Ludwigshafen - As part of the Master's programme in Business Information Systems at HWG Ludwigshafen, students have used the Design Thinking method to develop innovative solutions for directly practice-relevant tasks of companies and organisations from the Rhine-Neckar metropolitan region. In the current semester, the following sponsors have set a "Design Thinking Challenge": MVV Energie, the IT service company Valantic, the start-up BioGenom, as well as the organisers themselves, the network organisation 5-HT and Ludwigshafen University of Applied Sciences.
Design thinking is a user-centred and iterative-experimental approach to finding creative solutions to complex problems. According to all participating companies and organisations, this was very successful: "We will definitely implement the results" - this was emphasised several times in the closing statements after the students' presentations. The very well organised and professional cooperation between the student teams and the contact persons of the companies was praised throughout. And some participants from the company sponsors emphasised that not only the result but also the method itself was very interesting for them. An important additional advantage: new contacts and networks could be created between the students and the companies as well as among the stakeholders.
Conversely, the students also gained important insights under the guidance of course leader Prof. Dr. Martin Selchert. Perhaps the most important experience was that the techniques taught in the courses and discussed with examples really work in practice. The teams managed to deal with the highly complex tasks, to work out the core problem under the originally formulated question with the companies and to solve it systematically and creatively - up to the first stages of tested prototypes such as a platform for digital customer interaction in a complex buying centre via a database solution in knowledge management, the control of lead generation via an intelligently constructed dashboard, the concept of an online presence incl. inspiring AI-generated video up to a highly innovative partnership model incl. professionally designed website.
A success factor of the course has again been the cooperation with the network organisation 5-HT, which strengthens the cooperation between universities, companies and start-ups at the "Digital Qualifier" to develop innovative solutions for the industry.
If you as a company are interested in participating in the Design Thinking Challenge 2024, please contact the course leader Prof. Dr. Martin Selchert (martin.selchert@ 8< SPAM protection, please remove >8 hwg-lu.de): We look forward to the mutually beneficial cooperation!
Text & picture: Prof. Martin Selchert
