Engaged scholarship for designing product service system innovation opportunities in an industrial design course

This paper explores a design case study in an industrial design classroom in which actors with diverse expertise were involved for the creation of Product Service System (PSS) innovation opportunities in societal contexts. By engaging diverse experts from different fields, the classroom was turned into a learning landscape through which the students learned how to create PSS proposals and the stakeholders received various opportunities to create for PSS innovation

Servitization of products as an approach for design-driven innovation

In this paper we present how the meaning of a product can radically be innovated through add-on services and related service support products to the existing product instead of significantly redesigning it. We explore and investigate this assertion with an action-oriented case study using a research through design approach. Our research was done within the Dutch fashion industry together with a fashion label specialized in handmade knitwear. As a result two services, ‘Meet Your Knitter’ and ‘Our Garment’, were designed and added to an exclusive garment line. Early probing indicated an innovation in the meaning of the garments through servitization. In general, we conclude that servitization of products can be a promising approach for design-driven innovation. This is especially interesting for firms that would like to probe and experiment with service design for meaning innovations. However, more research is required to fully understand and utilize the suggested approach

Using social media for asynchronous collaboration within collaborative networks

Societal challenges of today (e.g. aging) are complex and often require systemic solutions to be addressed. To address these challenges, various expertise and knowledge are required; in this sense, collaborative network projects have a lot of potential in offering a systemic solution. Design workshops (synchronous collaboration) are often used to achieve progress in such projects. In this paper we introduce asynchronous collaboration, which can occur anytime, anywhere through the use of social media. We have probed Instagram as a ‘ready-made’ social media platform within two collaborative network project case studies. This was done to experiment with asynchronous collaboration and knowledge sharing in addition to design workshops. Both cases were evaluated through focus groups that indicated how social media has the potential to enable actors to cross-field boundaries, inspire each other, and in this way enrich the design process within asynchronous collaboration. Our contribution with this work is two-fold: on the one hand, we aim to inspire and show how collaborative network projects can benefit from asynchronous collaboration in addition to synchronous collaboration. On the other hand, we hope to contribute to the creation of specific social media platforms as tools for supporting asynchronous collaboration within collaborative networks

Using social media for asynchronous collaboration within collaborative networks

Societal challenges of today (e.g. aging) are complex and often require systemic solutions to be addressed. To address these challenges, various expertise and knowledge are required; in this sense, collaborative network projects have a lot of potential in offering a systemic solution. Design workshops (synchronous collaboration) are often used to achieve progress in such projects. In this paper we introduce asynchronous collaboration, which can occur anytime, anywhere through the use of social media. We have probed Instagram as a ‘ready-made’ social media platform within two collaborative network project case studies. This was done to experiment with asynchronous collaboration and knowledge sharing in addition to design workshops. Both cases were evaluated through focus groups that indicated how social media has the potential to enable actors to cross-field boundaries, inspire each other, and in this way enrich the design process within asynchronous collaboration. Our contribution with this work is two-fold: on the one hand, we aim to inspire and show how collaborative network projects can benefit from asynchronous collaboration in addition to synchronous collaboration. On the other hand, we hope to contribute to the creation of specific social media platforms as tools for supporting asynchronous collaboration within collaborative networks

Most advanced yet acceptable, but don’t forget

Radical product and/or service innovation can ideally benefit all people and firms, and society as a whole, but pose risks in regards to technology-, industry chain-, market-, and project- uncertainty. In this paper we focus on addressing market uncertainty and argue that this uncertainty is affected by the meaningfulness of radical product and/or service innovations due to meaning gaps created during the innovation process. We investigate and suggest ways to bridge such gaps through theory inspired research using a design case study. Results show that in addition to introducing new meanings next to existing meanings, one should also select what meanings to dispose and which (lost) meanings to potentially re-introduce. With this work we hope to inspire design and innovation thinking on how to improve radical innovation adoption by addressing meaning gaps caused during the radical innovation process

Most advanced yet acceptable, but don’t forget

Radical product and/or service innovation can ideally benefit all people and firms, and society as a whole, but pose risks in regards to technology-, industry chain-, market-, and project- uncertainty. In this paper we focus on addressing market uncertainty and argue that this uncertainty is affected by the meaningfulness of radical product and/or service innovations due to meaning gaps created during the innovation process. We investigate and suggest ways to bridge such gaps through theory inspired research using a design case study. Results show that in addition to introducing new meanings next to existing meanings, one should also select what meanings to dispose and which (lost) meanings to potentially re-introduce. With this work we hope to inspire design and innovation thinking on how to improve radical innovation adoption by addressing meaning gaps caused during the radical innovation process

Designers initiating open innovation with multi-stakeholder through co-reflection sessions

This paper explores a designerly approach to open innovation initiation as start of the PhD research of the third author. More specifically, it presents the application of co-reflection sessions by designers in a healthcare open innovation project to initiate multi-stakeholder participation. Integrating co-reflection in open innovation initiation provides designers with the opportunity to a) negotiate with and function in multi-disciplinary environments consisting of stakeholder representatives and stakeholder customers (possible end-users); b) analyze complexity and structure of stakeholder ambitions, wishes, concerns and restrictions in order to frame a collaboration space; c) synthesize, visualize and materialize the value proposition to communicate the benefits to multi-stakeholder networks in order to define a design space and motivate their participation; and what is more important, keeping the balance between design thinking and design action. Lessons learned from this study a) can be used to provide a set of skills and practical guidance to designers when initiating open innovation b) define a spectrum for research on how designers can initiate innovation

Designers initiating open innovation with multi-stakeholder through co-reflection sessions

This paper explores a designerly approach to open innovation initiation as start of the PhD research of the third author. More specifically, it presents the application of co-reflection sessions by designers in a healthcare open innovation project to initiate multi-stakeholder participation. Integrating co-reflection in open innovation initiation provides designers with the opportunity to a) negotiate with and function in multi-disciplinary environments consisting of stakeholder representatives and stakeholder customers (possible end-users); b) analyze complexity and structure of stakeholder ambitions, wishes, concerns and restrictions in order to frame a collaboration space; c) synthesize, visualize and materialize the value proposition to communicate the benefits to multi-stakeholder networks in order to define a design space and motivate their participation; and what is more important, keeping the balance between design thinking and design action. Lessons learned from this study a) can be used to provide a set of skills and practical guidance to designers when initiating open innovation b) define a spectrum for research on how designers can initiate innovation

Engaged scholarship for designing product service system innovation opportunities in an industrial design course

This paper explores a design case study in an industrial design classroom in which actors with diverse expertise were involved for the creation of Product Service System (PSS) innovation opportunities in societal contexts. By engaging diverse experts from different fields, the classroom was turned into a learning landscape through which the students learned how to create PSS proposals and the stakeholders received various opportunities to create for PSS innovation

Engaged scholarship for designing product service system innovation opportunities in an industrial design course

This paper explores a design case study in an industrial design classroom in which actors with diverse expertise were involved for the creation of Product Service System (PSS) innovation opportunities in societal contexts. By engaging diverse experts from different fields, the classroom was turned into a learning landscape through which the students learned how to create PSS proposals and the stakeholders received various opportunities to create for PSS innovation