Design Thinking Matters Now. Relive the 2022 d.confestival. Read the official eMagazine
Design Thinking: empowering SMEs to drive South Africa’s economic growth
The South African economy faces several challenges, including sluggish economic growth, rising unemployment figures and continuous power cuts, which are adding more pressure on businesses across the board. Richard Perez, Director of the Hasso Plattner d-school Afrika* at the University of Cape Town, says, “Small and medium-size businesses could be …
Find more articles below
Design thinking: Intersections moving forward, mapping new paths
Traditional problem-solving approaches are insufficient for generating original ideas. That’s why exploring alternative pathways and collaborative methods to encourage fresh perspectives and novel thinking is important.
Find more articles below
Calvin Mayanta, winner of the 2022 Global Design Thinking Challenge, reflects on his journey to create inclusive education, personal experiences and the challenges that have shaped his drive to make a difference, as he continues to flourish and help others succeed.
Zulfah Albertyn-Blanchard, a former PhD student at UCT, discovered design thinking during her paediatrics and public health studies and later became a coach in the field. She believes design thinking transformed her problem-solving approach and emphasised the importance of understanding individual needs.
Succeeding as an entrepreneur in South Africa is trickier now than ever before. Slow economic growth, high inflation and loadshedding create a cocktail of challenges that are especially formidable for small and medium businesses. But Reitumetse Kholumo, award-winning start-up owner and d-school Afrika alumna has found a way to circumvent the obstacles while staying true to the core values driving her, inspiring other entrepreneurs to stay the course during these troubled times.
Jessica Ilunga is a d-school Afrika alumna and a storyteller-urbanist committed to unlocking new narratives in and about our cities.
Serial tech entrepreneurs Matthew Westaway and Lethabo Motsoaledi used a customer-centric approach to build their latest venture Voyc—a speech analytics service—into an award-winning company that currently monitors a million customer interactions a month in the UK and SA and helps clients cut customer complaints and build value.
March 7 2023
3:00 pm (GMT+0200)
The Hasso Plattner d-school Afrika at the University of Cape Town has partnered with IE University to host one of two global venture days of
the Tech4Democracy competition. Join us as we’ll be unveiling the best democracy-affirming technologies and startups from Asia-Pacific and
Africa. The winners will participate in the Global Final in Washington D.C.
March 6 2023
2:30 pm (GMT+0200)
The University of Cape Town has partnered with IE University as the host school of the 13th edition of the Reinventing Higher Education (un)conference that will be designed to be inclusive so that it reflects the aspirations we have for building a more equal and just society. This event will enable all the attendees at the event to have a voice and feel that their voice matters.
October 11 2022
1:00 pm (GMT+0200)
Join us for a high-impact master class with George Kembel, co-founder of Stanford d.school and keynote speaker at the d.confestival.
October 11 2022
2:00 pm (GMT+0200)
Join us for an impactful workshop ‘Creativity in Research – Gaining clarity, driving insights, making progress’ by Prof. Dr. Sebastian Kernbach.
November 1 2022
9:09 am (GMT+0200)
12-14 October 2022
The 2022 d.confestival was a conference-meets-festival hybrid hosted by the Hasso Plattner d-school Afrika in Africa’s first-ever purpose-built design thinking building at the University of Cape Town. Following the 2012 and 2017 events held in Potsdam, the 3-day festival celebrated the influence of design thinking in the worlds of management, public policy, research and education. The theme of the event was ‘Design Thinking Matters Now’, a provocation to reflect on the impact and relevance of design thinking to the priority challenges of our time.
The 2022 d.confestival was a conference-meets-festival hybrid hosted by the Hasso Plattner d-school Afrika in Africa’s first-ever purpose-built design thinking building at the University of Cape Town. Following the 2012 and 2017 events held in Potsdam, the 3-day festival celebrated the influence of design thinking in the worlds of management, public policy, research and education. The theme of the event was ‘Design Thinking Matters Now’, a provocation to reflect on the impact and relevance of design thinking to the priority challenges of our time.
Keep up to date with the latest news and information:
