GEDS was invited to Sabanci University Energy Technologies and Management Executive Master Programme as a part of the “Strategic Management of Technology and Innovation” module. According to Umut Ekmekçi, the programme coordinator, “this module places innovation as the major drivers of economic growth and competitiveness,” and “the emphasis on human-centric innovation in design thinking is a valuable asset for the programme.”
The session, which was aimed at raising awareness about human-centric innovation in energy, was made up of a 1-day design workshop with the members of the programme. The workshop prompted the participants to empathize with their end-users and look at energy-related issues from a human perspective. Through a set of design tools, they were able to get a comprehension energy’s role in people’s everyday lives, problematic encounters, and how they can be translated it into human-centric solutions which enhances people’s interaction with energy.
At the end of the session, the participants came up with a wide range of possible solutions including web apps for tracking individual and community-based energy use, special energy payment programmes, new forms of mobile energy use, and various energy-related business ideas.
