Effects of Design Thinking on transnational collaborative projects in engineering

Abstract

As complex social issues cross national borders, engineers who can collaborate with people from different cultural background and disciplines are in demand to create innovative solutions. Japanese government is emphasizing cultivating global human resources through higher educational institutions to contribute to the global community with innovative solutions. Therefore, Kanazawa Technical College and Kanazawa Institute of Technology joined Learning Express which has been spearheaded by our sister school, Singapore Polytechnic. This is an international social innovation program in which students from different countries and disciplines work together to tackle real problems which people face in local communities in Southeast Asia. The participants stay in the local communities to define the unmet needs of the stakeholders and solve the issues using the Design Thinking methodology over a 13-day period. The program has been successful in providing a rich learning experience to the participants in order to develop their problem-solving skills and interpersonal skills. This report presents the unique characteristics of the program and the effectiveness of the international activities on Japanese students in order to cultivate future global engineers.