Abstract
Digital transformation is changing every aspect of our world. Some of these changes are for the better, others less so. Software, for instance, can make the everyday life of the user exhausting if new products have to be used at work that are difficult to understand and handle. On the other hand, very welcome avenues of action can be opened up that would be inconceivable without digital technology. Digitization thereby provides a chance to change many things in the world for the better, but this is not a foregone conclusion. In order for digitization to make a positive difference, developers of software systems need to be more than proven experts in technical subjects, they also need to be capable innovators. The Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI) offers digital engineering degree programs to train the internationally competitive next generation of managers who will help shape and advance the digital world. Meeting this demand depends on developing technical expertise and creative innovation skills in equal measures. At the HPI and Stanford University, Design Thinking is an important part of education and work culture, where students learn to make good use of their specialist knowledge when shaping the digital future. This way, technical education is being modernized and opened up, ensuring that it goes far beyond the usual analytical and deductive engineering education, thus preparing students for their work as innovators. Technical degree programs in the past primarily sought to enable students to incrementally improve existing solutions and optimize systems. Especially in the field of digitization, however, software developers and architects are always working in areas where immediate changes are necessary and highly desirable. Design Thinking helps students learn to explore what is desirable and then realize these desirable solutions by applying cross-disciplinary expertise.
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Meinel, C., Thienen, J.V. (2022). Design Thinking—Enabling Digital Engineering Students to be Creative and Innovate. In: Meinel, C., Krohn, T. (eds) Design Thinking in Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-89113-8_2
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