Entangling corporate innovation, systems thinking and design thinking

Abstract

The world faces an increasing number of environmental problems such as climate change, depletion of biodiversity, plastic pollution and the side effects of mining. In a world with so many environmental challenges creating additional consumer items, even when they are labelled environmentally friendly, can and does have environmental consequences. We suggest that design thinking can and should include a more holistic systems thinking perspective as part of its drive to encourage corporate innovation. We argue that design thinking should take a much wider view of who are their stakeholders. In order to demonstrate the connection between corporate innovation, systems thinking and design thinking, we draw on a case study regarding the creation of a new data center. The case demonstrates how design thinking with elements of system thinking can be used to generate solutions that has positive impacts for multiple stakeholders, including the environment. The case study demonstrates that these combined perspectives can also be used as a teaching model to shift students’ mindsets towards not just finding solutions that suit a customer or a project owner, but also the environment and other stakeholders. The case demonstrates that practical positive results can be generated over a short period of time, with little investment. The case also highlights a successful approach to industry/university collaborations. The research delves into the basics of systems thinking, and how there is a connection with design thinking. We then discuss the teaching methodology and approach to using design thinking/systems thinking to solve the case challenge. We then present the results of the challenge and the discussion regarding how such projects can play a role in shifting students’ mindset towards having a more environmentally friendly perspective while engaging in corporate innovation.