The founding of the Global Design Thinking Alliance (GDTA) was announced during the d.confestival in Potsdam. At a festive gala evening celebrating the 10th anniversary of Design Thinking at Hasso Plattner Institute, the eleven founding members officially signed a letter of intent for the alliance. The GDTA aims to be a global network of institutions that teach, research and further develop the methods and mindset of Design Thinking world-wide. We spoke with GDTA president Uli Weinberg about the foundation and goals of the new alliance.

“The time has come to drive network thinking at global level. The GDTA will help us do just that.” – Uli Weinberg

Why did you start the Global Design Thinking Association?

We thought that ten years after the start of Design Thinking in Germany is a very good point in time to get together all the larger institutions around the planet who are actively transferring Design Thinking into the world of business and into the education field. We want to gather those organizations that are spreading the word of Design Thinking and innovation, and join forces to encourage transformation, to identify similarities and differences, to share experiences and make Design Thinking more stable and valid with our network.

How did the international connections change the way you work?

The HPI School of Design Thinking got invited to help organizations in China, in Malaysia, in Sweden and in South Africa to start Design Thinking activities there. These collaborations helped us to constantly improve our own picture of what Design Thinking is. It helped us to define certain kinds of qualities: How long does it take to be a good Design Thinking coach? How long does it take to set up a class curriculum or to bring cultural change with Design Thinking into an organization? Now it is time to consolidate that knowledge. The Design Thinking community needs to grow together and foster a more systematic exchange between the different institutions.

How important is quality control in Design Thinking?

At the HPI we see that certification is becoming more and more valuable, specially for large corporations. We need to make clear that there is a process which guarantees a certain kind of minimum quality if you want to integrate Design Thinking in large corporate structures, in a certain amount of time, and to help people think and work differently. You really need a qualification, an intense set of experience to facilitate these kind of transformation processes. We want to ensure that there is a guaranteed quality for Design Thinking coaches all over the planet. With the Global Design Thinking Association we for the first time have the chance to enable global companies to access different resources, in different countries at the same time. We were not able to do that before.

What do you expect for the near future of the GDTA?

I am very happy that the eleven founding members of the GDTA already represent five continents. Over the next years we expect a large number of organizations and institutions approaching us, but not only academic institutions. The education field with the student education as well as professional education and research, is at the core of the GDTA but the interest from the industry is very strong. Corporations are very interested in sharing and learning about Design Thinking and transformation processes. I am sure there will also be a lot of individuals who are interested in becoming a member of the GDTA. If you are a Design Thinking professional working as a freelancer it is highly interesting for you to get access to a global network. You can hop from one country to another and see different institutions, be involved in corporate as well as academic trainings. Our members benefit from being part of the Design Thinking movement and help changing the way we educate people.