Mat Hunter from design-driven innovation company IDEO spoke on the them of ‘design thinking' and made two clear points during his presentation:
* IDEO has developed a ‘human-centred’ approach to problem solving
* IDEO does work that it finds interesting and that has an impact on the world
“It’s not about making everyone a designer," he said. "It’s about making non-designers more creative business people.”

He emphasised it was important to ask big questions such as 'Why am I here?' which he answered speaking for himself that it was to learn. “I spend most of my time talking to business people and don’t talk enough to the design community,” he said. “When talking to clients you shouldn’t talk very much; you should keep asking ‘Why?’”

IDEO is a design-driven innovation company. It employs 500 people around the world and was founded 40 years ago by an industrial designer (who "wanted to have some fun and do some interesting things) and later joined by an engineer. It was when an ergonomist joined the team and its culture became human–focused that it began to be successful. Mat argued that if Ideo were a person it would be Jamie Oliver since he regards him as a craftsman who wants to change things.

Mat said that IDEO wants to grow to thrive, but it doesn’t want to lose its intimacy nor lose sight of its purpose which is to have a positive impact in the world. Its people philosophy is “Ask forgiveness, not permission.” In other words, don’t be an ‘answer provider’. If people have a good idea, they should feel free to get on with it, and only ‘ask forgiveness’ if it doesn’t work out.

Arguing that “Design is driven by humanity” he suggested that design is as much about strategic input as creative output and discussed how IDEO had worked with clients some people might regard as ‘unethical’. “We gave enough strengths to guide them to towards what is right,” he said. “We are an optimistic company and we will work with them. If we have a good working relationship that creates dialogue, we will succeed. It's an holistic approach to a business challenge – we are champions of desirability, the place where desirability, viability and feasability meet.”

There has, Mat concluded, been an evolution in the way they talked to clients. “In the early days we talked about our portfolio, then we moved on to talking about our processes. Now we talk about our point of view.”