Dear Wolf Dr. Siegert,

After our summer break and numerous special events in September and October, we would like to invite you to our final GDTA Spotlight webinar in 2022 - an opportunity for global Design Thinkers to gather online to discuss the latest developments in our community. The session will take place on December 8th, 2022, at 3:00 pm (CET) via Zoom.

GDTA Spotlight
"Reflections from the 2022 Global Design Thinking Festival"

Register for the Spotlight

In 2022, the GDTA set out to celebrate Design Thinking coming of age, as well as the discipline’s global expansion.

In September, the HPI School of Design Thinking in Potsdam celebrated its 15th anniversary with its Design Thinking ImpAct Conference – with students, alumni, project partners, friends, and family attending the two-day conference, along with more than 50 speakers.

All celebrations culminated with the third d.confestival – a Design Thinking conference-meets-festival hosted at the newly built HPI d-school building (funded by the Hasso Plattner Foundation), home to the Hasso Plattner d-school Afrika at the University of Cape Town in October.

Over the course of three days, the d.confestival brought together a boisterous mix of change-makers from business, government, education, and social development to celebrate the success of Design Thinking globally and explore its potential for dialing up Africa’s creative potential to solve complex problems across the continent.

There were two big celebratory moments at the d.confestival: firstly, the GDTA celebrated its five-year anniversary of connecting the international Design Thinking community with members and delegates who attended.
Secondly, and with what was an African celebration of note, the official opening of the HPI d-school building was a momentous occasion as over 400 guests attended, explored the building and event experiences, and danced the night away to local talent, a night to remember. The building was officially launched by Prof Dr. Hasso Plattner and Prof Mamokgethi Phakeng, UCT’s Vice-Chancellor, who unveiled the building naming plaque before the dancing began on October 13th.

On the last day of the d.confestival, it wrapped up with the announcement of the winning teams for the Global Design Thinking Challenge (a four-week hybrid challenge) to innovate and create solutions for the fourth UN Sustainable Development Goal. As part of this Challenge, learners had the opportunity to create global impact.

Our speakers:

Join us at the next Spotlight session for in-conversation reflection talks by Prof. Uli Weinberg, GDTA President and Director at the HPI School of Design Thinking, Jenni van Niekerk, Program Curator d.confestival, Prof. Mugendi Kanampiu M’Rithaa (tbc), Transdisciplinary Industrial Designer/Educator/Researcher, Dr. Claudia Nicolai, Academic Director at the HPI School of Design Thinking, and Sherif Osman, Program Lead at the HPI School of Design Thinking.

Please feel free to spread the word about the event!

We look forward to an insightful discussion and to virtually meeting you on December 8th, 2022! If you have any questions, please contact info@gdta.org.

Best wishes,

Global Design Thinking Alliance and Hasso Plattner Institute