Design-led future forecasting model for mobile communications

This thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University LondonSince the establishment of the wireless sector, design has been playing a wide range of roles. Specialized literature has been extensively reporting the use of this discipline associated with NPD, focusing on hardware and software development in the mobile communications. On the other hand, evidences of its use to support forecasting are scarce and generic. Finally, formal publications addressing future forecasting from a design perspective in the context of mobile communications have never been reported, leading to a knowledge gap that needs to be addressed. This research investigates the strategic roles, applications and contributions of design and designers for future forecasting in the wireless telecom sector. As a comprehensive discipline, it is used to examine and identify a number of factors that might influence/impact in the development of visionary solutions supporting the design team of traditional handset manufacturers to make better decisions in order to ‘shape’ the future in the wireless industry. Considering these ideas, the aim of this research is to create a ‘design-led future forecasting model for mobile communications’ to assist and support traditional manufacturers’ design team. This PhD study relies on a qualitative methodology comprising a number of data collection and analysis tools (e.g. literature review, case studies analysis, in-depth experts’ interviews, workshops and Grounded Theory). To create the intended framework, extensive secondary and primary data; theoretical and practical inputs were brought together, analysed and combined. The proposed model was evaluated through two rounds of experts’ interviews complemented by two workshops with potential users (e.g. design students) to check and explore its practicalities when applied to design for the future. Finally, this study bridges future forecasting and the wireless telecom through the use of design to address the literature gap. The richness of the developed model provides practical assistance to traditional manufacturer’s design team informing about a broad spectrum of aspects that should be considered when designing for the future in the mobile telecom industry, supporting strategic decision making in different stages of the future-led design proces

The Proceedings of the 23rd Annual International Conference on Digital Government Research (DGO2022) Intelligent Technologies, Governments and Citizens June 15-17, 2022

The 23rd Annual International Conference on Digital Government Research theme is “Intelligent Technologies, Governments and Citizens”. Data and computational algorithms make systems smarter, but should result in smarter government and citizens. Intelligence and smartness affect all kinds of public values - such as fairness, inclusion, equity, transparency, privacy, security, trust, etc., and is not well-understood. These technologies provide immense opportunities and should be used in the light of public values. Society and technology co-evolve and we are looking for new ways to balance between them. Specifically, the conference aims to advance research and practice in this field. The keynotes, presentations, posters and workshops show that the conference theme is very well-chosen and more actual than ever. The challenges posed by new technology have underscored the need to grasp the potential. Digital government brings into focus the realization of public values to improve our society at all levels of government. The conference again shows the importance of the digital government society, which brings together scholars in this field. Dg.o 2022 is fully online and enables to connect to scholars and practitioners around the globe and facilitate global conversations and exchanges via the use of digital technologies. This conference is primarily a live conference for full engagement, keynotes, presentations of research papers, workshops, panels and posters and provides engaging exchange throughout the entire duration of the conference