Towards an evolutionary understanding on the success of participatory design.

The notion of `participation, and the democratization of design' is not just a movement for social innovation but it is also a powerful methodology for the innovation of products and services. However, the complicated nature of participatory design may result in the failure of projects. The concept of participatory design is similar to climb mount improbable. Mount improbable is the metaphor developed by Dawkins to support Darwins Theory of Natural Selection [1]. He uses the term mount improbable to explain the development of natural objects or events, and how unlikely it is that these natural phenomena are simply a result of coincidence. The concept of climbing mount improbable could be devised to understand the innovation process in participatory design. How do innovations evolve when using participatory methods? This paper examines the user involvement in participatory design with evolutionary understanding of success of products selection phenomenon either natural or artificial, which is explored through the perspective of design

The Value of Design-led Innovation in Chinese SMEs

Organised by: Cranfield UniversityThis paper focuses on understanding the role and use of design-led innovation in Chinese SMEs. The insights were gained by undertaking a pilot study, based on an applied developmental research approach involving participatory workshops, quantitative and qualitative positioning activities, in depth case studies and an individual pilot project undertaken with SMEs in the Pearl River Delta [PRD] over an 18 month period. It will discuss the findings, highlighting key areas of uncertainty that SMEs experience when attempting to make the transition from OEM to OBM, and how the findings have contributed to the development of a new design-led innovation framework.Mori Seiki – The Machine Tool Compan

Development of an assessment framework for student engagement in design thinking projects for health innovation

Student engagement is a dynamic and multifaceted concept – it encompasses physical, emotional, and cognitive components. Various instruments to assess student engagement exist, however these are not intended to assess how students engage with one another and with community stakeholders in participatory health projects. Although instruments do exist to assess participation/power-sharing in participatory health projects, none of the available instruments are suitable for the assessment of student engagement in such projects. The current study set out to develop an assessment framework for student engagement in design thinking projects for health innovation. Design thinking is a human-centred and participatory approach to problem-solving. The objectives of the project were: (1) the design and implementation of a questionnaire to assess student engagement in design thinking activities, and (2) assessment of the validity of the questionnaire. A preliminary questionnaire was developed with the aid of the literature and implemented for students taking a postgraduate course called Health Innovation & Design, which follows a design thinking approach for health innovation. Analysis of students’ written reflective reports and a focus group discussion were used to revise the questionnaire items. The revised questionnaire was validated by design thinking practitioners (the course lecturer and facilitators), and further modifications were made based on their views. The assessment framework developed in this study incorporates the design thinking phases according to the IDEO design thinking approach, an educational definition of student engagement, and recommendations by students of the Health Innovation & Design course and their course lecturer and facilitators. This questionnaire may be used to assess engagement in academic settings as well as non-academic settings when design thinking is applied for health innovation

Cultivating sportswear innovation: A mixed approach combining the lead user method and participatory design

This thesis aims to study how could the mixed approach combining the lead user method and participatory design cultivate sportswear innovation in local sports culture. The research consists of an exploratory literature review and an empirical case study. Since sportswear has exceeded its primary function purpose toward fashion, culture, and wearable technology, customers’ needs have become more diverse and heterogeneous. Even though designers in major sportswear firms have involved users during the product development process, most of the involved users are sports hobbyists who work in the firms. Besides, both centralization of the organizational design process and lack of cross-department collaboration in sportswear firms are the additional barriers to translate the actual customers’ needs into the desired products. To explore a new perspective to solve the described problems, the thesis will review user-driven innovation and participatory design, which both have a reputation in “democratizing innovation” (Bjögvinsson et al., 2010). The lead user method in user-driven innovation theory and the conceptualization of design “Things” (Ehn, 2008) in participatory design studies are underlined. The literature review concludes by demonstrating the complementary characteristics of the lead user method and participatory design. Based on that, a framework that combines the two areas for sportswear innovation is proposed. The empirical case study examines the mixed approach in practice based on one experimental project, “The future of flying Finns,” which consists of two collaborative workshops. In both of the collaborative workshops, identified lead users and industry experts together co-identify innovation opportunities and generate solution ideas from the exploration of the Finnish trail running culture. The research collects the data from two focus group interviews, observation, and self-reflection. Two within-case analyses conducted to examine the collected data provide the insights into the research, which leads to the final cross-case analysis that focuses on investigating the similarities and differences between the two. The research results are the basis for three guidelines for practicing the mixed approach: planning a collaborative workshop in an innovation project, designing a co-creative toolkit, and mapping innovation context with collective knowledge. First, findings of planning a collaborative workshop are enhancing the effectiveness of participatory design, recognizing the requirement of abstract thinking for lead users, and catalyzing the process with well-prepared workshop materials. Second, findings of designing a co-creative toolkit for collaborative innovation sessions include a clear toolkit structure for communication and vision, inspiring visual aids, and playfulness with a shared interface. Finally, the findings demonstrate the roles and contributions of lead users, industry experts, and facilitator in the innovation context mapping process. In conclusion, this research implies that the mixed approach is capable of co-identifying innovation opportunities and creating new values and meanings to local runners by switching the focus from performance-driven innovation to social innovation. Moreover, it is flexible in team formation through selecting lead users and industry experts with different knowledge backgrounds to explore new innovation opportunities

Designing for reimagined communities

Within place-based design research the concept of community has become an increasingly important reference point, particularly in relation to the areas of co-design and participatory design. This Special Issue ‘Designing for Reimagined Communities’ emerged from a UK Arts and Humanities Research Council funded programme Design Innovation & Land-Assets: Towards new communities. Here, a review of available participatory and collaborative framings of community in design revealed a broad landscape of directions and options

Tourism and Design : Participatory Inquiry as a Possible Route to Innovation in Tourism

Innovation is essential in the complex and fluid social environment of tourism; for the practitioner, the essential capability is that of being able to learn and innovate, and to do so often. One must therefore reflect on how present methods of university education might equip tourism students (or indeed students in any social science) to develop the necessary innovation capability so as to meet the challenges of a complex, dynamic and essentially unpredictable world. Inspiration may arise from the field of design, wherein creativity and innovation are endemic. The design-inspired method of Participatory Inquiry may assist to bring about innovation in tourism firms and the use of Participatory Inquiry methods in education may provide a means to assist students to develop the innovative capability essential for future roles in the fluid, social arena or tourism

Tourism and Design : Participatory Inquiry as a Possible Route to Innovation in Tourism

Innovation is essential in the complex and fluid social environment of tourism; for the practitioner, the essential capability is that of being able to learn and innovate, and to do so often. One must therefore reflect on how present methods of university education might equip tourism students (or indeed students in any social science) to develop the necessary innovation capability so as to meet the challenges of a complex, dynamic and essentially unpredictable world. Inspiration may arise from the field of design, wherein creativity and innovation are endemic. The design-inspired method of Participatory Inquiry may assist to bring about innovation in tourism firms and the use of Participatory Inquiry methods in education may provide a means to assist students to develop the innovative capability essential for future roles in the fluid, social arena or tourism

Movement and Divergent Production, Understanding opportunity for strategic kinesthetic movement during participatory ideation sessions

With strategic kinesthetic movement making its way into education and business, and design thinking also edging into those same fields, it seems natural that the two could be integrated and referenced by facilitators who are responsible for leading a group through participatory ideation sessions. Design Thinking is a human-centered innovation process, which ultimately influences innovation and business strategy. It refers to applying a designer’s sensibility and methods of problem solving to an innovation process.1 Designers reach out to stakeholders within an opportunity space through design research methods. Often times, the designer will take on the role of a facilitator and conduct meetings with the stakeholders in order to gather information, generate ideas, or evaluate specific concepts.2 Facilitated sessions in which all stakeholders have to opportunity to contribute equally are referred to as participatory design process facilitation sessions. Participatory ideation sessions are meetings focused on one stage in a design process; the ideation stage. This research project is focused on the stage in a human-centered innovation process, referred to as the ideation stage, in which ideas are generated with stakeholders. During participatory ideation sessions, facilitators lead groups of participants through organized and strategized agendas, utilizing design research methods with the sole purpose of generating ideas for improving specified opportunity spaces.3 Generating ideas with the stakeholders allows the designer to gain insight into the stake-holder’s point of view, which ultimately aids the designer in creating a meaningful solution to a design problem. The purpose of this design research project is to develop a framework from which facilitators may gain insight and understanding of how to develop their own participatory ideation sessions utilizing strategic kinesthetic movement customized to specific contexts. The development of these participatory ideation sessions will involve the making and manipulation of generative methods and tools revolving around strategic kinesthetic movement. Designers working as facilitators utilize movement for many reasons. Movement increases productivity, confidence, creativity, and focus during facilitated sessions. Movement elevates the average body temperature which is a sign of greater blood circulation, which means more oxygen is arriving at the brain, making concentration easier.4 Movement has also been proven to improve self esteem,5 potentially enabling participants to contribute more ideas without fear of being judged. The absence of judgment allows for an increase in divergent production during participatory ideation sessions. Divergent production is defined as producing from one’s memory storage a number of alternative items of information to meet a certain need, either in exact or in modified form, as in thinking of alternative tools that might be used in opening a package.6 How might designers harness the power of movement during their facilitated sessions

DESIGN AS A FUNCTIONAL LEADER: A case study of Philips to investigate the potential of design as a leading functional discipline

This research investigates the role of design as a functional leader in multinational industries, to drive innovation successfully at a strategic level. It involved a detailed case study of the innovation process, and practices within Philips Design based in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, where design is a key decision making function within the company but not yet recognised as a leading discipline at strategic level. Philips Design wanted to use design research to build an integrated map of its actual practices and correlate these with other corporate innovation practices, to help establish strategic recognition for their value. The doctoral challenge was to explicate the process and determine whether the findings have generic capacity to support the role of design as a functional leading discipline. The investigation integrates an iterative loop of; abductive reasoning of design thinking and inductive reasoning of management thinking in an action research cycle. The case study was part of an empirical enquiry, where the researcher became a participatory observer at Philips Design, conducting one-on-one interviews for data collection and refining their analysis using a Delphi Technique. Three other multinational organisations were explored to take into account how each perceives the contribution of design and the different roles it plays in their organisation. Data triangulation was also used to validate findings with a third party expert. The research contributes to knowledge by confirming the conditions for design to act as a leading functional discipline. It shows that design cannot be the only functional lead for a multinational organisation. It identifies the major reason for this as the difference between thinkers trying to find viable options for the future and practitioners trying to defend the core business in their organisation, resulting in a gap between strategy and operation. The research further elaborates on the reasons for the gap to exist through qualitative conceptual relationships between designer behaviour and organisational culture in the different innovation cycles that exist in the organisation

Designing an Innovation Engine Model and a Software Tool to Meet Large Organizations Challenges with SMEs Capabilities, a Pilot Study

Innovation models and innovation software tools are mechanisms designed to support innovation and collaboration activities. However, innovation models tend to be limited to close innovation or their implementation is not cost-effective for SMEs, while innovation software tools lack features for the collaboration of multiple organizations. Improved models and appropriate, well designed, software tools could address large organizations' challenges with SMEs capabilities, better foster innovation activities and encourage economic growth and jobs creation. This study piloted two 1.5-hour-workshops with 12 Enterprise Systems MSc students to design an innovation model and a software tool with PICTIVE participatory design technique. In the first workshop participants received a talk about innovation and were separated into three groups of four people. Each group was provided with one of three scenarios: the design of a robot exploring Mars, the design of an adrenaline auto-injector for severe allergies or the design of a new ambulance. Groups brainstormed ideas and created a diagram of the components that an innovation model should include to provide an effective collaboration between organizations. In the second workshop, groups implemented their model in an innovation software tool using participatory design. Two researchers observed the workshops and took notes of the group presentations. Three main components comprised their innovation models: Large organizations, SMEs and other institutions, and components for the management of the collaboration. Groups suggested to implement their model in a web site portal with features that support the definition of the challenge, the involvement of different stakeholders, sections to capture large organizations' needs and SMEs' capabilities, features to support the identification of the best partners, the best collaboration agreement and the management of intellectual property. Results were very insightf