Understanding Design Thinking at University: A Project Approach to the Development of Students’ Innovative Culture

In the modern business world, the ability to quickly, accurately and creatively solve business problems is essential for successful market positioning and significant competitive advantage. The subject of this paper is to investigate the possibilities of creating an educational concept to encourage students to be innovative, and creative and develop entrepreneurship skills in a way to strengthen the market competitiveness of a certain region/country. The research was conducted on a focus group of Business Economics students, majoring in Digital Economy and Innovation at the University North, Croatia. Students participate in the elective course Disruptive Innovation and Design Thinking (DiDt). The course aims to develop innovative ideas using the design thinking method and present their project ideas as a final exam. During DiDt, challenges accrued on how to evaluate students’ innovative ideas, among themselves and by the professors. The evaluation system should be stimulating for students, maintaining constructive criticism and realistic assessment of the idea. Also, it should be based on rational parameters such as evaluation of the innovation of the idea, the technological possibility of verification, the stage of elaboration of the idea, the interest of potential investors and the quality of the presentation itself. In conclusion, students should be able to express their subjective opinions about each idea. The goal of the research was to determine effective metrics for the evaluation of innovative ideas. Using a survey method in the form of an interactive quiz students and professors evaluated innovative ideas of
student-exhibitors according to several specific categories. Closed-ended survey questions were used to evaluate ideas, a Likert scale from 1 to 5, and combined survey questions were used to evaluate the thesis. Open-ended questions were created to express one’s opinion. The pilot phase of the research was conducted as part of the DiDt course exam in the summer semester of 2022/2023. Elements of the
easuring instrument were determined and will be tested in June in the main research during the student Festival of Innovative Ideas (FunINO). Students participating in the DiDt course of the current academic year participated in the pilot study. Alumni students of the previous two generations, who passed the exam from the course, will participate in the main part of the research. By applying statistical methods, it will be determined whether a correlation exists between the innovative ideas of different generations of students. Based on the results of the pilot research, the hypothesis was confirmed that the developed system for evaluating innovative ideas has a positive effect on the development of an innovative culture among students and encourages them to think creatively outside the box. In this sense, this paper makes a significant contribution to the research of the educational perspective of evaluating innovative ideas of business economics students viewed through the discourse of the Digital economy and the creation of an innovative university culture. The continuation of research was accepted in the inclusion of international students in the Festival of Innovative Ideas (FunINO) and the design of a theoretical model for the evaluation of innovative ideas. The applied contribution was considered in the context of encouraging international-collaborative-innovative student entrepreneurship.