Design research impacts the world by enabling social good, saving lives, driving cultural shifts, and creating incrementally better technology experiences. It allows companies to test assumptions quantitatively and uncover unknowns qualitatively. While some argue it has no impact, others believe design research has facilitated invention through imaginative research and the building off of other ideas. The document discusses how design research has evolved over 60 years from simply observing people use products to now relying heavily on data. It also provides examples of how design research has benefited organizations and society.