The most developed countries in the world share the capacity of developing innovations.

According to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), in 2015 China was the first country to receive over a million applications to register patents during a year. This is over one third of the global total. The United States is around half a million and Japan is over 300 thousand.

If Peru wants to move towards its development goal, having an economy that depends less on the changing prices of commodities, it is necessary to promote innovative environments. Innovation generates products with high added value that can have an impact on the national and international markets.

The Design Thinking methodology is a tool that, when applied to businesses, can help develop an innovative culture in Peru. Thanks to an exclusive convention between the UTEC and Innovationship Silicon Valley, this methodology is now being developed in the country.

Leon Segal, founder of Innovationship Silicon Valley and experienced consulter in teaching the Design Thinking methodology, is one of the professors of the international certification program. He claims that, as regards attitude and a favorable environment for innovation, there is nothing in Peru radically different to what can be found in other countries. “Every person who comes to these workshops has the intention of learning, growing and expressing their creativity”, he points out.

Desing Thinking is a methodology that understands innovation as a process focused on people and on tending to their needs. Applying it implies making cultural changes within organizations, which are not always simple. But it also brings down certain myths. An example is the myth of the “loner genius”, which attributes innovation geniality to a single persona who had “the great idea”. “Thomas Alva Edison invented the light bulb. But a fact that is usually omitted is that he did not do it alone, as he created a lab with a hundred people working there”, reminds us Scott Underwood, co-founder of Innovationship Silicon Valley and professor of the International Certification.

Up to this date, the UTEC and Innovationship Silicon Valley convention has resulted into eight Design Thinking labs in Peru. Segal and Underwood emphasize on the importance of these professionals sowing the seed of a way to look at innovation when they go back to their companies and “sow the seed” of a change in their organizations.

Once the idea of innovation as a process focused on people is expanded and tools to properly work in teams are available, developing and testing ideas quickly, the basis for an innovative culture can be considered as settled. And the results shall come in time.