Reinventing the regions: Victoria’s changing regional economies

Regional Victoria accounts for around a quarter of the State\u27s population and economic output. In March 2013 Deputy Premier and Minister for Regional and Rural Development Peter Ryan released the Reinventing the Regions report which documents the findings from a series of events held in 2011-2012 which CEDA, in collaboration with RDV, hosted. This report provides an overview of the changes taking place in five of Victoria\u27s regional economies, key policy and economic themes that emerged from discussions throughout the series of events, case studies from regional businesses and five individual event summaries. The event series provided an opportunity to engage key stakeholders including business, industry, government, communities and academia in a discussion of: The key economic drivers and prospects for growth; Challenges faced by businesses across five regions; How regional businesses are adapting to evolving economic conditions; and How they can capitalise on new opportunities. The series consisted of five events looking at the experiences of Ballarat and the Central Highlands, Hume,Geelong and Barwon South West, Loddon Mallee and the Latrobe Valley. This publication is a joint project of CEDA and Regional Development Victoria. &nbsp

Development approach for value-creating service process twins based on service design methods

Adopting the digital twin concept in the industry has revealed its potential for value-creation in production and operations. At the same time, the idea of a digital twin is also being discussed in many other business areas. One of these is after-sales service, where the digital twin is attractive from two aspects. On the one hand, as a source of knowledge to better understand the customers’ problems. On the other hand, digital twins may help manage service operations themselves. However, building such a service process twin with limited resources and capabilities is not trivial. Moreover, managing service operations transparently can be complex and demanding. Therefore, it is essential to focus on the solutions that generate the most value for customers and providers. Based on literature research and previous projects with similar problem settings, this paper presents a method to build such service process twins. Thereby, service blueprints and agent-based simulation play a significant role. The presented systematic approach has been tested and continuously improved in two projects with companies in different industries. However, current research showed room for improvement concerning the detail level of service blueprints and their interrelationship with the simulation models

Design Opportunities in Service-Product Combined Systems

This paper aims to examine recent research issues related to the integration of service and product in view of industrial design. Further, it attempts to identify new opportunities for further research regarding “product-servicization” vs. “service-productization”. In the continued efforts to provide the users with fuller experiences, one major trend is the blending of products and services. Much existing research seems to either present cases or propose frameworks regarding the ‘connection’, rather than ‘integration’ between products and services. Broadly, two major approaches seem to exist in this area: 1. product-servicization, 2. service-productization. The former generally indicates adding more services to existing products, whereas the latter generally refers to making services tangible and/or visible in the form of a product. However, findings of an extensive literature search conducted for this study suggest one important deficiency in dealing with service issues around the product: the ‘integration’ between the actual product design and service elements for supporting new service-product system. That is the rationale behind this research, an attempt to investigate the possibility for the integration of product design and service factors which could be embedded in the design of product itself in new service-product system. This paper is largely based on qualitative research. New design research opportunities are identified by qualitatively analyzing relevant literature, synthesizing the information and presenting some cases to support the main argument of the research. Design-led Service-Productization is not, and should not be re-arranging deck chairs on the Titanic. Rather, it should bring practical and tangible design issues related to new service-product system. Findings suggest that this approach could provide a new model of new product development integrated with a service scheme, which is a more proactive approach than “product-servicization”. Further development of this research could lead to establishing a framework for the Design-led Service-Product Integration. Keywords: Product-servicization; Industrial design; Service; Product; Integration</p

The Convergence of Market Designs for Adequate Generating Capacity

This paper compares market designs intended to solve the resource adequacy (RA) problem, and finds that, in spite of rivalrous claims, the most advanced designs have nearly converged. The original dichotomy between approaches based on long-term energy contracts and those based on short-term capacity markets spawned two design tracks. Long-term contracts led to call-option obligations which provide market-power control and the ability to strengthen performance incentives, but this approach fails to replace the missing money at the root of the adequacy problem. Hogan’s energy-only market fills this gap. On the other track, the short-term capacity markets (ICAP) spawned long-term capacity market designs. In 2004, ISO New England proposed a short-term market with hedged performance incentives essentially based on high spot prices. In 2005 we developed for New England a forward capacity market with load obligated to purchase a target level of capacity covered by an energy call option. The two tracks have now converged on two conclusions: (1) High real-time energy prices should provide performance incentives. (2) High energy prices should be hedged with call options. We argue that two more conclusions are needed: (3) Capacity targets rather than high and volatile spot prices should guide investment, and (4) long-term physically based options should be purchased in a forward market for capacity. The result will be that adequacy is maintained, performance incentives are restored, market power and risks are reduced from present levels, and prices are hedged down to a level below the present price cap.Auctions, electricity auctions, uniform-price auctions

From Capability Training to Capacity Building

Service design is now firmly established as an important approach for driving innovation and change in the public sector. This is evident by the growing number of public sector service design projects, by the emergence of innovation labs in governments around the world, by dedicated events such as the 'Service Design in Government' conference in the UK (now in its 4th year) and an increasing body of academic research looking at the impact and value of service design in the public sector. One of the key barriers to service design implementation is the capability and capacity available to in-house teams of council officers tasked to deliver and improve the service. This is an important issue to address if service design is to truly fulfil its potential to drive innovation in the public sector. And yet, as a community of practice, we don’t often discuss the importance of service design training in the public sector. This article attempts to highlight a range of approaches to service design training and capability building in the public sector using examples from different parts of the world

A triangulation approach for design research

Triangulation has been adopted in social science in the study of the same phenomenon through applying and combining several data sources, research methods, investigators, and theoretical schemes. From a post-positivism view point, this paper presents a triangulation approach in design research from two perspectives, data sources and research methods. Data triangulation was achieved through collecting data from multiple sources including company design documents, student design projects, and company design projects. Different research methods, e.g. interview, content analysis, protocol analysis, and questionnaire, were used to conduct data collection and analysis into a particular aspect of design, the nature of coupling design artefact and process knowledge. It was found that triangulation can provide an effective means for design research

Full Issue: Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence, Volume 1, Issue 2

Volume 1, Issue 2 of the Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence, a publication of Utah State University focused on providing a forum for instructors in higher education to share best practices and ideas related to effective teaching

Economic Development Plan Town of Warren, Massachusetts

This section of the Comprehensive Plan identifies economic development strategies within the framework of various development opportunities available to Warren given its current economic and geographical standing within the region. These economic development strategies strive to meet the needs and desires of the residents of Warren, Massachusetts based on their input and an analysis of local and regional economic trends and conditions. These potential economic strategies, intended to promote future economic growth, are in alignment with the Town’s core values and community goals. Warren currently has two village centers, an active mill complex, significant open space, rivers and wetlands, and a steadily growing residential population. The challenges the Town is facing include a lack of commercial activity, an unknown future for the industrial sector, vacant or in need of improvement building structures, and potentially unchecked residential development. Additional obstacles to growth and development such as outdated zoning by-laws and a general resistance to change within the community must be overcome in order to insure a successful future for Warren. This Economic Development Plan will provide an examination of the Town of Warren, including general demographics, economic status and trends, and local and regional context. Additionally, the desires and goals of the community will be outlined based on a series of surveys, interviews and other direct interaction planning activities that were carried out as part of the research for this plan. Following this profile of the Town, development strategies will be identified and described both in general and in context specific to Warren. These strategies will then be incorporated into a series of potential development scenarios the Town may wish to pursue and recommendations will be made as to how to achieve the development goals and objectives stated by the communit

Integrated Scenario-based Design Methodology for Collaborative Technology Innovation

The paper presents a scenario-based methodology developed and tested throughout cooperative research and development projects. It is aimed at supporting information technology innovation with an end-to-end Human and Social Sciences assistance. This methodology provides an integrated approach combining a vision of the potential users, business aspects and technological challenges throughout the design process. An original combination of different methods is proposed and experimented: user-centred design, scenario-based design, user and functional requirements analysis, business value analysis, user acceptance studies, and visualization methods. This methodology has been implemented in three European R&D projects, in the domain of the telecommunications and Internet infrastructure. The key contributions of this approach are that it unifies brings together visions of the users, potential business value and technology challenges thanks to scenario construction.Scenario-based design ; user requirements ; business economics ; functional requirements ; visualization