Executive Education

Driving Innovation through Design Thinking

Develop practical and innovative solutions for your business problems

Design Thinking provides a solution-based approach to solving problems. It revolves around developing an understanding of the people for whom we're designing the products or services. We use human-centered techniques to drive innovation and creativity to foster better business practices.

Offered by Executive Education HEC Montréal, this dynamic hands-on workshop explores the core principles of Design Thinking. In two days, you will understand the five phases of Design Thinking: 1. Empathize, 2. Define, 3. Ideate, 4. Prototype, 5. Test, and develop a powerful concrete approach to creating value.

Stay tuned for future offerings of this program! Please contact us to notify you when it will be offered again. You may also subscribe to our email list for Executive Education program updates and exclusive event invitations.

Who is this for?

This program is for managers and professionals responsible for innovation initiatives.

“Unlike many solution-based tools, the Design Thinking journey starts from the problem and, through a flowing process, innovative ideas surface to the rescue. I found it fascinating to see how collective ideas can give birth to novel solutions.”

Shahryar Nouraei - Special Assignment Manager, FortisBC

Benefits for you

Learn a practical approach to innovation, based on usage and prototyping
Experiment with the nuts and bolts of design thinking and its implementation in real-world applications
Become proficient in design thinking’s powerful innovation-oriented processes and methods

Program content

Day one:

Introduction to design thinking: The art and science of design thinking
Design thinking in action: The “gift”
Observe/understand: Empathize with clients/users of all kinds; what they say and what they feel
Visualize: Develop personas to tap into client/user experiences
Capture: Capitalize on insights and ideate
Do: Prototype ideas
Assess: Overcome the challenge of generating value
Recap: Surprising outcomes and success stories

Day two:

Share and persuade: Design of seducing/swaying
Presentations and discussions
Reconfigure: Implementing design thinking in an organization
Lead: Staging of the “design” moment
Pilot: Leadership and management for continuous innovation

Special features

This program presents a hands-on, highly effective approach to innovation, with a focus on collaboration and concrete problem solving.

Download full program description

Program leaders

Dr. Niels Billou

Niels is an experienced business consultant and expert in entrepreneurship, innovation and design thinking. He has rolled out various executive programs in these areas, which he has shared with top multinationals around the world, including Bosch-Siemens, IBM and Nokia. He has also taught at several prestigious business schools such as HEC Montréal, and is the recipient of numerous international awards in his field.

Dr. Laurent Simon

Laurent teaches innovation/creation management at HEC Montréal. His work focuses on the management of innovation projects in creative industries (including the video-games industry) and opening new perspectives on knowledge management. He is the co-director of Mosaic, a research group dedicated to the management of creation in an innovative society. He also acts as an organizational consultant on managing creation, creative organizations, and creative cities.

Upcoming sessions

For financial assistance opportunities, please refer to Financial Assistance, Scholarships and Team Rates .

Contact a learning advisor for more details.
Get in touch

604.822.8400 or 1.800.618.3932
exec.ed@sauder.ubc.ca

Visit our contact page for more information.

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