Open Innovation

Open innovation – a contribution to the global knowledge and innovation pool

The core of the idea is simple: the diverse perspectives of participants based on their academic field lead to better solutions than the limited view of a single. Even better results are possible if globally accessible information pools such as Wikipedia and other open-source platforms can also be used to find solutions. However, to prevent this open innovation approach from drying up, the newly generated knowledge must also be made accessible to the global community again as open source. One possibility is to issue Creative Commons licenses.

Profit-oriented companies often have a hard time releasing knowledge or even elaborate prototypes. The situation differs for government organizations, non-profit companies, startups, or charitable foundations. Their purposes often revolve around challenges with greater, even global implications, such as equal education for all, democratization and basic human rights.

Design Thinking and open innovation

How the Design Thinking mindset contributes to open innovation 

A mindset shaped by Design Thinking, among other things, characterizes changes in perspective and a high degree of empathy. In addition, collecting and structuring complex information is part of the Design Thinking process. These components predestine Design Thinking to be human-centered systems thinking for open innovation. 

The approach to open innovation at the HPI d-school

At the HPI d-school, we develop design approaches to open innovation processes based on Design Thinking. This enables us to overcome various challenges in the innovation process:

Our offers for developing your open innovation skills

In our Design Thinking Studios on open innovation in the Academic Programs area, you will expand your existing knowledge and methods of Design Thinking as part of an additional course of study. You will learn how to practice human-centered systems thinking to generate concrete solutions for complex problems in our society and planet and to feed the results into the shared, open knowledge pool.

Find out now about the next application deadline.

Design Thinking Studio Open Innovation