Thesis

Design Thinking in Hybrid Innovation Environments

Companies are exposed to constant competitive pressure and therefore need to establish successful innovation management and, in particular, increased customer orientation. In this context, the Design Thinking (DT) methodology for problem solving and idea generation has become increasingly popular over the last decade. Key success factors here are the development of empathic understanding for users and the physical collaboration of the DT team in analog workshops.

However, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, many processes that could previously take place physically have now had to be digitized. From a scientific perspective, it is exciting to explore the opportunities as well as challenges associated with the digitization of DT.

The goal of this thesis is to explore the underlying psychological mechanisms of such a transformation to generate new insights on this topic through a qualitative data analysis. Subsequently, recommendations for companies on how to successfully deal with hybrid DT in the future will be derived.

If you are interested in this topic, please send your CV and a short letter of motivation to minet@time.rwth-aachen.de.

Keywords: Design Thinking, Digitization, Remote Work, Covid-19 Pandemic