Notre Dame opens design thinking-focused SAP Next-Gen Chapter

SAP SE (NYSE: SAP) today announced the opening of an SAP Next-Gen Chapter at the University of Notre Dame IDEA Center to help spread the principles of design thinking throughout Notre Dame and other academic institutions. This chapter is one of 100-plus SAP Next-Gen Chapters around the world to have opened this year. 

“The SAP Next-Gen Chapter at Notre Dame will educate students at the university and other SAP University Alliances member schools on the design skills critical for making businesses more efficient and focused on higher value outcomes,” said Don Ginocchio, director of SAP Next-Gen for Universities. “These future graduates are the next generation of digitally savvy leaders who can help customers accelerate their innovation agendas.” 

The partnership deepens the collaboration that began in 2014 between Notre Dame and SAP to advance the understanding and education of design-led innovation — a human-centered approach to product creation and problem solving. 

“Our participation in the SAP ecosystem aligns exceptionally well with our vision to become a best-in-class player in the commercialization and innovation space,” said Bryan Ritchie, University of Notre Dame associate provost and vice president for innovation. “The concept of design innovation has become central to entrepreneurship. Startups and entrepreneurs use its principles to design products that customers want and will use frequently, and are easy to use, all before a great deal of money has been spent making the product.” 

SAP Next-Gen Chapters are dedicated to helping universities prepare graduates to achieve the 17 U.N. Sustainable Development Goals, a set of global economic, social and environmental milestones to be reached by 2030. Each chapter conducts a wide variety of activities, including developing academic curricula on SAP Leonardo technologies, and running Code with Purpose initiative hackathons and #sheinnovates events to inspire a global movement of diverse students developing disruptive solutions to social problems. 
 

Originally published by Nick Swisher at ideacenter.nd.edu on October 03, 2018.