million dollars for the establishment of the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at the Stanford University School of Engineering. The Hasso Plattner Institute of IT Systems Engineering in Potsdam with its HPI School of Design Thinking (active since winter semester 2007/2008) maintains especially close ties with its sister institute in Stanford. The partners carry out collaborative teaching and research in the field of user-friendly innovation.

Three scientists from the research program— Eva Köppen, Jan Schmiedgen und Holger Rhinow – have now created the web platform www.thisisdesignthinking.net. “Since 2007 we have placed a special emphasis on Design Thinking discourse and have been occupied in our teaching and research with various positions on this concept. This has led us to offer the interested public firsthand insight into how companies and organizations adapt and implement Design Thinking,” said HPI director Prof. Christoph Meinel. Many of those directly responsible wanted to share their experiences and applications with others,” added Meinel.  

It’s not only about success stories. “We show the entire spectrum of perspectives on Design Thinking. You can also find reports on failures, surprising applications, and very individual practices,” said the HPI director. He offered his explicit thanks to the “courageous interview partners who gave their consent to the articles.”

At the beginning of October, HPI plans to present the first large-scale scientific study on the effects of Design Thinking in business and society.

More about Design Thinking at the Hasso Plattner institutes in Palo Alto and in Potsdam can be found here: http://hpi.de/channel-teaser/innovationen/design-thinking-am-hpi.html.

The Hasso Plattner Institute for Software Systems Engineering GmbH at the University of Potsdam is Germany’s university excellence center for IT-Systems Engineering. HPI is the only university institution in Germany offering the Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in “IT-Systems Engineering” – a practical and engineering-oriented alternative to conventional computer science studies. Current enrollment is at approximately 480 students. The HPI School of Design Thinking is Europe’s first innovation school for university students. It is based on the Stanford model of the d.school and offers 240 places yearly for a supplementary study.

There are a total of twelve HPI professors and over 50 guest professors, lecturers and contracted teachers at the Institute. HPI carries out research noted for its high standard of excellence in its ten topic areas in IT systems engineering. Research work is also conducted at the Potsdam HPI Research School for PhD candidates as well as at its branches in Cape Town, Haifa and Nanjing. HPI teaching and research focuses on the foundation and application of large-scale, highly complex and distributed IT systems. The development and exploration of user-driven innovations for all sectors of life is an additional area of importance. HPI always earns the highest positions in the CHE university ranking. Since September 2012 the Institute has offered an interactive Internet learning network, openHPI, which is open to everyone.