At Yes& we believe real change begins when learning becomes a space for practice, collaboration and impact.
That is exactly how the design thinking course taught by Oleksandr Akymenko together with Barry Katz works. Barry is a Stanford University professor, designer, thinker and one of the leading experts in human-centered design.
The course is part of the Innovation and Entrepreneurship master’s programme at the Ukrainian Catholic University Business School. Its goal is not only to introduce participants to the methodology, but to teach them to apply it to create solutions that change lives.
This year, students worked on real social challenges in partnership with the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine and Superhumans Center, a leading prosthetics and rehabilitation centre. The focus was on two questions:
Using design thinking methods, participants created solutions that could transform how citizens interact with public institutions. One idea, for example, was to reach out to veterans proactively through messages, calls or a presence in hospitals and rehabilitation centres, instead of waiting passively for them to ask for help.
During the course, students work with real cases, not in theory but on site. They study veterans’ experiences in service centres and rehabilitation facilities, collecting stories, observations and feedback to better understand people’s real needs.
Professor Barry Katz stresses that true leadership requires dual attention: to rebuilding and developing Ukraine’s innovation ecosystem on the one hand, and to integrating into global economic and innovation processes on the other.
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