Design Thinking for Innovation
Launching Our 2024 Innovation Training Programme

We were delighted to host our first Design Thinking Innovation Training Workshop of 2024 in our studio in Shanghai this January, with participants from leading medical device and pharmaceutical companies.

Under the guidance and mentorship of our colleagues Vicky Hong, Principal – Research, and Jasper Hu, Senior Consultant – Industrial Design at PDD, attendees from various backgrounds including strategic and digital innovation, design, product management, system engineering and structural and software engineering, worked collectively to experience and learn how to apply various innovation methodologies and tools to address diverse business challenges.

At PDD, our human-centred design approach aligns with the core principles of Design Thinking. Yet, crucially, we advocate that innovation is not just about thinking but doing – bringing ideas to fruition. Guided by a rational methodology, our workshops encourage creativity and provide effective communication and co-creation tools for multidisciplinary innovation teams.

Over two days, participants could temporarily step out of their daily work routines to approach challenges from a ‘human-centred’ perspective to establish empathy, articulate insights, engage in divergent thinking, and present and evaluate solutions. They engaged in hands-on exercises of visual thinking, concept posters, model creation, and even usability testing scenarios.

The workshop enabled participants to freely exchange insights on design thinking and innovation methodologies with the PDD mentors. During the two days, attendees followed a ‘learning by doing’ approach, and were able to use various design thinking tools and ‘deep-dive’ into specific product design and usability challenges.

We received great feedback after the session and look forward to our next Innovation Training Workshops in Shanghai and London in the spring.

If you would like to learn more, get in touch!

Capturing spontaneous insights and thoughts by jotting them down with pen and paper.

Utilising a creativity matrix to discuss, share, and select ideas.

Incorporating creative inputs from all team members into a summary using conceptual posters.

Usability Testing: Participants working on tasks to gauge user experience and satisfaction.