Hasso Plattner Institute of Design

Hasso Plattner Institute of Design
Name	Hasso Plattner Institute of Design
Other names	d.school
Established	2005
Type	Research institute
Location	Potsdam, Germany
Parent	University of Potsdam
Founder	Hasso Plattner

Contents

Hasso Plattner Institute of Design is a postgraduate institute focused on design thinking pedagogy and interdisciplinary innovation practice, affiliated with the University of Potsdam. Founded through the endowment of Hasso Plattner and modeled after the design laboratories of Stanford University and the d.school (Stanford), the institute serves as a hub connecting industry partners such as SAP SE and international research networks like the Fraunhofer Society. It emphasizes project-based learning with ties to institutions including Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Imperial College London, ETH Zurich, Tsinghua University, and National University of Singapore.

History

The institute traces origins to philanthropic initiatives by Hasso Plattner and institutional collaborations with University of Potsdam and advisory input from thinkers associated with Stanford University, IDEO, and Bruce Nussbaum. Its formation involved partnerships with enterprises such as SAP SE, Siemens, and Deutsche Telekom, and drew academic exchange with centers like MIT Media Lab and Royal College of Art. Early milestones included cooperative projects with the Max Planck Society, grant awards from the German Research Foundation, and alignment with European programs led by European Commission frameworks. The institute expanded amid dialogues involving figures from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, World Economic Forum, and research links to Harvard University, Yale University, Columbia University, and Princeton University.

Located on the campus of the University of Potsdam, the institute occupies purpose-built studios, prototyping workshops, and digital fabrication labs equipped in collaboration with vendors such as 3M, Bosch, and Trumpf. Shared facilities include makerspaces modeled after the Fab Lab concept and labs influenced by practices at MIT Media Lab, with tools from Stratasys, Ultimaker, and Epson. The campus setting offers proximate access to regional organizations like the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and cultural venues including Sanssouci Palace and links to transport nodes connecting to Berlin Hauptbahnhof and Berlin Brandenburg Airport.

Programs span postgraduate degrees, professional master's curricula, executive education, and short courses co-developed with partners such as Stanford Graduate School of Business, INSEAD, and London Business School. Courses integrate methods from IDEO, Tangible Media Group, and curricula influenced by scholars from Carnegie Mellon University, Delft University of Technology, and Politecnico di Milano. Pedagogy emphasizes human-centered design with studio modules, capstone projects, and collaboration with corporations including BMW, Daimler, Bosch, Siemens, Allianz, and NGOs like Oxfam and Doctors Without Borders (). Assessment frameworks reflect standards discussed at conferences including CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, ACM SIGGRAPH, and NeurIPS.

Research areas include interaction design, service design, systems innovation, and socio-technical transitions, producing work cited alongside investigations from Fraunhofer Society, Max Planck Society, and Leibniz Association. Projects have addressed public-sector transformation in collaboration with Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, digital health initiatives with partners such as Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin and Roche, and sustainability research with European Environment Agency affiliates and UNEP. The institute participates in EU research consortia with universities like KU Leuven, University of Cambridge, University of Oxford, and Università di Bologna, and contributes to standards dialogues involving ISO and IEC. Innovation outcomes include startups incubated in programs modeled after Y Combinator, Techstars, and accelerators hosted with regional partners such as IHP Microelectronics. Publications and exhibitions have appeared at venues including Venice Biennale, International Design Biennale Saint-Étienne, and journals associated with Springer and IEEE.

Strategic collaborations span multinational corporations, startups, public institutions, and cultural organizations: long-term industrial partners include SAP SE, Siemens, Deutsche Telekom, BMW Group, Daimler AG, Bosch Gruppe, and Allianz SE. Academic exchange occurs with Stanford University, MIT, ETH Zurich, Imperial College London, Tsinghua University, and National University of Singapore. Civic and NGO partners have included UNICEF, World Health Organization, Red Cross, and Transparency International. Funding and programmatic cooperation have engaged philanthropic entities such as the Hasso Plattner Foundation, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Robert Bosch Stiftung, while technology collaborations have linked with vendors like Microsoft, Google, Apple Inc., Amazon Web Services, and NVIDIA.

Affiliated faculty, advisors, and visiting scholars have included designers and academics connected to IDEO, Don Norman, John Maeda, Herbert Simon’s intellectual lineage, and collaborators from Stanford d.school, MIT Media Lab, and Royal College of Art. Alumni have founded ventures in sectors tied to partners such as SAP, Siemens, BMW, Bosch, Roche, Deutsche Bahn, Zalando, Delivery Hero, and accelerator networks like Y Combinator and Techstars. Institute affiliates have presented work at TED, SXSW, World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, and have been recognized by awards including German Design Award, Red Dot Design Award, iF Design Award, and grants from the European Research Council.

Category:Design schools in Germany Category:University of Potsdam