Design Thinking Innovation Assignment

As a follow up to the presentation given during class on Sep. 21, 2019, please invoke your creativity in the following entrepreneurial assignment:

Prepare a one-page Action Plan that captures your proposed Design Thinking Innovation methodology. The methodology solves a problem – usually leveraging multi-disciplinary components – and involves:

1. Understanding the Problem – from a myriad of viewpoints, perspectives, angles, considerations, and biases; it also helps to understand the problem by calling on subject matter experts for information and insight on what they know about the problem.

2. Thinking Different – by considering users’ viewpoints and their pre-conceived positions.

3. Proposing Innovative Solutions – that are actionable, effective, and viable – and conveyed using the Form-Function-Benefit framework.

(In real-world applications, Design Thinking Innovation methodology includes a fourth step: #4 is to incrementally improve prototypes and enhance solutions that are works-in-progress. To wit: “Good, better, best; never let it rest. Until your good is better; and your better is your best.” For this assignment, however, skip step #4.)

Choose one of the following five problems and base your proposed one-page Action Plan using design thinking innovation methodologies to:

1. Find a scalable cure for breast cancer by 2030.
2. Achieve successful man- or unmanned-space travel to distant stars by 2040.
3. Reduce non-biodegradable waste in landfills by 50% of 2018 levels by 2035.
4. Harness energy stored in air vapor by 2020 so as to transform it into a viable source of alternative energy – thereby reducing the global energy crisis.
5. Increase the percentage of women in engineering to 25% of the world’s number of practicing engineers registered in 2025.

Your one-page Action Plan should include three headings:

1. Understanding the Problem (including information and insights from subject matter experts);

2. Thinking Different (“Why not?” and “What if?” in search of creative, imaginative solutions); and

3. Proposed Innovative Solutions (using the Form-Function-Benefit framework; see below).

Under each heading, list a series of bullet points that describe the steps taken in following your proposed Design Thinking Innovation methodology.

A Primer on Design Thinking Innovation

1. Design Thinking Innovation uses proven methods for creatively solving problems. The methodology applied first defines the problem and then proposes unconventional proposed solutions for solving identified problem. That activity is followed by the next step which proposes innovative, actionable, effective solutions. In completing the method’s third step, Engineers as Design Thinkers (EDTs) place the needs/wants of the customer or user at the core of the problem-solving process.

EDTs start by correctly Identifying Problems to be solved. Then they research the situation – best by talking to subject matter experts to better understand the problem’s causes and effects. Keen observation and asking open-ended questions contribute valuable insights during the methodology’s first step. By understanding problems emphatically, EDTs are in a position to shatter the status quo in pursuit of game-changing, viable innovations. EDTs develop background knowledge through these experiences and use their learnings to springboard themselves forward into solving problems.

2. The methodology’s second step is to Think Different. In doing so, EDTs acquire new perspectives by thinking unconventionally, blasting apart the status quo, and eliciting reactions (and recommendations) from customers, subject matter experts, and extreme users.

3. The third step is to Propose Innovative Solutions. “Ideation” is a critical component of design thinking innovation. The key is to brainstorm a myriad of ideas while suspending judgment – positive or negative – on the ideas generated. No idea is too crazy and no ideas are to be dismissed without careful, thoughtful consideration. Ideation is about being imaginative and having fun in arriving at actionable, effective, and viable solutions.

Design Thinking Innovation and Form-Function-Benefit Framework

“This pill cures cancer and saves lives.”

Form: Pill

Function: Cures Cancer

Benefit: Saves Lives