How we used a design thinking mindset to help startups tackle complex problems.
In the Autumn of 2020 Contemporary Empathy took part in an exciting collaboration with EIT Food, Europe´s leading food innovation initiative. Ten startups had been chosen to participate in an EIT Food accelerator programme which included four months of training and networking opportunities. All of the participating entrepreneurs specialised in #agrifood tech and were seeking to make food systems more sustainable.
We had already worked with the startups on their remote collaboration early on in the accelerator; developing their use of tools and technology, and building dialogue skills for digital team environments. Now, we needed to use our expertise to design and implement a creative problem solving event which would unite the entrepreneurs with a range of experts in social innovation, agrifood, and venture capital. What did we turn to for the chance to co create, change mindsets, and unlock creativity in this context...design thinking of course!
On day 1, each startup was joined by several experts and one facilitator in their personalised problem solving workshop. We used the interactive whiteboard Mural to allow for simultaneous collaboration, as each participant joined us from a different corner of the globe! The workshop began with exercises to help all participants start considering their problem in a different way, and tap into the visual thinking part of the brain. It then progressed to use ideation techniques and low fidelity prototyping to deliver some co designed solutions to the startup´s main problem at hand.
During day 2 the startups had the chance to present their storyboard prototypes to the rest of the participants, and outline their key takeaways and next steps. We made the most of the excellent networking opportunity with short pitches, and one on one conversation spaces to allow individuals to connect on the platform icebreaker.
The remote event was a big success, and prompted many participants to contact us about a newly sparked interest in the design thinking mindset and ideation techniques. We were thrilled to hear that many of the start ups were also keen to use the skills developed in future work with their own teams too. Juliet Bray, (Accelerator and Incubator Start Up Manager at EIT Food) said:
"Contemporary Empathy helped us design and implement a workshop called “Unlocking Creativity” to support agrifood entrepreneurs solve some of their most pressing challenges in the food systems. I highly recommend C.E, they have brilliant facilitators like Ellen whose expertise in design thinking is amazing. She really helped us bring together the entrepreneurs and experts, making the coordination of the event seamless."
Click here to see a photo of the event itself!
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