IDEO’s Barry Katz hosting design thinking bootcamp at Communitech

barry katz

Barry Katz, a Fellow at IDEO, professor at Stanford University, and author of six books, is coming to Communitech in Waterloo Region to host a two-day design thinking bootcamp on March 22–23.

Through his career in design, Katz has pegged design thinking as one of the main driving forces in transforming Silicon Valley into what it is now: the most powerful engine of innovation in the world. With some of the world’s most influential companies like Apple and Airbnb having cultivated a reputation for placing design at the centre of their business strategies, he may be onto something here.

In coming to Communitech, he aims to highlight the importance of design thinking and show how human-centered design methodology can be applied to startups and enterprises. The bootcamp will utilize the methods developed at IDEO to teach participants ways to tackle any problem from a design perspective and reveal stories of how the application of these principles have helped today’s leading companies thrive.

These techniques offered by one of Silicon Valley’s greatest minds in design will not only help organizations from across the Toronto-Waterloo corridor innovate and grow, but also elevate the ecosystem one step closer to becoming a world-leading innovation centre.

Get your tickets to the bootcamp here.

P.S. Each participant will also receive a copy of Barry’s latest book “Make it New: The History of Silicon Valley Design”.

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Karel Vuong

Karel Vuong is an Associate at Sagard Holdings and is based in Toronto. In his role, Karel serves Paul Desmarais III in various mandates and special projects as a member of the Office of the CEO. He also leads branding, communications and ecosystem development across each of the platform's strategies (venture capital, private equity, private credit, and healthcare royalties). Prior to Sagard, Karel joined Diagram as its first employee to launch a $30M fund and venture builder co-founding companies in insurance and financial services, primarily working with Dialogue and Collage (exited). Karel began his career as a software developer and product manager in Toronto, Waterloo, and the San Francisco Bay Area. An impassioned convenor and bridge builder, he has organized events that has been attended by heads of government, CEOs, and senior leaders from around the world. Karel studied Computer Science at the University of Toronto - Trinity College.

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