Teaching ‘design thinking’ in the context of Innovation Management - from process to a dialogue about principles

There has been increased interest in design and ‘design thinking’ in recent times. This has led to the development of a number of interdisciplinary courses where non-designers have the opportunity to learn so-called ‘design thinking’. However, ‘design thinking’ is an ambiguous concept, which is challenging when trying to apply it in non-design learning and teaching contexts: notably, for this study, innovation management. The aim of this study has two aspects: first, a conceptual one, to articulate what ‘design thinking’ means in context of a design-driven approach to innovation management; and second, a more practical one, to consider how it could be taught in this context. In this paper, a seminar called ‘Design Thinking’ is analysed along with key texts within the range of design thinking discourses. This paper concludes by identifying the principles underlying ‘design thinking’ and develops a teaching framework based on these principles, by using the model of action research. This study is therefore the first stage in an on-going action research project.