verena kontschieder

challenge help a worldwide leading German manufacturer adopt a new strategy by redesigning their own operating culture

approach in 2-day design sprints top- and mid-level managers created ideas for organizational change in teams. My focus was on empathy work with employees through interviewing as well as on story-telling of their ideas, to raise awareness for the human aspects under organizational transformation

outcome the most important idea of each sprint was presented to the company's board for implementation

challenge introduce human-centeredness to startup business modeling in the cleantech industry

approach by the use of LEGO I mapped how to use design methods as part of an international grad students' journey to create own startup business models solving environmental problems with technology

outcome not just train business and entrepreneurship yet also human-centeredness and design thinking as an empathy component to the implementation of business ideas in the world of tech

challenge develop prototyping scenarios for the creation of inclusive and socially desirable policies under 4th Industrial Revolution technologies (e.g., drones, blockchain, or precision medicine)

approach understand policy project managers' needs by one-on-one mapping conversations - comprehend stakeholder ecosystem and requirements - implement 2-step testing approach by virtual means as well as in-person workshops and interviews with speculative design elements

challenge develop an approach to decisionmaking for 4IR technologies and policymaking that is more flexible, adaptive, and preemptive

approach understand tech experts’ (diverse industries) and government entities' viewpoints on tech development and public policymaking - develop understanding of decision-making cycles within policy and corporate institutions - identify agility inhibitors and promoters

outcome agile governance toolkit that help decisionmakers in corporate, private and non-profit sectors navigate tech innovation strategies and management; presented at Davos 2019 and currently being iterated

challenge better engage youth in the MENA region in shaping their own future

approach through an understanding/observing, ideating, and synthesis phase six teams co-created what they perceived as the major challenges to treat when aiming at ‘better’ and ‘self-determined’ youth engagement in the MENA region - participants comprised activists, young entrepreneurs, and experts from research and/or other pertinent international organizations/ NGOs from and/or based in the MENA region

outcome a set of four policy priorities to tackle by the World Bank, co-created by the workshop participants and World Bank staff

challenge create user-centered proposals to the 12 task forces of the T20 to the G20 summit in Germany, 2017

approach 4-day design process starting with, most importantly, a profound understanding of the problem of the task force's (thus team's) policy challenge at hand - most importantly, so-called 'opportunity fields' were created: they served as priorities for the subsequent design run

outcome the team ideas were presented, supported by Axel Springer digital publishing house, to the G20 leaders

challenge identify how engineering product design can inform public policy making and vice versa

approach café sketch starting with a set of pre-determined key questions relevant to the challenge  - audio recording documents the conversation at the same time

outcome a new understanding for the public policymaking cycle

challenge create a makerspace in an alpine region that inspires (young) talents to work on own ideas and serve as a talent pool for partnering makerspace firms

approach gain understanding of the different viewpoints and interests in the makerspace from regional stakeholders' view - map the stakes and expectations with LEGO in a physical gathering facilitating the conversation by further design elements to attain a jointly desirable makerspace concept

outcome successful implementation of the first makerspace in the region, up and running since autumn 2016

challenge(s) explore the relationship of design, policy, and innovation: (i) understand the policy model of the future as proposed by policy labs (ii) determine the role of design for that future policy model and policy innovation needs in general (iii) identify means to problem and stakeholder selection as well as prototyping scenarios

approach service design and ethnographic research methods of 'policy labs', i..e, innovation spaces within the public sector, at international governance level

[PhD to be completed and published]

challenge set up an innovation framework for a major international development finance organization as part of their strategy policy team

approach (i) systems and constraint analysis based on document and quantitative analyses (ii) semi-structured interviews and snowballing, including observation, immersion and iterative prompts to open up for the solution stage. a narrated storybook makes the case for the recommended innovation action and activities

outcome storybook and innovation action toolkit are being integrated into inter-service consultation for implementation

challenge manage and host in-house innovation competition at a major international development organization, in line with her strategic priorities

approach introduce, guide and communicate innovation competition to crowdsource numerous ideas for a more innovative organization and policy-making. - how? by engaging staff through communication and design elements such as (i) PR campaigns featuring staff experiences (ii) open-the-envelope physical events (iii) carefully designed storytelling video campaigns or (iv) financing partnerships

outcome involvement of two thirds of the staff in either pitching or evaluating innovation proposals; 140 ideas crowdsourced with a dozen winning ideas across 6 strategic areas

challenge develop an idea venture concept for the in-house innovation lab of a globally operating development bank institution

approach (i) publicly available, secondary information on innovation labs and venture approaches was shortlisted and (ii) complemented with qualitative insights from one-on-one interviews on a handful of carefully selected, globally leading venture approaches

outcome the final point of view was integrated in the setup of the innovation lab, its strategy and operations