UVA Darden Professor Describes New Routes to Innovation

By Dave Hendrick


As design thinking matures and grows as a concept and toolkit, it is increasingly being put to use in a variety of settings. Speaking at Brainstorm Design 2018, a Singapore-based conference considering the power of design in the corporate setting, University of Virginia Darden School of Business Professor Jeanne Liedtka framed design and design thinking as going beyond simply tools to build a better product.

While valid for product development, Liedtka called design a “social technology” that allowed “a way to talk across differences” within an organization.

“We see design thinking being used and creating valuable results in organizations from startups to global corporations, from hospitals to schools,” Liedtka said during the talk. “Really anywhere we look we’re seeing a proliferation of these tools being put in the hands of employees at every level of the organization.”

Liedka has written extensively about design thinking and is the author of the recently published Design Thinking for Good: Innovation in the Social Sector.

Watch the video to see the full panel discussion or read additional coverage of the talk at Fortune.com

About the University of Virginia Darden School of Business

The University of Virginia Darden School of Business prepares responsible global leaders through unparalleled transformational learning experiences. Darden’s graduate degree programs (MBA, MSBA and Ph.D.) and Executive Education & Lifelong Learning programs offered by the Darden School Foundation set the stage for a lifetime of career advancement and impact. Darden’s top-ranked faculty, renowned for teaching excellence, inspires and shapes modern business leadership worldwide through research, thought leadership and business publishing. Darden has Grounds in Charlottesville, Virginia, and the Washington, D.C., area and a global community that includes 18,000 alumni in 90 countries. Darden was established in 1955 at the University of Virginia, a top public university founded by Thomas Jefferson in 1819 in Charlottesville, Virginia.

 

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