UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — As an international leader in engineering design and design thinking education, Penn State’s College of Engineering recently joined the Global Design Thinking Alliance (GDTA) as an affiliated member.
The GDTA, a worldwide network of higher education institutions spanning five continents and 15 countries, aims to teach, research and enhance the development of design thinking methods and mindsets.
Founded in September 2017 at the d.confestival in Potsdam, Germany, the GDTA leverages design thinking as a human-centered, creative problem-solving process. The approach encourages designers to focus on the people for whom they are creating, ultimately leading to better product, service and process design. Founding members include HPI D-School University of Potsdam; OpenLab; The London School of Economics and Political Science; V&A Museum of Design; Ivey Business School, Western University; UBC School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, The University of British Columbia; HPI D-School University of Cape Town; d.school Malaysia; UTS Business School, University of Technology Sydney; QUT Design Lab Queensland University of Technology; and CUC Communication University of China.
As the only member in the United States, the Penn State College of Engineering joins affiliated members Tecnológico de Monterrey; Universidad Mayor; Echos Innovation Lab; and the American University in Cairo, Center for Learning and Technology.
“Being a member of the GDTA aligns us with some of the top design thinking programs, trainers and practitioners in the world,” said Matt Parkinson, director of the Bernard M. Gordon Learning Factory and professor of engineering design and mechanical engineering. “It provides us with colleagues and opportunities to hone our own craft while expanding the design thinking capabilities of other member institutions.”