First Global Design Thinking Week in Egypt

The HPI School of Design Thinking and the American University in Cairo (AUC) conducted the first Global Design Thinking Week (GDTW) in Egypt from July 2-5, 2018.

Photos: American University in Cairo

Initiated by the Center for Learning and Teaching (CLT) the office of the Associate Provost for Research Innovation and Creativity, this first collaboration is considered a starting point for a two-year partnership between the HPI D-School and AUC. The cooperation aims at building AUC’s first cohort of Design Thinkers and coaches on the mission to establish AUC’s Center for Design Thinking.

During GDTW participants worked on a challenge provided by Valeo Egypt. Under the headline “Design the automated delivery experience for millennials, in a world where future smart mobility is rapidly changing” members of AUC faculty and staff worked in four teams together with Design Thinking coaches from HPI and AUC, , including an alumna of both AUC and HPI. They learned how to gain empathy, created ideas and built prototypes to improve the experience for delivery customers and delivery service providers.

During four days participants turned the traditional looking lecture and event hall on AUC Campus into a Design Thinking space with pin walls and whiteboards covered in post its, scribbles of possible design approaches and drawings of user journeys. The result: a colorful and thoughtful selection of potential concepts of delivery experience customization, digitalized processes and outlook to futuristic scenarios.

A Memorandum of Understanding signed by HPI D-School Co-Director Claudia Nicolai and AUC provost Ehab Abdelrahman aims at co-designing and co-delivering Design Thinking training programs for students and future coaches. Furthermore, the two academic institutions will be sharing Design Thinking tools and experiences that they gained in different cultural settings.