Hasso-Plattner-Institut
 

Community Building Workshop Fall 2020

25th Community Building Workshop of the Design Thinking Research Program in Stanford
25th Community Building Workshop of the Design Thinking Research Program in Stanford

DTRP Community Building Workshop

From September 8 to 10, 2020, researchers from HPI and Stanford University met virtually for the 25th Community Building Workshop of the joint Hasso Plattner Design Thinking Research Program (HPDTRP), which was held in memory of HPI researcher Matthias Wenzel. For the second time, the workshop was held in a purely virtual format, this time organized by the HPI School of Design Thinking in Potsdam.  

Over three days, each of the currently funded 16 project teams had the opportunity to present and discuss the results of their work to the research community and guest auditors; also teams were able to work on specific problems or questions in virtual interactive sessions.

The program directors Professor Christoph Meinel and Professor Larry Leifer opened the interdisciplinary workshop, which represents the conclusion of the HPDTRP program year 2019-2020 and announced an even closer cooperation between the two institutions for the future. 

In addition to the presentations of the research teams from Stanford and HPI, external speakers also gave riveting keynote speeches. In his keynote on the first day of the workshop, Dr. Arndt Pechstein talked about "Hybrid Thinking" - a new method for mastering complex challenges that combines established approaches such as design thinking, lean startup, systems thinking, biomimicry, neuroscience and circular economy to develop reliable solutions in volatile times. On the second day, a Neurodesign Symposium was also held, where new research findings from Stanford University and HPI were presented. Irene Sophia Plank, PhD Fellow at the Einstein Center for Neurosciences, reflected in the symposium keynote her insights on the "neuroscience of empathy".

Concluding statements by Prof. Christoph Meinel on the third day of the workshop praised the work of the researchers and gave an outlook on the 13th program year with its 15 funded projects.

The 25th Community Building Workshop was successful in many respects: the research teams communicated research results, supported each other with valuable feedback, promoted collaboration between the two institutes and strengthened community through informal exchange.