Hasso Plattner School of Design Thinking at the University of Cape Town

General information

The Hasso Plattner Institute of Design Thinking at the University of Cape Town (d-school) is the only dedicated academic institution in the region which offers academic training and capacitation in design thinking to university scholars and professionals in the public and private sectors.
The d-school was founded in Cape Town in August 2015 with funding, IP and academic support from Prof. Dr. Hasso Plattner - co-founder of software company, SAP AG, and chairman of its Supervisory Board - and the Hasso Plattner Trust. Professor Plattner initiated and funded the first academic programmes in design thinking.
The establishment of the HPI Schools of Design Thinking at Stanford in the US in 2005, and at Potsdam in Germany in 2007, brought academic rigour to design-led innovation practice, and made training programmes in design thinking available to academic scholars and leaders in the private and public sectors.
Students from all disciplines and industry and government executives come together at the d-school to learn to work collaboratively in diverse and inclusive multi-disciplinary teams on real world callenges and to develop human-centred innovative solutions.