Submission to the Innovation Task Force at the Department of the Taoiseach

A. Innovation is much more than science and technology. The non‐technology aspects of innovation are systemically neglected and must be brought under the auspices of a dedicated body, such as the Irish Business Innovation Foundation, with responsibility to coordinate, direct and champion actions and supports for non‐technological competencies that are essential for innovation. Failure to do this is wasteful of current budgets and impedes economic development across ALL industries: technology and non‐technology, manufacturing and service. B. Innovation is a whole‐brained, social, business process. Educational programmes and courses should encourage creativity, problem solving ability, integrative and independent thinking in students. This applies across all disciplines including Science and Technology, Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences

An investigation into design thinking behaviours in early stage radical innovation

The early stage of radical innovation is characterised by uncertainty, data overload and often high rates of change. Schumpeter’s ‘creative destruction’ view of innovation is now exacerbated by ‘hypercompetition’ (D'Aveni, 1999), a theory that describers the increasing rate and intensity of change in modern markets. In the design and strategy literature, design thinking is often positioned as an appropriate mediator of radical innovation in these circumstances, by facilitating interpretation of market uncertainties and moderating organisational behaviours. At its inception radical innovation is determined largely by the cognitive behaviour of the actors involved, often semi-consciously. In this study we set out to distinguish design thinking from analytical thinking and investigate the suitability of both for the effective early stage formation of radical innovation concepts. Additionally, whereas design thinking literature mostly investigates and reports on the benefits of its application, we seek to understand where design thinking’s limitations lie and where it may be better replaced by other forms of cognition. This paper reports at an interim stage of a continuing study. It provides a comprehensive review of relevant literature and a qualitative exploration of two successful innovating SME firms. A framework is given for a novel experimental protocol that will be used in the next stage of the larger study

The Design and Development of Novel Cooking and Heating Products for Irish Older Adults: A Real Health Need

The world’s population is ageing; researchers have an increasingly important role to play in innovating new products, appliances and services to allow for better everyday living conditions of this ageing demographic. Health, wellbeing and age in place needs are of particular importance in Ireland as research has revealed that as a nation we are living longer in ill health (McGill, 2009). The most fundamental domestic products to health, wellbeing and in the promotion of ageing in place are cooking and heating products, however little design research has been carried out in this area. To inquire into the context of usability in older adults, ethnographic research has been conducted within the homes of participant older adults to obtain a true insight into user needs in cooking and heating products. This involved a yearlong (Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter) study with forty participants over the age of 70 years across Ireland and from various socio-economic groups. From this study prototypes will be created and user tested by older adults to determine appropriate design criteria for these products

The Design and Development of Novel Cooking and Heating Products for Irish Older Adults: A Real Health Need

The world’s population is ageing; researchers have an increasingly important role to play in innovating new products, appliances and services to allow for better everyday living conditions of this ageing demographic. Health, wellbeing and age in place needs are of particular importance in Ireland as research has revealed that as a nation we are living longer in ill health (McGill, 2009). The most fundamental domestic products to health, wellbeing and in the promotion of ageing in place are cooking and heating products, however little design research has been carried out in this area. To inquire into the context of usability in older adults, ethnographic research has been conducted within the homes of participant older adults to obtain a true insight into user needs in cooking and heating products. This involved a yearlong (Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter) study with forty participants over the age of 70 years across Ireland and from various socio-economic groups. From this study prototypes will be created and user tested by older adults to determine appropriate design criteria for these products

Creating Personas from Design Ethnography and Grounded Theory

Personas can be an effective means of communicating and synthesizing design ethnographic field data by helping designers maintain focus on users and make sense of complex needs. Personas have however been criticized on scientific grounding and methodological weakness in their creation. Furthermore, few detailed examples of their creation have been published. It is also evident from the literature that there is a methodological gap in creating personas from ethnographic studies. Using a grounded theory approach, this paper offers a systematic and detailed process of creating personas post fieldwork and compares the approach against best practice. Through a case study of design ethnography in product development for people over 65, we reflect on and describe the process in three phases: 1. Post Fieldwork Data Management, 2. Coding and Grounded Theory, and 3. Data Reduction and Data Display, which leads to the final design of the persona. We conclude that using qualitative and grounded theory approaches can assist to strengthen the process of creating personas; however, the time to create and manage the personas increases

Collaboration and Creativity: A case study of how design thinking created a cultural cluster in Dublin

Tourism is a rapidly expanding industry with a wide range of economic benefits. Expenditure by tourists visiting Ireland was estimated to be €4bn in 2012, a 4.4% increase on 2011, adding to tourism expenditure by Irish residents of €1.4bn. Tourism accounts for 4% of national GDP and 6% of all employment in Ireland. Following the economic collapse in Ireland post 2007, the national tourism agency (Fáilte Ireland) has had to dramatically alter its role from being a funder for tourism infrastructure to being a catalyst for and facilitator of collaborative R&D and innovation . This paper explores a case study of one such innovation initiative: a collaborative innovation experiment that brought together over 30 of Ireland’s most significant cultural institutions (including the National Gallery of Ireland, National Library of Ireland, Museum of Natural History) and commercial bodies to use a design thinking process to develop Merrion Square as a new, more integrated cultural tourism destination. Merrion Square is a 'cluster' or geographic concentration of cultural organisations that, in this case, cooperated to focus on delivering new and better cultural experiences for visitors. The group drew on ethnographic research; involved customers, tour operators, historians, local community activists and artists, and used them to develop a portfolio of novel ideas for individual and joint implementation. The outcome has been the launch of a series of successful new visitor experiences and the development of a far higher level of cooperation between the institutions. 85% of the institutions involved report increased visitor numbers as a consequence of the project – with some specific events reporting an attendance rate up over 42% on the prior year. Such events are now synchronised through a management company comprised of the member institutions. This paper makes a valuable contribution by outlining the role of design-thinking in collaborative, multisectoral tourism service design and by spotlighting the role of trends research

Smaller Irish firms not achieving their potential

Abstract included in text

Patellofemoral contact forces and pressures during intramedullary tibial nailing

Patellofemoral joint forces and pressures were measured in a cadaver model during intramedullary nailing of the tibia. A significant increase in contact pressures was found at the lateral facet of the patellofemoral articulation using the medial paratendinous approach (P= 0.01) and at the medial facet when using the trans-patellar tendon approach (P = 0.001) to the proximal tibia. Increased contact pressures at the patellofemoral joint may result in chondral injury, which in turn may cause anterior knee pain, a common complication of tibial nailing

How Irish design consultancies align with Ireland’s Innovation 2020 priorities: a preliminary study

peer-reviewedThe Government of Ireland has positioned design as integral to the innovation landscape. In particular, it encourages innovations from designers that align with six thematic areas identified in the Innovation 2020 report. Those areas are health & medical, information & technology communications (ITC), food, energy, manufacturing & materials and service & business processes. However, research is yet to show the current contribution of design consultancies and their project outcomes categorised within these six priority thematic areas. This paper presents empirical findings on a review of 571 projects advertised on the websites of 26 design consultancies in Ireland. It shows that just under half of the reviewed design projects fall within the thematic project areas. Furthermore, this paper shows the differences between three design disciplines (product design, user-experience design and branding design) and their contribution of projects to each thematic area. The results of this empirical study are relevant and of use to design practitioners, clients and policy makers. For designers, this research identifies opportunities for new business and innovation within the Government of Ireland key thematic areas. For design clients, this research offers opportunities to seek input from relevant design disciplines according to the thematic alignment of their project. For policy makers, this research offers context of the six key thematic areas within the design disciplines in Ireland. Lastly, the results of this research suggest that across the disciplines of product, user-experience and branding design, preferred priority themes are evident

Effects of antiplatelet therapy on stroke risk by brain imaging features of intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral small vessel diseases: subgroup analyses of the RESTART randomised, open-label trial

Background Findings from the RESTART trial suggest that starting antiplatelet therapy might reduce the risk of recurrent symptomatic intracerebral haemorrhage compared with avoiding antiplatelet therapy. Brain imaging features of intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral small vessel diseases (such as cerebral microbleeds) are associated with greater risks of recurrent intracerebral haemorrhage. We did subgroup analyses of the RESTART trial to explore whether these brain imaging features modify the effects of antiplatelet therapy