Design as a catalyst for innovation in science

Science, as a broad field of study, is faced with the imperative to innovate, not just invent. However, innovation is often considered intangible or unattainable – a lofty, unrealistic goal. Design has been demonstrated as a valuable approach to innovation, and thus this research seeks to understand the role of design as a catalyst for innovation in science. This study involves a longitudinal case study, where the PhD candidate was positioned within a scientific team over nine months, assuming the role of both embedded designer and case study researcher. This thesis synthesises the findings around the changing perceptions towards design, as well as the opportunities and challenges experienced along the way, to deliver key recommendations for design and science. These recommendations fall under five themes: embracing design as a mindset, drawing parallels and contrasts between design and science, recognising systemic challenges and barriers, adopting a team-centred approach, and empowerment through experiential learning These recommendations are intended to support three audiences – design practitioners working with scientists, scientists interested in adopting design, and researchers working at the intersection of design and science

Towards Sustainable Futures - Using strategic foresight in the design of transformative sustainability

The unprecedented scale of disruption brought about by the COVID-19 crisis has brightly illuminated the dysfunction in many current social systems, adding to the litany of pressing planetary issues like mass extinctions, melting ice caps and biosphere loss. It’s widely recognized that ‘business as usual’ and associated incremental, slowed-paced change by political, business and social actors to address climate and social crisis are not sustainable nor sufficient options for the future health and wellbeing of the planet and most of its population. Innovative new ways to design and implement low carbon systems and socially inclusive solutions are required. For organizations looking to navigate waves of disruption and create opportunities to ‘build back better’, what are the current and emerging design frameworks for sustainability? What conditions and mindsets are standing in the way of a transition to a low carbon, socially equitable future? And what might be some of the areas of opportunity for organizations seeking transformative sustainability in the future? This research project explores how organizations might respond strategically to these challenges through the practice of foresight. Strategic foresight is a way of designing and building futures by understanding change through the lens of emerging trends and longtime drivers of change. It allows participants to generate strategies that address the critical uncertainties of tomorrow, and select actions today that may help shape desired futures and outcomes. Through a literature review, the authors explore the interconnected nature of the sustainability challenge in Canada and what’s holding change back. They unearth emerging visions, systems and mindsets of sustainability that can help build a preferable future. Taking an action research approach, insights from the literature review informed a real-world case study during which the researchers designed and facilitated a strategic foresight process with TREC Renewable Energy Coop, a nonprofit leader in community-scale renewable energy and social finance in Toronto, Canada. The aim of the case study is to better understand how strategic foresight frameworks and practices can help organizations gain deeper insights into what the future may hold, and use those insights to develop robust transition capacities that will help guide them from legacy operating systems and mindsets to more transformative and sustainable business models and solutions. The paper maps the insights gained through the research journey about how strategic foresight might be used by both sustainability and foresight practitioners. For organizations that are curious about the potential power of foresight to design and execute for sustainable futures, the case study section of the paper illuminates the potential. The paper concludes with findings and design principles generated by the dynamic praxis-oriented research process, and ideas for possible next steps and future research to help build the future we need

The entrepreneur as system architect:Designing narrative forms of open source business model

In the digital platform economy, individual freelance workers are matched to their temporary employers thorough online systems. Workers interact with platform firms individually, undermining collective action and hence worker power. This is an issue for policy, as these workers do not have the protections afforded to those in traditional industries. The platform economy has also enabled open source, where the software architect creates a boundary around the software code they accept from a distributed group of contributors. The role of the software architect raises interesting questions about power in what can be seen as a form of networked organisation. Open source can be viewed as a narrative of software code and discussions about it that create a boundary around the project. Open source can also be framed as a business model, where value created by contributors is captured by the software architect for the benefit of both contributors and users. Business models can be viewed as a narrative that can both express and create a desired future for the entrepreneur. The potential of open source to inform narrative forms of business model is the research area. Taking a social constructionist perspective, this study used workshop and participant observation techniques to engage with the founders and other stakeholders in three case study organisations. The empirical contribution is that a narrative form of open source business model can have a power-balanced structure through a discursive process of boundary management. The methodological contribution is that annotated portfolio techniques can reveal an entrepreneur’s business model design from ethnographic data. The theoretical contribution is the importance of conceptual integrity to business models as well as to software engineering. The issue of conceptual integrity can be explored further in future research on factors in business model success

Service Futures, Proceedings of the fourth Service Design and Service Innovation Conference

ServDes2014 explores how Service Design is contributing to ‘Service Futures’ and how it is developing as a field of research and practice. We have witnessed how the concept and role of services in the economy and society have come a long way since its first definitions and studies. Services have moved from being a peripheral activity in a manufacturing - centred economy; to an engine for growth and society driven innovation. This transformation has been fully recognised with a flourishing of service innovation and service research studies aimed at deepening understanding; and at supporting the development of services both as a sector and as a concept. We suggest that Service Design is closely following this transformation. Starting from its initial focus on service interactions and experiences; Service Design research and practice have entered more strategic and transformational roles; dealing with issues of organisational change; system design; sustainability and social change; amongst others. Increasingly; Service Design is considering ways to integrate and collaborate with other service related disciplines. Also; questions are emerging on the future of this field; considering the growing areas of application and the expansion of the concept of service itself. ServDes2014 has brought these recent discussions and transformations to the fore and offered an ideal place to collectively reflect on and imagine that future. ServDes.2014 ran over three days: The first day was dedicated to practical explorations of Service Design with eight workshops led by both practitioners and academics; The second day was mostly focused on (long and short) papers presentations organised in three parallel sessions and two extra workshops; The third and final day was partly dedicated to papers presentation and came to an end with three parallel forums exploring the future of Service Design Research and Education and their relationship with Social Innovation. Working at the boundaries of Service Design; Digital and Social Innovation; the keynote speaker Dominic Campbell (Futuregov); projected novel spaces and responsibilities for Service Design in relation to complex societal transformational challenges; while Prof. Pelle Ehn (Malmö University); positioned it within a historical retrospective of Participatory Design in a constant search for more democratic (service) design practices. The conference was organised around five main themes which are reflected in the proceedings structure: Emerging Directions for Service Design; Design for Service Innovation and Transformation; Service Design and Implementation; Novel Service Design Frameworks and Tools; Service Design Across Organisations. Thanks to everyone who contributed and participated to this conference; and we look forward ServDes.2016 further developments and ideas

Hidden in Plain Sight : Knowledge Broker Teachers and Professional Development

This qualitative study was prompted by initiatives that addressed the need for teachers to engage in professional development that enables them to be 21st century ready. Recommendations put forth by government and business have stressed that professional development foster connected teaching and create networked educators by emphasizing peer-topeer collaboration and sharing. Despite this focus, little attention has been paid to the role that regular teachers play in becoming professional developers for their colleagues. My study investigated how four K-12 teachers, that I termed “knowledge broker teachers,” created new pathways for informal, teacher professional development in their schools. Extending on the concept of “knowledge brokers” from business studies, knowledge broker teachers serve as an informal source of professional development, moving knowledge from those who have it to those who need it. This study’s purpose was to examine examined how knowledge broker teachers built and shared their knowledge, and to identify their attributes. I applied a situated learning approach to frame this study, emphasizing the social nature of learning. Participants included four K-12 knowledge broker teachers and 12 of their teacher colleagues with whom they shared knowledge. Data collection included the use of interviews with participants and screen casts of the knowledge broker teachers’ online activity. Data analysis employed open coding to generate categories, then themes. Three findings about knowledge broker teachers emerged: brokers, brokering, and brokerage. Brokers encompassed the context-dependent ways the four knowledge broker teachers shape-shifted and assumed different personas (e.g. knower-learner, comrade, cheerleader, shrinking violet) enabling them to be knowledge broker teachers. Brokering entailed the processes they used to build and share knowledge. These included processes of making connections through online and face to face opportunities, taking advantage of moments of kismet, and tailoring knowledge to match their colleagues’ ability. Brokerage involved the actions that affected the quality of social relationships and the emergence of trust between the knowledge broker teachers and their colleagues. Brokerage actions presented by the knowledge broker teachers included giving and taking knowledge with colleagues, recognizing and honoring their colleagues’ potential, and being expected to go above and beyond. My study recognized the existence of knowledge broker teachers and their effect on informal professional development. However, given the findings, formalizing their roles in schools may have a detrimental effect on their ability to build and share knowledge. Considering ways to leverage these findings may provide new ways for thinking about informal teacher professional development