How to use Design Thinking to Design an Innovation Lab - Innovation

An innovation lab is a centrally located, physical space designed for the purpose of facilitating creative thinking, design, and implementation of ideas within an organization. Innovation labs can be found in businesses, schools, and universities all across the globe. This style of workspace invites collaboration amongst team members and encourages a more open-minded atmosphere instead of the traditional sterile and cubicle-style working conditions of the past. In order for these organizations to best achieve their goals, the concept of “design thinking” has become the norm. Design thinking is a human-centered approach to innovation that draws from the designer's toolbox and integrates the needs of people, technology, and business success. The design thinking process is comprised of five stages which are empathy, define, ideate, prototype, and test. All of these stages are necessary to better define a challenge, come up with innovative ideas, create prototypes, test your designs, and iterate to reach the most successful final product.