Dr. Miguel Alonso, director of research and economic development at the Chaplin School, was invited to present at the Cornell Symposium on Hospitality, Health & Design at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.
The conference explored the areas where the hospitality and healthcare industries overlap, and how each sector can learn and grow from one another.
“Increasingly, healthcare is being viewed through a customer service lens, so not only are you curing people, but the experience that they have is important,” Alonso said. “The hospitality industry is all about customer service. So how do these two worlds combine via techniques and design thinking – that’s what it’s really all about.”
Alonso’s presentation focused on two key techniques used to drive innovation – Design Thinking, which helps generate new ideas, and Design Sprints to systematically refine those ideas in 5 days.
Alonso has been working to implement similar ideas and approaches to problem solving at the Chaplin School, working with students, faculty and staff to help further Chaplin’s mission to continue to innovate in a constantly evolving hospitality landscape.
