Innovation in university management refers to the creative application of new ideas, approaches, and technologies to improve the efficiency, quality, and relevance of academic, administrative, and support processes within the educational institution.

Within this framework, design thinking emerges as a tool to drive innovation in organizational processes. This methodology seeks to deeply understand the user's needs, and then generate innovative solutions that effectively meet those needs. One of the main ways in which design thinking is linked to management innovation is through problem identification and redefinition. Rather than simply addressing the surface symptoms of a problem, design thinking encourages teams to dig deeper into its underlying causes and explore solutions that can fundamentally transform the way those challenges are addressed.

At the University of the Republic, it happens that many stakeholders raise difficulties in issues related to academic management. However, it has not been possible to identify the real problems to propose solutions. That is why this methodology opens doors to achieving this goal.

Based on these reflections, a series of activities were proposed that would allow us to go through this path with a common conceptual framework towards practical work.

Firstly, a self-managed course on design thinking towards innovation was developed. The general objective was to introduce participants to the principles of design thinking methodology in the specific context of academic and administrative management of a university institution. It should be noted that this course was developed in conjunction with the University of Cordoba in Argentina where they carried out a similar process but with a focus on digital transformation.

Subsequently, face-to-face workshops were planned to apply these principles to identify and understand the problems in academic management at the university and generate innovative ideas to improve it. These workshops allowed going through the different stages of design thinking (empathizing, defining, ideating, and prototyping) to reach the synthesis of the learnings and the definition of an action plan.

This methodology allowed the development of capabilities for the university to understand the needs of the different stakeholders within the university community by identifying opportunities for improvement. It also promoted collaboration, teamwork, creativity, and the ability to adapt to the changing challenges of the university environment.

Keywords: Innovation, university management, design thinking.