Hasso Plattner

Statement of the jury

The digitalisation of our everyday environment, whether at work or at home, is producing increasingly complex systems. Controlling these requires a design that is kept as simple as possible, an interactive design which the user finds intuitive Hasso Plattner has been the most important promoter of design thinking for over a decade. This interdisciplinary approach utilises knowledge gained from design processes in the development of innovations. The methodology's consistent focus on user orientation, as well as the involvement of colleagues from various disciplines, departments and hierarchies of a company, often leads to new and successful solutions. The efficiency of the methodology results from the interplay of the equally weighted factors usability, feasibility and viability.

Plattner's tremendous commitment has been crucial to the international success of this methodology, which is now taught around the globe in university courses and workshops and is the subject of rigorous ongoing research. The founding member and former CEO of SAP doesn't want the next generation to be the only one comfortable in the digital world; rather, he wants to ensure that all population groups can take advantage of the benefits of the new technologies. The fact that numerous companies, whether SMEs or global players, successfully apply design thinking to their innovation processes and that the interaction between humans and machines remains simple and user-friendly are due to the immense commitment of visionary patrons of technology and the arts like Hasso Plattner.