Viewpoint: Design and Engineering Convergence Education in a Korean and Australian Context

Background - In this article, we provide two views on product design engineering education of two design educators from Korea and Australia. We argue that industrial design and engineering design need to be combined in order to support a total design philosophy that aims to improve design education. Therefore, the changing direction of design education for a total design perspective — and Korean and Australian design education — including industry situations are discussed. Product design education in Korea has focused on developing the physical appearance of a product. The concept of engineering design was recently introduced in Korea, and most design schools still belong to art schools. Nowadays, Korean industry is required to develop new businesses in the manufacturing sector, as the industry is facing the situation where ???fast follower??? strategy does not work for sustained growth and ultimately sustained success. This has grabbed the attention of product design engineers who can develop creative designs and materialize the concepts. In contrast, Australia is facing the end of a mining boom as well as a significant decline in automotive manufacturing. This has forced industry to challenge innovation in manufacturing which has generally been made up of SMEs. As such, the role of product design engineering is emphasized. We conclude that product design engineering education with industrial design and mechanical engineering can be primitive to strengthen the competitiveness of the manufacturing industry in both countries. Methods - The views provided in this article were assembled from the existing literature, and based on our current experience of running design engineering convergence education programs in undergraduate and graduate levels. In general, the arguments made in this article are not attracted from theoretical and empirical research. They are rather based on our own perspectives of design engineering education. Thus, the views can be more critically based on holistic analyses of industry situations. Results & Conclusions - In this article, we examine that how a strong and well-defined product design engineering program within a university context can add significant value to the industry. Product design engineering is a hybrid program that combines analytical engineering sciences with creative industrial design capabilities. It provides a platform that can reshape product offerings for companies that seek to diversify or expand into new markets. Product design engineering links seamlessly toward current industry needs by producing creative design engineers at the forefront of innovation and new product development.ope

Innovation: Strategy for Growth and Development

The discipline of innovation has been defined by Peter Drucker as the means by which the entrepreneur either creates new wealth producing resource or endows existing resource with enhanced potential for creating wealth. This paper examines the discipline of innovation from various perspective – corporate, personal, inter-personal, behavioural and scientific. After examining the sources of innovation and showing that ideation and innovation are not synonymous, it discusses a pragmatic approach that encourages growth and development especially in a developing econom

Review of EU, national and regional innovation drivers

A policy review of innovation drivers in support of the development of the Regional Innovation Strategy

Complementarity between technology make and buy in innovation strategies: evidence from Belgian manufacturing firms.

This paper characterizes the innovation strategy of manufacturing fims and examines the relation between the innovation strategy and important industry-, firm- and innovation-specific characteristics using Belgian data from the Eurostat Community Innovation Survey. In addition to important size effects explaining innovation, we find that high perceived risks and costs and low appropriability of innovations do not necessarily discourage innovation, but rather determine how the innovation strategy is formulated. The paper then focuses on the determinants of the decision of the firm to produce technology itself (Make) or to source technology externally.(Buy). One striking observation is that most firms use a combination of Make and Buy strategies. Small firms more likely restrict their innovation strategy to an exclusive make or buy strategy, while large firms are more likely to combine both internal and external knowledge acquisition in their innovation strategy. An interesting result that highlights the complementary nature of the Make and Buy decisions, is that firms for which internal information is an important information source for innovation are more likely to combine internal and external sources of technology. We find this to be evidence of the fact that in-house R&D generates the necessary absorptive capacity to profit from external knowledge acquisition. We also find that the effectiveness of different mechanisms to appropriate the benefit of innovations and the internal organizational resistance against change are important determinants of the firm's technology sourcing strategy.Manufacturing; Strategy;

Evaluation of the economic impact of the iNet

An evaluation of the economic impacts of the iNets (innovation networks) commissioned to assist in the delivery of the East Midlands Regional Innovation Strategy (RIS)

Complementarity between technology make and buy in innovation strategies: Evidence from Belgiam manufacturing firms

This paper characterizes the innovation strategy of manufacturing firms and examines the relation between the innovation strategy and important industry-, firm- and innovation-specific characteristics using Belgian data from the Eurostat Community Innovation Survey. In addition to important size effects explaining innovation, we find that high perceived risks and costs and low appropriability of innovations do not discourage innovation, but rather determine how the innovation sourcing strategy is chosen. With respect to the determinants of the decision of the innovative firm to produce technology itself (Make) or to source technology externally (Buy), we find that small firms are more likely restrict their innovation strategy to an exclusive make or buy strategy, while large firms are more likely to combine both internal and external knowledge acquisition in their innovation strategy. An interesting result that highlights the complementary nature of the Make and Buy decisions, is that, controlled for firm size, companies for which internal information is an important source for innovation are more likely to combine internal and external sources of technology. We find this to be evidence of the fact that in-house R&D generates the necessary absorptive capacity to profit from external knowledge acquisition. Also the effectiveness of different mechanisms to appropriate the benefits of innovations and the internal organizational resistance against change are important determinants of the firm's technology sourcing strategy.Innovation, research and development, make or buy decision, complementarity

Shift from Product Innovation Strategy to Marketing Innovation Strategy to Add Value to the Firm

This article explores the role of innovation strategies for enhancing the competitiveness of SMEs in global markets. Based on a literature review of innovation strategies, these strategies were separated into four groups: product innovation, process innovation, organizational innovation, and marketing innovation. The study focused only on the product innovation strategy and marketing innovation strategy. The empirical analysis found that Algerian enterprises adopt both a product innovation strategy and a marketing innovation strategy. There are differences regarding the relationship between the product innovation strategy and adding value to the firm compared to the relationship between the marketing innovation strategy and adding value to the firm in Algerian enterprises. Here, there are three positive relationships between product innovation strategy and adding value to the firm whereas in contrast, there are two positive relationships between marketing innovation strategy and adding value to the firm. Thus, the enterprises under study must shift from a product innovation strategy to a marketing innovation strategy, which means focusing their attention more on the latter to market their products more and faster, which allows them to add more value to the company

Innovation factors of national economy competitive development

These arguments prove the necessity of developing highly competitive effective innovation strategy of the national economy aimed at developing modern innovative system that ensures the competitiveness of the national economy through effective use of scientific and technological capabilities towards promoting good economic growth

Do product innovation-related activities affect downsizing decisions? An organizational efficiency perspective

Firms’ innovation strategy typically involves the need to shape organizational changes within work structures and routines, even those concerning employee downsizing decisions. However, little effort has been directed toward exploring the role of firm innovation strategy as a determinant of downsizing. Drawing on organizational efficiency perspective, this study proposes a framework to examine the impact of product innovation-related activities on downsizing. The model will be tested using data from a longitudinal sample of Spanish innovative manufacturing firms. It is expected that the results show that firms developing product and process innovations are associated with downsizing decisions. Furthermore, companies that use formal protection of intellectual property through patents, utility models, trademarks and copyrights are believed to keep their personnel. The study attempt to unravel the impact of firm innovation on downsizing decisions and to offer guidance on how innovative firms might operate to control negative effects on their workforce

Building an Innovation Strategy

This non-empirical paper describes the innovation strategy for Aetna, Inc. This company is a national managed care organization, and although it is already large in scope, it operates more like a government agency rather than an innovative organization (Schack, 2000). This paper will highlight the theories, or ingredients, of innovation strategy, followed by an explanation of how the theories support and help in the creation and application of the recommended innovation strategy for Aetna. This paper also describes the organizational design model that drives innovation, the processes that enable innovation, and the success factors necessary for people to develop and implement innovation within the organization. Finally, this paper will offer a definition of essential innovation success measurements and will integrate corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability as a function of the organization’s innovation strategy