About · Research
Research on design thinking
Researchers from member universities study three questions: how design thinking is taught, how companies use it and how it affects business success.

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Publications
Papers and books from the SUGAR community. Members can send us their design thinking papers.
- 2025 How to Start Strong: Different Approaches for Crafting Project Briefs with Corporate Sponsors for Global Innovation and STEM-Based Team Projects – Carleton, T. & Uebernickel, F. · Springer, Cham
- 2022 A managerial mental model to drive innovation in the context of digital transformation – Danielly de Paula, Carolin Marx, Ella Wolf, Christian Dremel, Kathryn Cormican & Falk Uebernickel · Industry and Innovation Journal, 1-24. DOI: 10.1080/13662716.2022.2072711
- 2022 Design Thinking: a Global Study on Implementation Practices in Organizations Past - Present - Future – Gerken, S., Uebernickel, F., & de Paula, D. · Universitätsverlag Potsdam
- 2022 From Acquaintances to Partners in Innovation: An Analysis of 20 Years of Design Thinking's Contribution to New Product Development – de Paula, D., Cormican, K., & Dobrigkeit, F. · IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management Journal
- 2022 InnoPulse: a Tool to Support Collaborative Reflection in Creativity-Driven Engineering Projects – de Paula, D., Hahn, D., Matthies, C., & Uebernickel, F. · Conference: 55th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences
- 2022 The Nexus of Design Thinking and Intrapreneurship: Insights from a large-scale empirical assessment – Marx, C., Haskamp, T., de Paula, D., & Uebernickel, F. · Conference: 55th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences
- 2021 R&D approach based on multiple partners and Design Thinking, Lean Startup, and Agile concepts: A case study in the electricity sector – Leal, L., Ribeiro, A., Romão, V., do Amaral, G., Altmann, R., Kahn, R., Pacci, B., Avo, M., Salerno, M., Plonski, G., & Zancul, E. · Brazilian Journal of Operations & Production Management, 18(1), 1-12.
- 2021 The Power Of Habits: Evaluation Of A Mobile Health Solution For The Management Of Narcolepsy – Wiktoria Staszak , Danielly de Paula and Falk Uebernickel · In DS 109: Proceedings of the Design Society: 23rd International Conference on Engineering Design (ICED21), 1:3081–90. Cambridge University Press.
- 2020 Design Thinking in Digital Innovation Projects—Exploring the Effects of Intangibility – L. Przybilla, K. Klinker, M. Lang, M. Schreieck, M. Wiesche and H. Krcmar · IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management
- 2020 Design thinking as an approach for innovation in healthcare: systematic review and research avenues – Mariana Oliveira, Eduardo Zancul, André Leme Fleury · BMJ Innovations Published Online First
- 2020 Innovative prototypes for cervical cancer prevention in low-income primary care settings: A human-centered design approach – Marcela Arrivillaga ,Paula C. Bermúdez,Juan Pablo García-Cifuentes,Jorge Botero · PLOS ONE 15(8): e0238099
- 2020 Meet Stevie: a Socially Assistive Robot Developed Through Application of a ‘Design-Thinking’ Approach. – McGinn, C., Bourke, E., Murtagh, A. et al. · J Intell Robot Syst 98, 39–58
- 2018 A Human-Centric Approach to Digital Innovation Projects in Health Care: Learnings from Applying Design Thinking – Przybilla, L., Klinker, K., Wiesche, M., & Krcmar, H. · In 22nd Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems (PACIS 2018). Yokohama
- 2018 A human-oriented framework for developing assistive service robots, Disability and Rehabilitation: Assistive Technology – Conor McGinn, Michael F. Cullinan, Mark Culleton & Kevin Kelly · 13:3, 293-304
- 2018 An analysis of designer empathy in the early phases of design projects – Surma-aho, A., Björklund, T., Hölttä.Otto, K. · DS 91: Proceedings of NordDesign 2018, Linköping, Sweden, 14th-17th August 2018
- 2018 Assessing the development of empathy and innovation attitudes in a project-based engineering design course – Surma-Aho, A., Björklund, T., Hölttä-Otto, K. · In ASAnnual Conference. American Society for Engineering Education
- 2018 Combining Design Thinking and Agile Development to Master Highly Innovative IT Projects – Przybilla, L., Schreieck, M., Klinker, K., Pflügler, C., Wiesche, M., & Krcmar, H. · Projektmanagement und Vorgehensmodelle 2018 - Der Einfluss der Digitalisierung auf Projektmanagementmethoden und Entwicklungsprozesse
- 2018 Divergent prototyping effect on the final design solution: the role of "Dark Horse" prototype in innovation projects – Durão, L.F.C.S. , Kelly, K., Nakano, D.N., Zancul, E. , McGinn, C.L. · Procedia CIRP
- 2018 Exploring the application of design thinking to the development of service robot technology – McGinn, C., Bourke, E., Murtagh, A., Cullinan, M. F., & Kelly, K. · In ICRA2018 Workshop on Elderly Care Robotics-Technology and Ethics (WELCARO)
- 2018 Key Performance Indicators and Dimensions for the Innovation Process – Nappi, V., Kelly, K. · 25th Innovation and Product Development Management Conference
- 2018 Service design principles for organizational well-being: Improving the employee experience through design thinking – Bertolotti, F., Di Norcia, M., & Vignoli, M. · In ServDes2018-Service Design Proof of Concept (Vol. 150, pp. 736-750).Linköping University Electronic Press
- 2018 Teaching Innovation in Interdisciplinary Environments: Toward a Design Thinking Syllabus – Wiesche, M., Leifer, L., Uebernickel, F., Lang, M., Byler, E., Feldmann, N., ...& Suzuki, S. · In AIS SIGED International Conference on Information Systems Education and Research
- 2017 An Empirical Study on Design-Based vs. Traditional Approaches in Capstone Courses in Engineering Education – Zancul, E.S., Durao, L.F.C.S., Lopes, R.D., Nakano, D., Majzoub, G. G., Blikstein, P. , Dalmon, D.L. · The International journal of engineering education
- 2016 Design thinking para innovar, desde la interdisciplinariedad e interculturalidad, en ingeniería – Juan Pablo García-Cifuentes · ACOFI 2016 International Engineering Education Meeting
- 2016 How Deutsche Bank’s IT Division Used Design Thinking to Achieve Customer Proximity – Vetterli, C., Uebernickel, F., Brenner, W., Petrie, C., & Stermann, D. · MIS Quarterly Executive, 15(1), 37–53
- 2016 Needmining: Identifying micro blog data containing customer needs – Kuehl, N., Scheurenbrand, J., & Satzger, G. · In ECIS (p. ResearchPaper185)
- 2016 Students’ engagement in the implementation of results obtained in capstone design courses: A preliminary model for detailed design and go-to-market activities – de Senzi Zancul, Eduardo; Blikstein, Paulo; dos Santos Durăo, Luiz Fernando Cardoso; Rocha, Alexandre Machado · DS 83: Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Engineering and Product Design Education (E&PDE16), Design Education: Collaboration and Cross-Disciplinarity, Aalborg, Denmark, 8th-9th September 2016
- 2015 How tangible is your prototype? Designing the user and expert interaction – Donati, C., & Vignoli, M. · International Journal on Interactive Design and Manufacturing (IJIDeM), 9(2), 107-114
- 2014 Face to Face with Ambiguity and Diversity: Dynamics of Interdisciplinary Team Work in Different Phases of Explorative New Product Development Projects – Rekonen, S. · NordDesign Conference, Espoo Finland / Melbourne Australia August 27-29.2014
- 2013 Building agile design teams – Vignoli, M., Ferioli, G., & Steinert, M. · In DS 75-3: Proceedings of the 19th International Conference on Engineering Design (ICED13) Design For Harmonies, Vol. 3: Design Organisation and Management, Seoul, Korea 19-22.08. 2013 (pp. 121-130)
- 2013 Dancing with ambiguity - Design thinking in interdisciplinary engineering education – Taajamaa, V., Sjöman, H., Kirjavainen, S., Utriainen, T., Repokari, L., Salakoski, T. · Design Management Symposium (TIDMS), 2013 IEEE Tsinghua International (pp. 353-360). IEEE., At Shenzhen, China
- 2013 Design Thinking as an Outreach Activity for Female Students – Kelly, K., Mooney, T. · 30th International Manufacturing Conference
- 2013 From palaces to yurts: Why requirements engineering needs design thinking – Vetterli, C., Brenner, W., Uebernickel, F., & Petrie, C. · IEEE Internet Computing, 17(2), 91–94.
- 2013 Issues of Collaboration within Global Project Teams – Kelly, K., Culleton M., Barrett, R., Weldon, P., Connolly, E. · 30th International Manufacturing Conference
- 2009 Student Facebook connections in a Global Project Based Engineering Design Course – Suzuki, S., & Leifer, L. · In DS 58-10: Proceedings of ICED 09, the 17th International Conference on Engineering Design, Vol. 10, Design Education and Lifelong Learning, Palo Alto, CA, USA, 24.-27.08. 2009 (pp. 215-226)
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