Yesterday, 20 students from Russia, the Netherlands, and Germany with different educational backgrounds participated in an 8 hour Design Thinking Jam which was part of the pre-conference program of the 11th International Conference Wirtschaftsinformatik.
After an introduction round, the event started with a presentation about the main concepts of In-Memory Computing and SAP HANA. Henning Schmitz from the SAP Innovation Center in Potsdam showcased the advantages of this innovative technology and presented two prototypes which were built on SAP HANA; The Bigpoint prototype was implemented with the Hamburg based gaming company Bigpoint. It shows how high numbers of events - as created in an online game by the users – can be processed and leverage in an innovative application. The second prototype was developed with Charité, a Berlin hospital. The Onkolizer demonstrates how SAP HANA can help physicians in treating cancer. The prototype features an iPad user interface and utilizes the text engine capabilities of SAP HANA. The presentation introduced the capabilities of SAP HANA which enable applications that go well beyond classical SAP ERP solutions. This helped the participants in the Design Thinking challenge to think outside the box and consider this new technology for their solutions.
Then, Carsten Becker introduced the Design Thinking method to the audience. Throughout the day, the students were guided through the six main steps of the Design Thinking approach: Scoping, 360° Research, Synthesis, Ideate, Prototype, and Validate. Time boxing, team work, and customer focus built the essential elements. During the workshop, the participants experienced how the Design Thinking process helps them to understand abstract problems, and apply the method to solve the challenge by creating conceptual prototypes.
The team challenges dealt with the overall topic Better Cities, Better Lives:
- Education - Redesign the information and interaction experience for parents in the context of schools.
- Better my Journey - Redesign the service experience for commuters and city inhabitants in the context of getting around in the city.
- Free Parking ad-hoc - Redesign the service experience for visitors of the city or big events in the context of finding a parking lot.
The results of the Design Thinking Jam were presented to the academic world during the WI conference.
A big thank you to all of the participants who came up with great ideas and showed a lot team spirit and enthusiasm!
***
Check out some impression from the event on Facebook!
