The HPI-MIT “Designing for Sustainability” Program engages multidisciplinary research teams to investigate both innovation in all its dimensions and different application contexts as well as computer science for designing sustainable digital solutions. In particular, researchers should develop ambitious, long-term explorations related to the innovation strategies of design to generate sustainable impact for society across various domains of practice. The program applies rigorous academic research methods to understand the scientific basis for how and why design innovation works and fails. Design is understood broadly to include design research and thinking, design in the field of computer science, and design in entrepreneurship. Funded researchers study the complex interaction between members of multi-disciplinary teams challenged to deliver breakthrough product, service, and business-model sustainable design innovations.
The first HPI-MIT workshop "Designing for Sustainability" took place at the MIT campus in Cambridge, MA (US) at the end of March 2023. Professors from both institutions discussed multidisciplinary research topics and formed new transatlantic team constellations to diagnose existing challenges and propose solutions to complex international problems.
The research collaboration is supported by the Hasso Plattner Foundation and set up over eight years, with an interim evaluation after four years. The funded program will entail semi-annual research workshops, quarterly virtual seminars, and student exchanges between both institutes.