Partnership opportunities

The project partnership in an 8-week project is particularly suitable for getting to know design thinking and the work and learning culture at the HPI d-school using problems of low or medium complexity. For projects in the Foundations program, we are happy to work with companies and organizations from the greater Berlin-Brandenburg area. The aim of the design challenge should be product and service development.

During the 8-week project, two multidisciplinary student teams develop innovative, human-centered solution proposals through concept ideas and prototypes with the support of experienced design thinking coaches. The teams also formulate initial approaches to implementing the ideas in your organization.

The teams present the project ideas and their development process to you in a large final presentation and detailed written documentation.

Six project partner places are available per semester.

The project partnership in a 16-week project offers scope for more complex problems. The longer processing time enables particularly sophisticated solutions. This requires more intensive cooperation from the project partner.

Regional, national or international projects can be worked on in Design Thinking Studios. A multidisciplinary team of students develops innovative and human-centered solution proposals in several iteration loops with the support of experienced coaches. This creates innovative concepts and prototypes. In close collaboration with the project partner, options for implementation and approaches for a business design can also be formulated.

At the end of the project, the developed solution approaches are documented and presented using one or more functional prototypes. This documentation contains the insights and background that led to the development of the idea. This means that the solution approach can be experienced directly and is ideal for communicating ideas tangibly and quickly to third parties.

A project partnership automatically includes membership in a Design Studio and thus offers the opportunity to get involved in the academic program with students and experts over the long term.

There are three project partner places available per Studio per semester.

Focus topics of Design Thinking Studios from 2024:

• Sustainability
• Open innovation

From 2025:

• Digital health
• Social innovation

The HPI School of Design Thinking developed the Global Design Thinking Workshop (GDTW) for HPI students and external participants. The program consists of three workshops, each dealing in depth with a central aspect of design thinking.

At each GDTW, we work with a partner organization, with whom we develop a suitable design challenge for the workshop's respective focus. The Global Design Thinking Workshop has a project duration of 1 week and consists of seven intensive workshop days, two of which are mandatory for partner organizations.

During the past Global Design Thinking workshops, we worked with, among others, the Central Association of German Crafts (ZDH), Deutsche Bahn, ING Diba, the Federal Association of German Industry (BDI), Interhyp and TelescopeEffekt.

The advantages of a project partnership at a glance.