I will work with the Empower Programme this summer. It’s a week-long set of workshops that help young entrepreneurs leverage design thinking, machine learning, and technology analysis to scope the viability of their potential projects by integrating these methodologies to address various aspects of project development and decision-making. Here’s how the Empower Team in Mary Immaculate College and the Technological University of the Shannon plans to utilise each component.
Design Thinking
We train users in Design Thinking on our Clonmel campus. It is a user-centric, solutions-based approach to problem-solving. If you’re empowered with Design Thinking, you can understand and address the needs of your target audience. The process typically involves the following stages:
- Empathize: We teach methods of building awareness through an understanding of pain points.
- Define: You have to be able to set a focused direction before you ideate.
- Ideate: Brainstorming is best when you think outside of the box.
- Prototype: Simple is best. Some iPhones were first carved out of balsa wood.
- Test: Test prototypes with users. Gather real feedback. Make necessary adjustments.
The Empower Programme also walks young people through Machine Learning and Technology Analysis. I asked Perplexity.ai to tell me how young people would respond to these workshops. I saved the answer from Perplexity because I plan to collaborate with workshop planners.
Image from my Flickr photostream.