Amman- 17 October 2019
What brings 200 participants from Jordan, Germany and many other countries together to work over more than one week on pressing challenges the country is facing? This is Impact Week! Originally developed by a small group of entrepreneurs and design thinking experts in 2015, Lufthansa group introduced the Impact Week as an integral part of their further education program for employees. Impact Week combines Train the Trainer and student activities by using the Design Thinking methodology.
It provides a platform for instructors, practitioners, and students to build teams, define problems and find solution, interviewing externals, feedback sessions and unleashed creativity in the prototyping phase.
The German Jordanian University (GJU) partnered as main organizer with the Impact Week team from Germany to realize this global entrepreneurial event from 5th -12th of October 2019 for the first time in the Middle East, in Amman.
Previous Impact Weeks in countries like Kenya, Colombia, Rwanda, Nigeria , India and Uganda proofed the success of this concept in which not only a big number of people from different backgrounds feel as one family and team, but also convinced different local sponsors to invest in its implementation in Jordan.
Help Logistics, the Goethe Institute, Spark, Oxfam, Umniah and Ibtecar were among the sponsors and supporters from Jordan whereas Lufthansa Group sustained the event from the German side.
GJU‘s team from the Program Innovation and Entrepreneurship (PIE) at the Office for Industrial Links managed the overall preparation in Jordan. Hundreds of students from different Jordanian universities and schools signed up to be part of this unique experience.
The accepted 110 participants formed 19 teams who were mentored by the freshly trained 40 junior coaches from Germany and Jordan. Over four intensive days, the student groups learned how to tackle challenges by using the Design Thinking methodology and came up with solutions in the fields of Digital Economy, Public Health, Eco-Tourism, Food Security, Water & Energy, and Refugee Integration. The experienced Senior Coaches led through the event with their enthusiasm and valuable feedback.
The resulting prototypes and ideas where presented to an expert jury from different support organizations. Role-plays, video shots, cardboard works and other creative tools were used by the teams to convince the jury about the feasibility of their projects. At the end, the Winning Team “Knafeh” who presented an idea to reduce food waste convinced the jury most: The idea is to build up a database, to connect restaurants, hotels, supermarkets and event companies on one end and charity organizations on the other side, in an easy and fast way. The second and third winners provided solutions related to refugee integration.
Prizes and certificates were distributed and participants as well as organizers celebrated their huge success. An unforgettable event for all of us and definitively not the last Impact Week that took place in Jordan!
“Such activities go in line with the applied approach of the university and its focus on practical training and experiential learning”, emphasized Prof. Ralf Rosskopf, GJU’s Vice President of International Affairs in his opening and closing remarks. Impact Week Jordan was part of the Topic of the Year 2019 events at the German Jordanian University to foster Innovation and Entrepreneurship. 40 GJU students, who were also among the 1st place winning team, participated in this competition.
For more information, please contact:
Program Innovation and Entrepreneurship: pie@gju.edu.jo
Impact Week: info@impactweek.net
Join the global Impact Week community:
https://www.facebook.com/theimpactweek/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/impact-week/
