Modul

The assessment is carried out as a general exam (according to Section 4(2), 3 of the examination regulation). The overall grade of the module is the grade of the examination (according to Section 4(2), 3 of the examination regulation).

• Deep knowledge of the innovation method Design Thinking, as introduced and promoted by Stanford University
• Development of new, creative solutions through extensive observation of oneself and one's environment, in particular with regard to the relevant service users
• Know how to use prototyping and experimentation to visualize one's ideas, to test and iteratively develop them, and to converge on a solution
• Learn to apply the method to a real innovation projects issued by industry partners.

None

• Paper Bike: Learning about the basic method elements by building a paper bike that has to fulfill a given set of challenges. The bikes will be tested in a race during an international Kick-Off event with other universities of the SUGAR network (intern. Design Thinking network).
• Design Space Exploration: Exploring the problem space through customer and user observation as well as desk research.
• Critical Function Prototype: Identification of critical features from the customer's perspective that can contribute to the solution of the overarching problem. Building and testing prototypes that integrate these functionalities.
• Dark Horse Prototype: Inverting earlier assumptions and experiences, which leads to the inclusion of new features and solutions. Developing radically new ideas are in the focus of this phase.
• Funky Prototype: Integration of the individually tested and successful functions to several complete solution scenarios, which are further tested and developed.
• Functional Prototype: Selection of successful scenarios from the previous phase and building a higher resolution prototype. The final solution to the challenge is lade out in detail and tested with users.
• Final Prototype: Implementing the functional prototype and presenting it to the customer.

This course is held in English – proficiency in writing and communication is required.

Our past students recommend to take this course at the beginning of the masters program.

The total amount of work for this module is approx. 270 hours (9 credits). The workload for this course is comparably high as the course runs in cooperation with partner universities from around the world as well as partner companies. This causes overhead.