thesis innovation design

Innovation thesis: the key to unlocking your organization’s potential

For a decade, CEOs have been consistently concerned that current business models are at risk, while their satisfaction with innovation performance has been low. This growing uncertainty reveals a stark disconnect between the urgent need for reinvention and the underwhelming results.

Today, CEOs find themselves wrestling with a tumultuous economic and geopolitical landscape, while simultaneously racing to innovate with the help of new tech, like generative AI. While they’re still focused on the pursuit of growth, leaders must walk a tightrope, balancing the immediate need for cost optimization with the imperative to reimagine their business models and forge new paths to revenue. The stakes have never been higher, and the clock is ticking.

Is your company ready to try something new? Something with a track record of success? The journey begins with creating an innovation thesis.

• What is an innovation thesis?

An innovation thesis: 

• Is a statement that guides an organization’s innovation efforts.
• Defines where a company should focus its time, effort, and resources to achieve a significant return on innovation.
• Aims to both sustain and grow the core business while transforming it for the future.

Why do businesses need an innovation thesis? Well, I painted a pretty bleak picture at the outset of this article, listing numerous challenges that organizations face. But the root of the problem is not the problems themselves, but rather how a business responds to them. When an organization doesn’t have a clear direction, workers feel it, and it impacts their output.

What are teams working toward? Many don’t know.

Despite this urgent need for reinvention, there’s a troubling disconnect in many organizations. Miro found that 39% of information workers say their leaders don’t discuss the company’s innovation strategy, and a staggering 37% don’t even know what their innovation strategy is. 

This lack of communication and clarity has dire consequences. Without a compelling innovation strategy that gives leaders confidence, fear of failure can take hold. Instead of bold moves that could capitalize on disruptive forces, companies default to incremental improvements and cling to the familiar.

From there, innovation devolves into theater, wasting resources and causing employee burnout. Bets are placed in the wrong areas, and the business model begins its inevitable decline. Top talent jumps ship, cash dwindles, the brand’s reputation suffers, and stakeholder confidence evaporates. Public perception shifts from celebrating an organization’s successes to dissecting its failures.

• Why companies shy away from talking strategy

Because we operate in a fast-paced market, the pressure to deliver immediate results and maintain operational efficiency can overshadow the importance of big-picture planning. Organizations often find themselves grappling with a host of challenges that hinder their ability to engage in meaningful conversations about innovation strategy:

• The urgency of the now: External pressures, such as economic fluctuations, competitive threats, and evolving customer demands, often force companies to prioritize short-term business needs. This leaves little room for exploring innovative ideas that may not yield immediate returns.
• Unstructured innovation: In the absence of a clear innovation strategy, ad hoc projects may arise from different departments or individuals. While these initiatives might hold potential, they often lack a strategic direction and may not align with the company’s broader goals.
• The prioritization puzzle: Evaluating and prioritizing various innovation ideas can be a daunting task. Without a framework to assess the feasibility, potential impact, and alignment with strategic objectives, companies may struggle to identify the most promising avenues for innovation.
• How a strong innovation thesis illuminates the path forward

A well-defined innovation thesis can serve as a powerful antidote to these challenges, providing organizations with a clear roadmap for their innovation journey, including:

• Laser focus: By identifying the intersection of internal strengths and external opportunities, an innovation thesis directs resources and efforts toward the most promising areas. This targeted approach maximizes the potential for impact.
• Strategic alignment: A strong thesis ensures that innovation initiatives align with the overall corporate strategy. This fosters a cohesive approach, preventing the fragmentation of resources and ensuring that innovation efforts contribute to the company’s broader goals.
• Accelerated progress: With a clear mandate and strategic direction, promising innovations gain the necessary momentum. The allocation of adequate funding, resources, and internal support enables these projects to move faster from concept to market.
• Calculated risks: An innovation thesis encourages a portfolio approach, where diverse bets are placed on different ideas. This diversification mitigates risk by spreading investments across various projects, increasing the likelihood of overall success.
• The building blocks of an innovation thesis

A robust innovation thesis comprises two key components:

• Internal assessment: This involves a thorough evaluation of the company’s existing strategy, goals, strengths, capabilities, and assets. Understanding these internal factors lays the foundation for identifying areas where the organization can leverage its unique advantages.
• External exploration: Analyzing data and signals from the external environment reveals emerging trends, market opportunities, and potential disruptions. This insight helps identify areas where innovation can create significant value and address unmet needs.
• The blueprint: a practical guide to crafting your innovation thesis

To translate your strategic vision into actionable steps and guide you through the process of crafting a compelling innovation thesis, Rainmaking , a corporate innovation and venture development firm, created a Miroverse template . This template, inspired by Roger Martin’s frequently referenced “Where to Play and How to Win ” strategy from his book with Alan G. Lafley, Playing to Win , provides a structured framework to define your innovation path.

Before embarking on your innovation journey, it’s crucial to cultivate a unique perspective on the future. Ask yourself where the world is heading and what types of businesses are poised for success. Consider where you envision the greatest value emerging within the customer journey, value chain, and technology landscape.

To inform your perspective, lean on respected sources like Gartner, Forrester, and IDC. Explore platforms such as Pitchbook and Tracxn, which offer valuable insights into privately held companies and venture capital investment trends. These tools reveal where venture funds are placing their bets, indicating emerging technologies and business models with high growth potential.

By understanding where the smart money is flowing, you’ll gain a deeper understanding of your industry’s evolution. Track what your competitors are investing in or acquiring to identify potential threats and opportunities. This broader view can uncover partnership prospects with emerging companies or reveal untapped “white spaces” within or adjacent to existing markets, paving the way for groundbreaking innovation.

• Turn uncertainty into opportunity

In a world of constant change and disruption, a well-defined innovation thesis empowers organizations to navigate the complexities of the market, anticipate emerging trends, and make informed decisions that drive sustainable growth. By understanding where the world is heading and aligning efforts with these evolving dynamics, businesses can transform uncertainty into opportunity.

Through the strategic use of resources like the Rainmaking.io Miroverse template and insightful data platforms, leaders can craft a compelling innovation thesis that empowers their organizations to thrive in the ever-changing business landscape. By embracing this structured approach and fostering a culture of innovation, companies can confidently chart a course toward a future marked by growth, resilience, and lasting success.

The time for hesitation is over

Start crafting your innovation thesis today and unlock the full potential of your organization.

• What are teams working toward? Many don’t know.

Keep reading

Want to master innovation start by validating ideas quickly with these tips from product wizard ash maurya.

How to get innovation done: A roadmap for leaders

How to drive innovation with OKRs: an interview with experts Jeff Gothelf and Josh Seiden

Design-driven innovation: exploring new product development in the home appliances and furniture industry

The TQM Journal

ISSN : 1754-2731

Article publication date: 5 July 2021

Issue publication date: 17 December 2021

This paper aims to investigate the phases of new product development within the design-driven innovation (DDI) process, the role of designers and collaborators in the process and how this process relates to some quality principles.

Design/methodology/approach

This study adopted a qualitative approach using Gioia methodology. In particular, four Italian manufacturing companies in the home appliances and furniture industry were selected, and data mainly collected through direct interviews were analysed through content analysis.

The new product development related to DDI includes the following phases: the company brief, the designer research, the concept of the designer, the design, legal protection, prototyping, production and the market launch. Designers play a strategic role in the above phases of DDI, but other actors also cooperate and some quality principles affect positively on the process. This study proposes a model for a DDI process in the home appliances and furniture sector.

Research limitations/implications

Although this exploratory study was conducted on only four companies, it advances the DDI research in relation to new product development.

Practical implications

This study makes recommendations to entrepreneurs and managers on how to innovate successfully and to effectively manage designers and collaborators to ensure competition.

Social implications

This analysis highlights that design-based innovation contributes to improving the quality of life of consumers.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first qualitative study to examine the phases of new product development in DDI process, the actors involved and relationship to quality principles for the Italian home appliances and furniture sector.

• Design-driven innovation (DDI)
• Industrial design
• New product development
• Collaborators

Quality principles

Conti, E. and Chiarini, A. (2021), "Design-driven innovation: exploring new product development in the home appliances and furniture industry", The TQM Journal , Vol. 33 No. 7, pp. 148-175. https://doi.org/10.1108/TQM-12-2020-0313

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2021, Emanuela Conti and Andrea Chiarini

Published by Emerald Publishing Limited. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode

Introduction

The fact that design can improve firm competitiveness appears nowadays unquestionable. In the last decade, the European Commission has strongly invested in the design-driven innovation (DDI) approach at national and regional levels as “Design creates value and contributes competitiveness, prosperity, and well-being in Europe” ( EU, 2013 ).

The importance of design for competitiveness is well documented in many countries with a strong tradition of design, such as Italy ( Verganti, 2003 , 2008 ) and Sweden ( Aydin and Erkarlsan, 2019 ), but DDI practices are also examined in emerging countries (i.e. China and Indonesia; see Zhang et al. , 2016 ; Kembaren et al. , 2014 ). However, DDI has only recently received attention in the managerial literature, and empirical studies are still rare.

In addition to market-pull and technology-push strategies to product innovation, Verganti (2009) introduced a third approach to innovation based on design. He defined DDI as “an innovation where novelty of message and design language is significant and prevalent compared to novelty of functionality and technology.” The novelty of innovation is the “knowledge about the signs that can be used to deliver a message to the user and about the sociocultural context in which the users will give meaning to those signs” ( Verganti, 2003 , 2006 ). In the DDI approach, companies with designers and other creative actors can create breakout products adding new and unsolicited meaning that consumers love because they are so different from other products that dominate the market ( Verganti, 2003 , 2009 ). Therefore, the strategy of DDI, namely meaning innovation , focuses on understanding, anticipating and yet influencing the meaning of emerging new products. However, the DDI process has not yet been sufficiently explored and needs to be better understood from a managerial perspective. Such an understanding is very important as it could assist in strengthening this strategic resource for competition of firms and countries.

Few studies proposed specific phases for the DDI process ( Design Council, 2007 ; Borja de Mozota, 2008 ; Acklin, 2010 ; Conti, 2018 ; Aydin and Erkarlsan, 2019 ), and others provided only the macro-phases, namely, listening, interpreting and addressing ( Verganti, 2003 , 2009 ; Dell'Era and Belini, 2009 ) as it seems that the complex and iterative design-driven process cannot be formalized. Therefore, there is need to conduct further empirical research to better understand the phases of this kind of innovation process.

Further, it is widely accepted in the literature on DDI that to produce new radical innovations, companies need to build relationships and a continuous dialogue with an exclusive circle of “interpreters” (designers, artists, suppliers, companies of other sectors, etc.) which help in identifying the “meaning” of the proposed innovation for users and customers ( Verganti, 2008 ). However, more practice-based studies to investigate the role of designers and other actors during the DDI process are required. Finally, another area of the literature on DDI which requires further investigation is connected to the relationship with quality. Even though the relationship between innovation and quality has been largely analysed ( Prajogo and Sohal, 2001 ; Singh and Smith, 2004 ; among others), the specific relationship between DDI process and quality management principles requires further investigation.

Hence, this study aims to address these identified gaps in the literature to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the DDI process in new product development. In particular, it tries to identify the phases of the process, the roles of designers and other actors in the process and the relationship between the process and some quality management principles, such as customer satisfaction/excitement, teamwork capacity and participative leadership.

More precisely, this study adopts a qualitative approach to analyse the Italian home appliances and furniture industry, and from this empirical analysis a theoretical model was built. Specifically, the home appliances and furniture sector was analysed as it is a particular design-intense sector ( Verganti, 2006 ; Dell'Era et al. , 2011 ; Simoni et al. , 2014 ), and Italy is one of the leading countries in the design culture and the furniture industry ( Sigolotto, 2010 ).

What are the phases of the DDI process in relation to new product development?

Which roles do designers and other collaborators play in the DDI process?

How main quality principles relate to the DDI process?

The remainder of this paper is structured as follows. First is the description and analysis of the selected literature. This is followed by an account of the methodology. Then, the results are presented and discussed. In the concluding section, we report the theoretical and practical implications and the limitations of the study and make suggestions for future research.

Theoretical background

Characteristics of design-driven innovation (ddi).

There is wide agreement on Verganti's (2003) interpretation of DDI as a managerial strategy for radical innovation based on the why of a new product or service (among others, Verganti, 2003 ; Dell'Era et al. , 2008 ; D'Ippolito, 2014 ; De Goey et al. , 2016 ). In particular, the author discovered that radical innovations often entail an innovation process that focuses on how to come up with a new interpretation of a product's meaning. Companies with designers and other creative actors can create breakout products that add new and unsolicited meaning to things people love because they are so different from other products that dominate the market ( Verganti, 2003 , 2009 ). The author suggests that new meaning is determined by the baggage of symbols and emotions that products carry with them and a complex set of qualities depending on the experience they propose.

Further, DDI is considered as complementary to other innovation theories, not a replacement tout-court . DDI sees design as a contribution to innovation through creating meaning, such as other drivers like technology or market ( Verganti and Dell'Era, 2014 ). While technology is the driver in technology-push innovations and demand in demand-pull innovations, the ability to give new meaning to things is the main driver of DDIs. However, this kind of innovation may include also technological innovation ( Verganti, 2003 ; Dell'Era et al. , 2008 ; D'Ippolito, 2014 ). More precisely, according to Verganti and Dell'Era (2014) design culture and sensibility, together with the ability to give new meaning to things, are able to satisfy latent needs and desires and open new markets, creating breakout products radically distant from the past and that show a new future.

Therefore, products characterized by new meanings, languages and innovation do not arise from market requests ( Verganti, 2003 ). In fact, the user-centred perspective, as found in design thinking, is criticized as not fully capturing the rich contribution of design to innovation ( Jahnke and Johansson-Sköldberg, 2014 ) because people are not searching only for new solutions to existing problems ( Öberg and Verganti, 2014 ). In Norman and Verganti’s (2014) view, user-centred design (UCD) or human-centred design (HCD) methods are weak regarding radical innovation. Verganti (2009) also affirmed that radical innovation means proposing a new understanding into the users' world instead of asking them what they need. In other words, the public does not ask for anything; rather, the visionary companies are the ones offering them something, making new proposals ( Verganti, 2009 ). For example, Nintendo Wii is a game console with motion-sensitive controllers that allow people to play games by moving their bodies; it transformed game consoles from an immersion in a virtual world approachable only by experts into an active workout for everyone. No one asked for this new meaning, but everyone loved it once they saw it.

Among the extensive literature on design management, many previous studies focused, for example, on the characteristics of a product design; in particular, a product design may be defined as a “beautiful and well made” product which combines functionality, expressed by technology, with aesthetic form and/or symbolic value ( Bloch, 2011 ; Ravasi and Rindova, 2008 ; Luchs and Swan, 2011 ; D'Ippolito, 2014 ). Other previous studies examined the types of barriers and problems small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have to overcome to adopt DDI such as lack of design resources ( Cox, 2005 ; Landoni et al. , 2016 ) or human and financial resources ( Fuesglistaller, 2004 ; D'Ippolito, 2014 ) or design culture ( Moultrie et al. , 2007 ). Some studies also analysed how a product design creates value for customers as it meets the rational and emotional needs of customers (among others Bloch, 2011 ; D'Ippolito 2014 ). However, few studies focus on the DDI process as we will explain in the next paragraph.

DDI: phases of new product development

The new product development models ( Cooper, 1996 ; Benkenstein, 1998 , among others) are considered inadequate to describe the DDI process, as they consider industrial design only as part of company's R&D or included it in the conception phase. Furthermore, the managerial literature on design does not focus on the process, process phases or actions for DDI, and little consensus is found among the authors on this subject ( De Goey et al. , 2016 ). According to Verganti (2008) , the process of DDI is not formalized, is difficult to grasp by applying research methods used in product development and starts from an insight into new product meanings and not with an insight into the needs of a consumer. In order to produce radical innovation, companies need to build relationships with actors or “interpreters” (individuals and organizations) which may help identifying the “meaning” of the proposed innovation for users and customers. More precisely, according to Verganti (2009) , companies need to be immersed in the so-called design discourse that is a network of interpreters (designers, artists, suppliers, companies of other sectors, etc.) that are explicitly or implicitly engaged in a systematic dialogue in which they exchange insights, interpretations and proposals in the form of artwork, studies, speeches, prototypes and products. DDI is a research process in which knowledge and interpretations are fed into the creation of a new vision or proposal and aimed at creating breakthrough product family or new business. In particular, the author has identified three main activities of DDI: listening to, interpreting and addressing the design discourse ( Verganti, 2009 ). More in detail, listening to the design discourse consists in accessing and understanding knowledge about possible meanings and languages of new products, by attracting key interpreters in the outside network (not only designers); interpreting is when knowledge is fed into a process that can create a new vision and proposal; it implies integrating and recombining knowledge captured from the design discourse, as well as producing new interpretations, by conducting internal research and experiments; addressing the design discourse means diffusing your vision to interpreters, influencing how people give meanings to things; it implies defining appropriate means to allow interpreters to discuss and internalize new proposals ( Verganti, 2009 , p. 133).

Making the connection to new product development (NPD), Dell'Era et al. (2008) identified a so-called meta-project, which occurs prior to product development. Within this project, collaborations among actors are established and changes in sociocultural contexts are researched. Verganti (2008) described DDI as a research process in which technological and design research starts at the beginning of the meta-project phase. Companies and designers search for relevant knowledge about recent design and technology discourses before the generation of ideas. Verganti (2009) defined this context as the design discourse .

The process that follows is not divided into clearly defined phases ( Dell'Era and Verganti, 2009 ), as it is a process whereby exploration, diverging phases, and converging phases iterate ( Jahnke and Johansson-Sköldberg, 2014 ).

However, few explorative studies have proposed specific phases for the DDI process ( de Mozota, 2008 ; Acklin, 2010 ; Design Council, 2017 ; Conti, 2018 ; Aydin and Erkarlsan, 2019 ). Even though in these studies there are similarities among phases, there is not yet a unique widely accepted proposal. For example, according to Borja de Mozota (2008) , the creative process of a designer developing a new product is structured as follows: (1) research, (2) exploration, (3) development, (4) implementation and (5) evaluation. Similarly, Acklin (2010) proposed a model for SMEs structured as follows: (1) impulse, (2) research, (3) development, (4) strategy, (5) implementation and (6) evolution.

In a similar vein, Conti (2018) proposed the following phases of the process of radical product innovation by examining the procedure of a leading company in business-to-business (BtoB) marketing in the furniture sector, whereby designers cooperate strictly with company staff in terms of (1) the brief of the company, (2) the design proposal, (3) the maquette, (4) legal protection, (5) the design, (6) the prototyping, (7) the pre-series production and (8) the series production. In the first step, the brief includes the request from the company along with basic limitations that afford great freedom to the designer; the designer, in the second step, proposes the concept in the form of drawings and written descriptions; after the pre-prototyping phase, known as the maquette, the legal protection and design phases follow. The design step consists of the identification and definition of the details of the components and their successive representation in constructive drawings. In the phase of prototyping that follows, marketing and commercial departments may intervene and suggest corrections to the product, and finally production and launch to the market ensue. Pre-series production anticipates production and is useful for testing the product through feedback from loyal clients, for quantifying its industrial cost and for collecting orders.

Similarly, a qualitative study analysed how Swedish and Turkish companies in the furniture sector undertook research for and designed a novel product meaning for a new customer ( Aydin and Erkarlsan, 2019 ). The study outlined that the design push NPD consists of the meta-project phase, and of the product development phase, which includes prototyping, material selection, product language design and communication design.

Collaborators of the DDI process

As explained in the previous paragraph the network of collaborators, the so-called design discourse provided by Verganti (2009 , pp. 120–133), plays a crucial role in the DDI process. However, little has been studied and discussed in detail about the contribution of the actors involved in DDI, and empirical research is recommended ( De Goey et al. , 2019 ). Research shows that DDI requires collaborating with external networks to expose companies to different perspectives ( Brøde et al. , 2014 ; Verganti and Dell'Era, 2014 ). The importance of open innovation processes for value creation is not new ( Leifer et al. , 2000 ; Chesbrough, 2003 ; Vanhaverbeke et al. , 2008 ; Laursen and Salter, 2006 ; Mina et al. , 2014 ; D’Angelo and Baroncelli, 2020 ). Many actors co-produce the product bringing different sources of knowledge to its creation ( Laursen and Salter, 2006 ; Mina et al. , 2014 ). In a DDI approach, external actors play a critical role as “interpreters” of the evolution of the socio-economic context, thus contributing to develop ideas, insights and new products with new meanings.

Firms developing DDIs must collaborate with different categories of interpreters to explore new scenarios. Verganti (2009) defined interpreters as “firms in other industries that target the same users, suppliers of new technologies, researchers, designers, and artists, that can provide complementary and synergistic knowledge”. These can be grouped into two main categories: the world of cultural production (i.e. people whose core mission is exploring culture and meaning) and the world of technology (i.e. people who focus their efforts on exploring radical changes in technologies and drive technical innovations). To develop DDIs, firms must enter into dialogue with this external network, which enables taking a step back from their view of the industry and facilitates a more holistic interpretation of the surrounding sociocultural arena ( Verganti, 2009 ; Verganti and Dell'Era, 2014 ).

A recent study on Swedish and Turkish companies in the furniture sector ( Aydin and Erkarlsan, 2019 ) suggests that companies should collaborate with various actors from different cultural backgrounds, not only with experts from different sectors, such as production, service and communication, but also with other experts, such as artists, sociologists, architects and trendsetters to discuss and develop their forecasts.

In summary, the marketing and managerial literature on design reveals some gaps, which the present study seeks to address. First is the innovation process in cooperation with designers and requires further understanding: some authors argue that it is difficult to formalize, while others stress the importance of trying to define the steps of such a process to manage better DDI – through the identification, management and control of the process – which is a strategy for competitiveness. Second, the literature has only poorly investigated the actors (or interpreters) and their roles in this process. Hence, this study tries to understand both the steps of the process and the actors involved by examining four leading Italian companies in the home appliances and furniture sector. In addition, this study aimed to contribute to fill another gap in the literature – the relationship between DDI and quality principles – which will be described in the next paragraph.

Quality management and design-driven innovation

The relationship between quality management, quality principles and design management in general has been studied extensively. Several papers analysed the relationship from a more technical and engineering point of view. For instance, Andreasen (1991) and Hubka and Eder (2002) presented different design methods and tools, including the quality function deployment (QFD), which could be of great help in improving product characteristics and quality. Pighini et al. (2001) , introduced a technical approach based on design for X methods with the aim of improving product quality and safety. Lanzotti and Tarantino (2008) proposed a statistical-based Kansei engineering approach. This method, along with the well-known Kano analysis, allows the identification of quality elements satisfying user needs.

However, all the above-mentioned papers did not study how quality principles could affect DDI performance.

The influence of quality management on innovation seems to have both negative and positive effects. Some common aspects between quality management and innovation such as continuous improvement, performance measurement and an “open” culture ( Prajogo and Sohal, 2001 ) suggest that organizations that implement quality could be more innovative than organizations that do not ( Singh and Smith, 2004 ). However, the “tyranny of the market” to which quality management is subject could have negative consequences on innovative performance ( Perdomo-Ortiz et al. , 2006 ).

In a recent study, the relationship between DDI performance and quality management was analysed in Italian manufacturing companies ( Conti et al. , 2019 ). It revealed the existence of many common elements of product design and quality product, especially aesthetics, quality materials, technology and environmental sustainability and their positive influence on the perception of customer value. Further, it stressed that the companies most inclined to innovation pay attention to less traditional and more recent elements of quality and design such as aesthetics, technology and environmental sustainability.

Among important principles of quality culture, three of them seem to have a positive influence on the new product development within DDI. The first principle is related to customer satisfaction and excitement requirements ( Tontini, 2007 ; Wang and Ji, 2010 ); the second refers to teamwork capacity ( Escribá-Moreno et al. , 2008 ; Colurcio, 2009 ); the third concerns the participative leadership ( Parumasur, 2013 ). Therefore, this study aims also to understand the relationship among DDI and these total quality management principles.

Indeed, apart from studies focused on technical and engineering aspects of the relationship between quality and DDI, few papers deeply investigated quality principles and DDI from a managerial perspective.

The relevance of home appliances and furniture sector among intense-design sectors

This study analyses the home appliances and furniture sector as it is one of the most design-intense sector ( Verganti, 2006 ; Dell'Era et al. , 2011 ; Simoni et al. , 2014 ) and focuses on the Italian context as Italy is considered one of the most important countries for design culture and innovation ( Sigolotto, 2010 ). To meet people’s needs in furnishing houses and offices and to remain competitive, companies of the home appliances and furniture sector need to constantly innovate in terms of not only technology or functionality but also design ( Verganti, 2009 ). An example of recent DDI in the Italian furniture sector is the innovative furniture system with integrated acoustic insulation panels that meets the new demand for original solutions for co-working workplaces (shared production areas where the emerging class of “millennials” can work together), mitigating the noise-related bad effects on workers ( Geniola et al. , 2020 ).

The Italian home appliances and furniture companies need to face many new challenges. In an increasingly customized economy, much of design elements have to be inserted in the final products even though consumers may choose many product's features ( Bumgardner and Nicholl, 2020 ). Given the increasing consumer interest in sustainability of product design, good furniture design should consider the sustainability issues connected to product design (use of recyclable materials, product durability and reliability, low consumption, etc.) key elements of competitiveness ( Bumgardner and Nicholl, 2020 ). Further, this sector could benefit from the new concept of “knowledge differences” that arise between people, organizations and various phenomena and create boundaries knowledge, a dynamic process that accelerates innovation ( Kodama and Kimura, 2020 ). To grasp these opportunities and strengthen innovativeness and competitiveness, especially SMEs should improve their design management skills ( Ferrara and Lecce, 2019 ).

Methodology

Research design.

This study uses a qualitative, exploratory and multiple-case study design proposing four cases of Italian manufacturing companies.

In particular, the case study method was chosen as it is very useful to understand contemporary phenomena and practices ( Yin, 1984 ) and to provide background material to actual issues which are still not well known such as the DDI. Case studies are used to test theory, to describe specific contexts and also to develop theory ( Eisenhardt and Graebner, 2007 ; Yin, 1984 ). In this study, we use this method to develop a model from the analysis of data collected mainly through interviews. Specifically, multiple-case study method ( Yin, 1984 ) was adopted to identify which are the phases of new product development of manufacturing firms and to gain a clearer understanding and characterization of the phenomenon under investigation by comparing similarities and differences emerging from the analysis ( Silverman, 2000 ).

The four selected cases met appropriateness to the research aim as well expressed the phenomenon of inquiry, and also met adequacy as with four cases information saturation with in-depth information could be reached ( Patton, 2002 ).

Hence, the study adopted a theoretical sampling strategy ( Patton, 2002 ): cases were selected on the basis of theoretical reasons, that is, to allow the new product development in DDI to be investigated and cases rich in information to be studied in depth and in detail. The home appliance and furniture sector was chosen as it is one of the most design-intensive sectors, and four Italian companies were selected based on their strong design cultures, their competitiveness as reflected in DDI and their awards received for design.

This paper defines home appliances and furniture industry in a broad sense, including all the producers of appliances, accessories and furniture for home and public places.

Furthermore, to increase the quality of results, cases were selected to have maximum variation for the purpose of obtaining different cases and to have a literal replication, that is, expecting to obtain similar results ( Patton, 2002 ).

They are market leader in their sub-industry: (1) kitchens; (2) fridges and furniture for bars, ice cream parlors and pastry shops; (3) home accessories, such as tables, chairs and shelves; and (4) cookware.

They are strongly design-oriented: they are perceived by experts as examples of excellence in their sector by producing design items that offered unique features and high-quality finishings, and obtaining awards for design (especially the Compasso d'Oro).

They operate on a global scale.

They have different sizes, encompassing small, medium and large companies, with a turnover ranging from 5 to 60 million and numbers of employees ranging from 40 to 300.

They are particularly committed to quality management and principles, and they are ISO 9001 and 14001 certified.

Data collection

Information was collected through twenty direct interviews with the four companies of the sample, triangulated with other sources of data ( Yin, 1984 ), such as the analysis of website, balance sheet and archival documentation and a day spent in each company.

In particular, five direct and unstructured interviews were conducted with the entrepreneur (E), the R&D director (RD), the production director (PD), the sales and marketing director (MD) and the quality director (QD) of each company.

The four companies were contacted by phone and gave their availability for open-ended in-depth interviews in the period from August to December 2019 and in March 2021.

The interview protocol ( Table 1 ) was designed in order to answer the research questions, that is to investigate each company's steps in the DDI process, as well as how the companies relate to designers and other external actors of the creative network. Finally, also the relationship among DDI and quality principles connected to customer satisfaction and excitement, participative leadership and teamwork capacity was investigated. An initial question of the protocol was aimed to obtain a description of a successful design product (e.g. an awarded design product) of each company. It was considered a useful premise to identify the characteristics of the output of the DDI, that is, the innovation process under investigation.

Direct interviews were conducted in a flexible manner to ensure that themes emerged spontaneously in the respondents' feedback. During data collection, researchers played a strategic role by being an active listener, thus ensuring respondents correctly understood the questions and encouraged the interviewees to describe each aspect in detail. Each interview lasted 40 min. Further, interviews were carried out in Italian, recorded, transcribed and then translated in English for data analysis process.

Interviews with different respondents of the same company and the rigour of data collection approach could reduce problems of bias of respondents ( Yin, 2018 ). The use of multiple informants mitigates, in fact, the potential biases of any individual respondent by allowing information to be confirmed by several sources.

Secondary data, collected from multiple sources, such as website, balance sheet and archival documentation, enabled cross-checking through triangulation, revealing a high level of consistency.

Data analysis

highlighting in the text what is relevant to the topic of the research;

initially coding each distinct first-order category;

grouping similar codes to create more focused categories;

identifying theoretical themes.

In particular, data analysis and interpretation followed the approach recommended by Gioia et al. (2013) , a widely used method to understand management issues (e.g. Lindh and Thorgren, 2016 ; Chandra, 2017 ).

In this study, the analysis of the collected data began with an analysis of data collected from each company, mainly in the form of transcribed interviews, through the lens of our research questions. Each of the authors read the data collected independently to identify codes that are significant “statements”, describing, respectively, the phases of DDI process, the role of designers and other actors in such a process and the quality principles related to the process, present in each of the four cases.

This approach consists in coding the data corpus (the informants' voices) using first-order codes, before aggregating them into second-order themes (abstract concepts taken from the first-order categories) and, finally, identifying the aggregate dimensions (the theoretical themes). The aim of this process is to identify themes, that is, phases, actors and quality principles connected to DDI.

Coding was undertaken conservatively, based on what the data explicated. Through a comparison of the codes, similarities and differences were identified, and the number of codes was reduced. In particular, each researcher separately coded the concepts of the first order, carried out consistency checks and carefully coded all the textual data, thus allowing for multiple coding of each textual unit, and thereby guaranteeing the triangulation of the data.

After this, the researchers compared their coding schemes. Any discrepancy that emerged during the discussion was reconciled so that a shared understanding was reached, and a unique coding scheme identified. Codes consisted of significant statements from all four cases connected to the three areas of investigation – phases of DDI, role of designers and collaborators and relationship of the process with quality principles.

Following this, the connections between the concepts that might lead to the development of second-order themes, elaborated on a more abstract level, were identified. The researchers then assembled the emerging themes related to the concepts in the aggregate dimensions – more precisely, with specific reference to the dimensions of the DDI process's steps, the number of codes progressed from 31 (concepts) to 17 second-order themes, and then to seven aggregated dimensions. With regard to relationships with designers and other external actors, the number of codes progressed from 12 first-order concepts to eight second-order themes, and then to five aggregated dimensions.

Finally, with reference to the relationships with quality principles, the number of codes progressed from 11 first-order concepts to 6 second-order themes, and then to 3 aggregated dimensions.

The findings were then discussed using the theoretical lens of Verganti's (2009) model of design approach consisting of macro-phases – listening, interpreting and addressing – and the actors or interpreters (designers and collaborators) starting from Verganti's (2008) design discourse framework and explained in reference to the literature.

Company profiles

Table 2 shows the characteristics of the companies in the sample, indicating their specializations in the industry, firm size and experience in DDI, and providing a description of an award-winning product designed by each company.

With regard to examples of design products, company A introduced to the market one of the most revolutionary products in the sector, a breakthrough product consisting of the first round and rotating display case to combine perfect refrigeration (with an enticing display of ice cream) and functionality.

An “evergreen” design product of company B is a collection of pans that are high performing, resistant and suitable for all cooking modes (oven, gas, induction, electric hob or radiant glass-ceramic), and, with their elegant lines, they are suitable for display on the table. This product was apparently inspired by a car design, for which the line was designed in a wind tunnel.

Company C designed a modern kitchen that incorporates innovations in terms of functionality, aesthetics and technical performance, thus creating an environment with a strong “personality.” Product 3 is equipped with an innovative door that seals the cabinet, preventing the entry of dust and small insects, while allowing air circulation with pressure or temperature changes by means of a filter and membrane holes. This is a radical innovation in the sector, and the company has obtained a patent for the invention. Other innovative aspects of this product are its concealed elements and new materials.

Finally, product 4 of company D is a breakthrough product for the sector, a sort of “mirror of the soul”, of interiority, a magical place to recover a dialogue with oneself. Its innovation concerns not only meanings and sense making, but also the form and the processing of glass and functionality. In fact, each single module comprises 21 different elements, worked separately, in extra clear glass. These are glued one at a time and welded using ultra-violet lamps.

New product development phases of DDI

All the companies examined developed new products in a similar way, adopting the following phases: the company brief, the designer research, the designer concept, the design, legal protection, prototyping, production and the launch to the market. The entrepreneurs interviewed agreed that the innovation process consists of three macro-phases: listening, interpreting and addressing.

The innovation process is not linear and rigid but flexible; it is driven by “trial and error”, parallel activities and learning by doing. In addition, innovation is an “open process”, wherein external actors, such as suppliers, artists, and universities, cooperate. Following Table 3 , which presents the data on the phases of DDI for design product development, each phase of the process is described in detail.

Company brief

We give to designers a quite vague brief, a sensation, and ask him or her to create a project that satisfies the minimum requirements, for example, to use the available glass plates. But designers can become upset and ask to modify the glass plates, which seems to be a constraint.

While the architectural structure of the pan—the round pan with a handle—remains unchanged, details, materials, colors, finishings may be changed. We start the process of product innovation with an idea, a brief, and we invite the designer to visit the company to learn the productive process and the constraints connected to technologies and costs.

The product innovation process with designers starts with a brief through which the company declares its aims, its needs, and that leaves ample space for designers. For example, before launching the Icon model on the market we wanted to produce a technical and rigorous kitchen, such as the German ones, but at the same time, with an Italian style.

If we want a radical product innovation, we need to work with a designer who suggests new ideas. For this reason, we like to work with designers who have not worked in our industry before and can bring fresh ideas and very original proposals to our company.

More rarely, designers make proposals to companies before being contacted by them.

Designer research

All respondents affirmed that, following the brief, designers conduct personal research to investigate user demand and trends related to the industry, and that, generally, such research includes the study of related industries as well as the artistic and fashion worlds. Every designer conducts research in a broad socio-economic context to develop ideas that could not only meet users' unexpressed desires but surprise and excite them.

The designer research is aimed at finding original solutions, which may be very different from the suggestions initially given by the companies. The research is a sort of “applied research” aimed at finding a solution for the company.

Designers are always immersed in a creative world, made of networks of people and organizations. During the personal and applied research—following the brief—they look for specific solutions.

According to designers, the industry trends can be understood if you first look at the artistic and fashion worlds, as they anticipate the tendencies of all the sectors.

The design concept

Each designer usually presents two or three concepts, mainly in the form of rendering and rarely as a sketch on a sheet. A concept consists of a drawing and a verbal description of the new product. Entrepreneurs select the concept that best meets the constraints indicated by the company and, at the same time, propose new, original, functional and emotional products.

Concepts from designers may vary from the initial suggestions provided by the entrepreneur, but I appreciate this a lot as the originality of the designer is fundamental to developing breakthrough products, which are really new in the sector.

I select concepts that meet the requirements of economic, technical, and market feasibility. By market feasibility I intend how the new products may satisfy the company's target.

Some designers propose even 10 concepts, but we consider the 2 or 3 ideas that best meet our request. We do not have information on the kind of work the designer conducts from the brief to the presentation of the concepts, but we know he his immersed in his network where he develops ideas.

In this phase of the innovation process, it is sometimes necessary that designers present pre-prototypes. In particular, as we produce a quite complex product (kitchen) made of many components, it is important to develop concepts in the form of small prototypes.

Respondents affirmed that in the design phase, each component of the new product is studied and defined in detail through construction drawings. Further, they stated that new products are designed to have a meaning, to show no defects and to be easy to sell; in short, products as an outcome of the DDI process must be “beautiful and well executed.” More specifically, the entrepreneurs interviewed agreed on the following elements that qualify a product of design: functionality, aesthetics, technology, materials, performance, processing, meaning and sustainability.

From the acceptance of the concept of the designer, an iterative process follows between the designer and the technical office to make the concept industrialized. The process lasts about a month and CAD files are developed.

Our designer and artistic director is also a good technician and engineer and provides advanced projects already in the concept phase. In fact, the company implement the design in a pre-prototype co-created with suppliers of components who require clear projects.

Before the design phase, it could be useful to create pre-prototypes, for example, to better understand the functioning of a component, especially when the product is complex or strongly innovative.

Legal protection

After the design phase, the legal protection phase follows. All the respondents agreed on the idea that not all new products are legally protected but the most innovative ones in the sector must be.

Although our most innovative products are legally protected, the best way to be competitive is to innovate systematically.

Prototyping follows the legal protection phase. All the respondents explained that products are tested mainly internally, but the most complex products, such as kitchens, fridges and furniture, for the BtoB market are also tested in external specialized laboratories. This is an important step to improve the quality and safety of new products before production. All companies also stressed that at this stage of the process, little improvements may be suggested, especially by marketing and sales department and by clients.

Prototypes are tested especially for durability and resistance both internally and in Cosmob, a local technology centre. Tests are compulsory for contract products and not for products marketed to consumers, but we test all the products. From these tests, eventual little corrections to draws are made and also marketing and sale departments may suggest product improvements.

Tests on prototypes are made especially on materials, resistance to scratches, and thermal shocks. Sometimes, we ask our key clients to test a pre-prototype. But our retailers give us the most important feedback (the real test!) at the exhibition, the “Salone del Mobile”, which takes place every two years in Milan. This allows the company to make eventual improvements to the product.

Production and market launch

Production is a teamwork phase used by those companies that manufacture more complex products, such as A and C, where some components are manufactured by suppliers. All respondents affirmed that pre-series may be necessary to take pictures for product catalogues.

With regard to the market launch, all respondents explained that designers may participate in this phase by providing advice or suggestions, but they are not directly involved in the communication and distribution of products, with the exception of C, whose internal designer and artistic director played a strong role in the final step of the IDD process. According to entrepreneurs, designers seem to be interested and satisfied to cooperate in this phase, and they are keen to receive immediate market feedback on the new products.

Production of new pans may also include process innovation, connected to the introduction of new technologies or new materials or processing. Final products are generally coherent with research designs.

Pre-series are produced to receive feedback from loyal clients, to quantify industrial costs and to obtain orders.

Designers are part of our team and participate in all the steps of the product innovation process, until the market feedback, which represents a moment of satisfaction also for designers who receive appreciation and comments about the products.

In particular in our company the designer who is also the creative director plays a strategic role also in these phases of new product developments, as he designs the stand at the “Salone del mobile” fair and the layout of single-brand stores abroad and cooperate to plan the communication polity.

The role of actual and potential clients comes at the end of the process, as it is fundamental that they appreciate and buy the new products! This implies that they understand the value connected to the new meanings and other innovations, for example technological innovations, incorporated into new products!

Actors involved in DDI

In this section, Table 4 presents the data for the external actors (or interpreters) involved in the DDI process. A description of the participation of each collaborator in the process follows. Before identifying these actors, the information about the ways companies select designers and cooperate with them is reported.

All the companies examined cooperated with different external designers – apart from C, whose internal designer was also the artistic director of the company – and their relationships with their creatives were “warm”, open and collaborative during all the steps of NPD (see Table 5 ).

Famous designers are selected together with young, promising ones, under the criterion that they should bring original solutions to companies. One entrepreneur searched for designers who were not familiar with the industry as they could propose more original solutions. Only two companies affirmed that their designers did not participate in the final or commercial phase after the launch to the market (B and D).

Suppliers and sub-suppliers play a strategic role in the DDI as they may suggest innovations in materials and technologies, alone or in collaboration with designers and the company.

Further, users contribute to the innovation process. Designers study demand trends, and, through their marketing and commercial departments, companies try to understand their market segment and select the most adequate concept of design.

Nearly all the respondents affirmed that designers and companies do listen to users' desires and cooperate with technological centres to test products or components. This is especially true for the most complex products, such as kitchens, fridges and furniture for BtoB markets, where cooperation with these specialized centres is required to test products and/ or components.

We strongly support young creative people; in fact, young designers are always around in the company and participate in design competitions organized by the company.

Finally, the entrepreneurs explained that the company and the designers cooperate with the creative network . In particular, all the entrepreneurs agreed that it is important to be aware of sector trends and trends in related sectors, and that designers become immersed in the art and fashion worlds , visiting exhibitions and events connected to design to develop creativity and innovation. The respondents asserted that they had a good relationship with the ADI and participated successfully in the prestigious annual competition Il Compasso D'oro. EC specified “ we cooperate systematically with la Triennale of Milano, a place which hosts exhibitions and events connected to design. ”

Among the creative network are included local industrial associations . In recent years, all the companies interviewed have participated actively in an important initiative – “Innovation and Design” – aimed at diffusing the culture of design promoted by local trade associations.

Finally, all the four companies affirmed to adopt the quality principles connected to customer satisfaction and excitement, collaborative leadership and teamwork capacity.

Only thanks to the cooperation with designers we can put on the market products that not only satisfy clients, but surprise and excite them.

Designers are able to innovate in a way that overcome customer needs and desires.

among quality principles the ability to work together with different competences is fundamental for the success of new product development with designers.

a collaborative leadership and a culture of design are the basic skills which may facilitate the DDI in a company.

A proposed model of the DDI process related to the development of new products

Figure 1 shows a model of the design-driven process with the steps, actors and quality principles involved as it has emerged from empirical research. This model is the output of the answers to the research questions and it synthesizes the main findings of this study.

This study has explored and deepened the understanding of the phases and actors of DDI NPD and of the relationship between this process and some quality principles to seek answers to the research questions. The data analysed show recognizable similarities to Verganti's frameworks and the cited literature but also propose some additional aspects, enriching the knowledge in the field.

The first research question focused on the phases of NPD related to DDI in the interviewed companies from the home appliances and furniture industry, namely, the company's brief, the designer research, the designer's concept, the design, legal protection, prototyping, production and the market launch. The results confirm that the process of product development within the DDI of the companies examined consists of three macro-phases, namely, listening, interpreting and addressing ( Verganti, 2009 ), and that, in the initial creative phase, known in the literature as the meta-project phase ( Dell'Era et al. , 2008 ), the designer conducts wide-ranging and multidisciplinary research.

This study underlines that the listening to the design discourse is made mainly by designers and that companies do not know how designers conduct their research but are aware that designers are immersed in networks wherein they develop ideas for innovation. Further, companies know that designers conduct a wide and heterogeneous research on the past and future trends of the industry and connected industries, on expressed an unexpressed needs and desires of users, on the history of successful products and on trends in fashion and arts. Thus, this study on the one hand confirms the difficulty in clearly understanding all aspects of DDI ( Verganti, 2009 ; among others), but, on the other hand, it adds knowledge on this initial phase of DDI connected to new product development. This study emphasis that designer is a sort of a “company intermediary” for external design discourse as he/she has developed important relationships with actors of that wide network to develop ideas. This study also underlines that the work of designers is personal, unique and that he/she develops tacit knowledge difficult to transfer to others.

Further, the DDI phases identified in this study add new knowledge to the field, contributing especially to a deeper understanding of DDI process phases identified in previous studies that are not homogenous ( De Bozota, 2008 ; Acklin, 2010 ; Design Coincil, 2017 ; Aydin and Erkarlsan, 2019 ). Specifically, this study has pinpointed clear and specific phases of DDI: the company brief, the designer's research, the designer's concept, the design, legal protection, prototyping, production and the market launch.

All the companies agreed on the presence of the above eight different phases, although with slight differences: one company does not frequently protect legally its products, and a couple of them do not involve a lot of designers in the market launch phase but leave this option open.

The results of many previous studies stress that the company's brief is the initial phase of the process, while other studies do not explicitly include it (e.g. Borja De Mozota, 2008 ). This study confirms that company's brief is the first step of the process. Further, the final phase, the market launch, is never present in the literature. Again, this study sheds light on the process stressing that market launch is the final step of the process. Most of previous studies do not include this phase in the process. Conversely, aspects such as pre-series production and legal protection are covered in the literature. This study provides a detailed explanation of each phase, thanks to in-depth interviews with entrepreneurs and managers.

This is the first study to investigate the home appliances and furniture sector as a whole, a particularly design-intense sector, which has been never examined as macro-sector including all related industries, such as furniture, accessories, kitchens and cookware. In fact, another recent study focused solely on the furniture sector ( Aydin and Erkarlsan, 2019 ). Like the furniture sector, all the sub-sectors of the home appliances and furniture industry are mature, and technological or functional innovation alone is not sufficient to ensure competitiveness. Companies can innovate by introducing new meanings and languages, together with innovations in technology and function. This study confirms that DDI considers many aspects of the product innovation, including meanings, functionality, aesthetics, performance, materials, and sustainability (e.g. Verganti, 2003 ; D'Ippolito, 2014 ). Therefore, the study reinforces the idea of design-driven innovation as a new way to innovate which is not only complementary to other kinds of innovation (incremental innovations in the examined companies are demand-pull) but may also integrate other kinds of innovation (new design products of the companies examined often include also technological innovation) ( Verganti, 2008 ; Verganti and Dell'Era, 2014 ).

It is clear in this study that the driver of innovation neither demand nor technology alone, but new meanings and sense together with improvements of functionality, technology and so forth ( Verganti, 2008 , 2009 ). From the interviews, it emerged clearly that clients and customers may eventually suggest little corrections to products in the final phases of the DDI process, respectively, after prototype and/or pre-series phases. This result provides empirical evidence which is needed in this relatively recent managerial field.

The entrepreneurs and managers interviewed have a great design culture and consider industrial design as a main driving factor of competitiveness. All respondents revealed that they started the process of product development with a company brief, which indicated the scope of the company and the basic idea for the new product that the designers were asked to develop. Therefore, entrepreneurs are interested in and passionate about design. Usually, basic ideas and sensations are formulated by entrepreneurs, and, more rarely, designers spontaneously contact entrepreneurs. This step of the process stresses the importance to develop a strong feeling, understanding and cooperation, especially between entrepreneur and designer in the initial steps of the process in order to develop radical innovations.

The study stresses that the majority of concepts consist of renderings of the new products, and, where products are complex, such as kitchens, designers propose small prototyping, so that production may be anticipated by pre-series production to allow loyal customers to give feedback about the new product. The study found that nearly all products are legally protected.

In answer to the second research question – the role of designers and other actors in the DDI process – this study stresses that designers play a strategic role in the process and conduct personal research (the meta-project phase) in their networks, referred to as design discourse by Verganti (2009) . As explained above, designers are the key actors in the innovation process who listen to the design discourse and interpret it, proposing new products in cooperation with companies and other actors in a team work, until the launch of the products on the market (addressing the design discourse). While the previous literature has identified in general terms all the actors of the external network ( Verganti, 2009 ), this study has identified the specific actors that usually participate in the process: designers, suppliers, clients/users, universities and education systems, technological centres and creative networks. Further, this study examined their roles more in depth, contributing to fill a gap in the literature ( De Goey et al. , 2019 ). While it is intuitive that designers cooperate successfully in the process, this study has stressed the importance of other actors, for example, suppliers cooperate with designers and companies, and sometimes even anticipate them in the innovation of components. Additionally, technological centres are fundamental for testing products as the majority of companies cannot conduct many product tests internally.

As explained above, also clients and customers may provide suggestions in the final phases of the process, but only in terms of eventual little innovations to improve the success of the products.

However, important roles are also played by universities and industrial associations. A special actor of the external environment is the “creative network”, which, in the home appliances and furniture sector examined, is represented by actors in relationships with designers and/or companies, art and fashion, exhibitions and events, other related sectors, design associations and industrial associations. All these actors participate in specific steps of the process and cooperate with companies and designers in a team work, who lead the process.

It is important to underline that this study tries to formalize the DDI product development process of the home appliances and furniture sector with the intention not to “simplify” the process or to consider it a linear one, as it is complex and iterative; the aim of this contribution is to understand in more depth the macro-phases and to identify the eventual similarities between companies in the same macro-sector.

Therefore, this study takes the cognitive approach of innovation studies and confirms that innovation is open innovation (e.g. Chesbrough, 2003 , 2006 ), as many actors co-produce the product bringing different sources of knowledge to its creation ( Laursen and Salter, 2006 ; Mina et al. , 2014 ).

In answering the third research question, according to what was found from the literature, all the four companies adopt the quality principles connected to customer satisfaction/excitement, collaborative leadership and teamwork capacity. In particular, the research aimed to investigate eventual relationships among DDI and some important quality principles. From this point of view, we can confirm what is already known from the literature, specifically the adoption of principles like customer satisfaction/excitement, collaborative leadership and teamwork capacity could facilitate DDI product innovation. Hence, this study reinforces those contributions in the literature which stress a positive influence of quality on innovation ( Singh and Smith, 2004 ). According to the respondents, the three principles of quality positively affect the DDI process connected to new product development, and therefore the relative performance or outputs. While previous study analyses the relationship between quality and innovation in general, this study focuses on specific quality principles and DDI in a high design-intensive industry.

Hence, despite the increasing number of scientific studies in this area, to the authors' knowledge, no qualitative studies have proposed a model including various phases to analyse the DDI process connected to new product development, the role of designers and collaborators and how it relates to quality.

Conclusions

Despite the theoretical ferment with regard to design management in recent years, the related empirical research is still in its infancy. This study has contributed to increasing the theoretical research and empirical evidence in the management literature by investigating the phases of and actors in NPD within DDI by examining the home appliances and furniture industry, one of the most design-intense sectors. This paper aimed to address gaps in the literature by identifying the phases of DDI and the actors involved with designers in the Italian home appliances and furniture sector context. The main findings of this study that contribute to the research area are as follows: (1) the phases of DDI: the company brief, the designer's research, the designer's concept, the design, legal protection, prototyping, production and the market launch; (2) the actors involved in such a process: designers, suppliers, clients/users, universities and education systems, technological centres and creative networks; (3) collaborative design: while designers are strongly involved in all phases of the process, other actors are involved in single phases; and (4) some quality principles could affect positively the DDI process: customer satisfaction/excitement, collaborative leadership and teamwork capacity.

This study reveals several theoretical implications. First, it adds new knowledge to the still unexplored DDI process in the managerial literature by identifying and analysing in detail the phases of such a complex process. This exploratory study suggests a model of clear and distinctive phases, building on empirical research through a sample of companies from the home appliances and furniture sector, a very design-intense sector, which includes the furniture sector and related industries, such as accessories, kitchens and cookware. Few previous studies have explored these phases ( Verganti, 2008 ; de Mozota, 2008 ; Conti, 2018 ; Aydin and Erkarlsan, 2019 ); one suggested three macro-phases and stressed that it is difficult to formalize such a process.

With respect to the above research, this study specifies the steps, starting from the brief of the company, which is not present in all studies, and ending with the market launch; this final phase in not included in previous studies but is very important, as designers should participate in all the phases.

It is quite intuitive that designers have to be part of a team to work under better conditions but that they also need to have the freedom to suggest radical innovations. While confirming that the process is complex and iterative, this study is new and original with respect to the previous contributions, as it offers an original model of the phases of the DDI process and of the actors involved in it through an empirical analysis of the home appliances and furniture sector. All these industries are design-intensive industries, connected to living in the house, and have never been studied together. In this study, we found that the companies in these sectors use the same designers and have similar phases for new product innovation. Few previous studies have analysed the sector in detail. Hence, this study has addressed deficiencies in the existing research.

Third, this study has explored the role of designers and other actors, which is an underinvestigated aspect of DDI process. Beginning with Verganti's (2009) proposed networks of actors in the sociocultural context called design discourse , we add knowledge to this generic scheme by identifying the specific actors involved in the DDIs of the companies in our sample in the home appliances and furniture sector, and explain how these actors participate in the product development. From this study, it is clear that clients and customers among external actors may eventually provide little corrections to products, thus confirming that design is the driving force behind this peculiar nature of innovation, that is, DDI.

Entrepreneurs and top management should provide guidelines and constraints to designers to allow them to create freely and to radically innovate; management should include designers in the personnel of the company, developing a “warm” relationship with them.

It is also strategic to allow designers to participate in all phases of the new product innovation process, until the launch on the market.

The relationship with other actors or interpreters who cooperate in the DDI process should be carefully developed and managed, as other actors also play a strategic role in innovation.

It is important for companies to develop relationships with external creative networks (such as associations of entrepreneurs, design associations and technological centres) even though they may access these areas through designers who are immersed in such external creative networks.

Entrepreneurs and top management should carefully select designers and other interpreters; thus, it is important to develop a culture of design.

It is important to manage and adequately incentivize designers and interpreters and to collect feedback from them.

Quality principles such as customer satisfaction/excitement, participative leadership and teamwork should be encouraged as they may have a positive influence on DDI.

As DDI is strategic for firms and countries, it is crucial for governments to both incentivize this kind of innovation and promote the match of demand with the supply of creativity skills. Local government and associations of entrepreneurs, together with universities and technological centres, should also cooperate to reinforce the culture of design and promote initiatives connected to design, which is a strategic asset of competitiveness and innovation. A better understanding of DDI process and a wider diffusion of this kind of innovation in manufacturing companies have also practical implications for societies. In fact, beautiful and useful design products may contribute to improve the quality of life and social conditions of consumers.

The limitations of this study include its exploratory nature and the small sample of the Italian companies analysed. Further, interviews were conducted only with entrepreneurs, while investigation with other stakeholders is important for better understanding the phenomena.

Agenda for further research

Future research on this topic is recommended. There is a need to better understand the DDI process through qualitative research conducted in different industries and in different countries through the use of the case study method, in-depth interviews and direct observation. In this research, only entrepreneurs and managers were interviewed, but it is crucial to investigate the opinions of designers and all interpreters (e.g. suppliers, technological centres, customers) who cooperate in the innovation process, and also of local government, associations of entrepreneurs, design associations, artists and other relevant parties. Further, longitudinal studies are highly recommended to understand how the relationships between companies and designers and companies and interpreters evolve over time.

Although the empirical research on design is more advanced, there remains a need to investigate the impact of designers and external interpreters on the kind of innovation undertaken and on the business performance. Future research should also analyse whether designer profiles (e.g. gender, age of designer, nationality) affect the output of DDI or business performance.

Last but not least in terms of relevance, we reckon that the relationships between quality principles and design innovation should be better studied, both in terms of managerial aspects and practices.

Model of DDI process of Italian companies in the home appliances and furniture industry

Interview protocol

Socio-demographic characteristics of the companies and example of a design product`

Data on the phases of NPD using DDI

Data concerning actors involved in the DDI process

Data concerning relationship between quality principles and DDI

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Designing innovation – the role of engineering design to realise sustainability challenges.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 May 2022

Sustainability challenges drive innovation, yet few studies attend to the role of design to realise innovation. This paper report from a full day workshop and panel discussion with 100 delegates at the ICED 2021 conference. Industrialists, academics and societal representatives discussed how to deal with five conflicting themes. It is argued that innovation actors will need to take a joint action to the problem, industrial value chains need to co-innovate and that long term challenging targets are powerful metrics to drive transformation.

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• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/pds.2022.104

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Innovation thesis: How to define a focused innovation strategy - pt.1

Designing an innovation strategy can be as daunting as climbing a steep rock wall. If done without preparation, you will find yourself facing the wall, not knowing where to start, or how to decide where you will invest your limited resources. And even if you planned carefully upfront, you’ll find it difficult to see the top at times.

So unsurprisingly, chances are you decide to go down when you encounter a roadblock. Same thing goes for doing innovation as part of business as usual. The end of quarter is near. Channeling your remaining resources to the core business seems the safest choice. In this article, we will discuss how to get started using the innovation thesis.

I have recently watched a documentary where professional rock climber Alex Honnold achieved the astonishing deed of free solo climbing a 900-meter vertical rock at Yosemite National Park. The views are humbling and breathtaking, literally.

For some, this climb was considered an act of sheer luck complemented with an unusual appetite for risk. To others, this represented an exquisite example of planning and execution capabilities. I tend to agree with the latter.

In order to reach the top, Alex Honnold carefully planned his climb. He analyzed the rock wall from top to bottom looking for the key surfaces to support himself on. He measured weather conditions such as wind and rain which could jeopardize his performance. Also, he practiced ceaselessly the climb with rope iterating his path until he found one that he was comfortable with.

I think you’re starting to understand where I am going with this analogy, right? With the right tools and systems in place, you increase the chances of success; Same goes for your corporate innovation strategy. Let’s cover some of these tools throughout this article.

Ready to reach the top?

Planning your Strategy? Use “The Innovation Thesis”!

If you are starting to plan your innovation strategy, start by defining your innovation thesis. As a  climber, you can think about it as an exercise of choosing the rocky mountain you wish to climb and analyze its surroundings, what gear you might need or what level of physical preparation it might entail.

Developing a solid innovation thesis is about evaluating your business. First you want to understand where you are now and where you want to be in the future. Second, you need to understand what is going on around you (trends, market changes, emerging technologies); define which problems you want to solve and what technologies are better suited to solve them.

Some of the questions you can go through include:

• What are our current business models and core products?
• Which products/services within our current business model are facing decline?
• What are the sociological, political, technological, environmental or economical trends emerging?
• Which new markets do we want to enter?
• What are the emerging competitors in our market?

The Innovation Thesis Worksheet is a great tool to help you organize your answers to these and other questions. You can download it here

Going through this process will help you decide what projects and technologies to invest in and what projects to pass on. It will also give you a simple narrative that can be shared across the organization from board-level executives to mid-management and employees so that everyone inside the company has a clear view of the high-level innovation strategy. This is especially important when you want to engage with other departments to collaborate on innovation initiatives/projects. Finally, being specific about what you want to accomplish also makes it easier to measure whether you have succeeded or failed.

The innovation thesis is composed of three parts: the statement, the antithesis, and the thesis. This exercise should fit on one A4 page - not more.

The statement should be a small paragraph explaining how you see the world and what your innovation ambitions are for the future.

Define what is outside your innovation scope:

• We are not going to invest in problem spaces such as:
• We are not going to invest in business models :
• We are not going to invest in technologies :

Define what is inside your innovation scope:

• We are going to invest in problem spaces such as:
• We are going to invest in business models :
• We are going to invest in technologies :

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Design for Social Innovation: Case Studies from Around the World

• October 2021
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Master of Design in Design for Interactions

Our mdes program supports those with design backgrounds who seek to transform their practice..

The School of Design welcomes students who hold undergraduate degrees in a design-based field and have at least one year of professional experience to apply to our MDes program. If you’re looking to build on a strong foundation in design by studying the “big picture” aspect of designing for interactions, which involves communities, organizations, cultures, contexts, and systems, our MDes program can help you. Throughout the program, you’ll work with some of the brightest thinkers and most talented practitioners in the field, gaining exposure to approaches, ideas, and methods at the forefront of design. Studies rooted in communication, systems thinking, futuring, speculative design, design technology, ethics, and design research form the basis of the MDes. You’ll learn how to apply rigorous processes for documenting, analyzing, and understanding the past and present to propose more desirable systems and interactions for the future.

The diversity of our MDes cohort creates an incredible group of people with whom to learn.

In addition to bringing rich cultural experiences from around the world, our MDes students hold a wide range of professional and academic expertise, including undergraduate degrees in design-based disciplines such as communication design, product design, user experience design, architecture, and service design. This diversity enriches everyone’s learning experience. Our requirement for MDes students to possess at least one year of professional experience also elevates learning in the form of effective collaboration.

Our rigorous curriculum balances structure and autonomy.

Spanning four semesters over the course of two years, the MDes program will challenge how you perceive the roles design can and should play in aiding various forms of interactions throughout society. Each semester you will encounter thoughtfully aligned seminars, studios, and labs that equip you with important knowledge and skills to aid your development as a design leader. Through individual and team-based projects that focus on the design of services or social innovation concepts, you’ll explore design principles, approaches, theories, and tools that are essential for designing for interactions. You may also take advantage of CMU’s stature as a renowned liberal arts research university to pursue research opportunities with faculty and take courses across campus to broaden and deepen your education. Even though designers typically work in service of others and respond to specific prompts, we recognize the importance of your unique interests. Our MDes courses provide you with the autonomy to direct your individual work and offer support as you chart your personal path and discover your design “voice”. 

The MDes thesis provides an opportunity for you to conduct rigorous design research.

A unique feature of the MDes program is the design thesis—an independent research and design project that you will conduct under the mentorship of a faculty advisor. The thesis is complemented by a required second-year seminar, elective coursework in the School of Design, and other departments across the Carnegie Mellon campus. In the first year, you'll identify possible thesis topics relative to School of Design faculty expertise, investigate ways of conducting a thesis, construct a researchable question that will frame your project, secure a thesis advisor, and write a proposal for your second year of study. In the second year, you'll conduct intensive research that aligns with an appropriate design process and culminates in a design project that addresses your research question. You will also write a document that describes your steps and discoveries. Throughout the process you’ll participate in public sharing sessions of thesis work and give and receive feedback to further your inquiry and understanding. You can peruse master’s theses from students in the School of Design online at KiltHub .

• Beyond Big Beef: Transitions to Food Citizenship Through Community, Ema Karavdic
• Affordances for Multi-device Gestural Interactions in Augmented Reality, Shengzhi Wi
• Amplifying ASL: Designing with Futuring and Inclusion, Mackenzie Cherban
• tac.tic: Tactile design language for indoor-outdoor pedestrian navigation, Chirag Murthy
• Designing for Trust, Meric Dagli
• Building Long-Term Relationships between People and Products through Customization, Ashlesha Dhotey
• Designing for Learning Growth: Encouraging Metacognitive Practice to Support Growth Mindsets in Students, Chen Ni
• Project Care: Empowering Elderly Chronic Disease Patients to Better Understand and Manage Their Treatment Plans Through Enhanced Patient-Centric Services and Systems, Suzanne Choi & Laura Rodriguez-eng

Our MDes equips you with important design skills and knowledge that enable you to realize a lifelong career in design.

The MDes is considered to be a terminal degree in design, and graduates are poised to take on leading roles in professional practice worldwide. Alumni are also well-positioned to acquire entry-level teaching and research positions at universities. As a graduate, you may choose to deepen your studies through a design-focused PhD program, like that offered by the CMU School of Design, or continue your education in areas such as business, human-computer interaction, or public policy. Whatever direction you choose to pursue, our MDes will provide you with a strong design education that builds on your background and strengthens the positive trajectory for achieving your professional goals.

Master of Design in Design for Interactions (MDes) Curriculum

Fall semester, year 1.

Explore design for interactions, design for services, and design for social innovation and study their potential impact in business and policy. Expand your skills in communication and interaction design.

Investigate the history, current state, and future of interaction design practice and research.

Envision and prototype preferred futures by giving form to the behaviors and interactions of products, services, and systems.

Use design strategies to decode complex information and communicate messages clearly.

Learn to use design tools for physical and digital environments to support your studio projects.

Investigate your personal interests, probe existing theses, and study various ways of conducting a thesis.

Learn about faculty research.

Spring Semester, Year 1

Investigate business and policy opportunities in design for services and social innovation through research-based team project work in your studio course. Work with advisors to prepare your thesis proposal.

Choose to study either Transition Design, Social Innovation or Design for Service.

Tackle a client-sponsored team project using an integrated research and design process.

Learn and apply a range of participatory methods for exploratory, generative, and evaluative research and design.

Construct a researchable question to frame your project, secure an advisor, and plan and propose the research and design approach you'll conduct in your second year of study.

Take a design elective or a course outside of design to complement your skills and knowledge. We recommend courses in policy, business, service or social innovation, interaction or communication design, or professional writing.

Fall Semester, Year 2

Through thesis project work and your choice of electives, craft a generalist degree in design for interaction, or develop a concentration in design for services or social innovation.

Build on the foundation of coursework and studios through thesis research with your advisor. Conduct research and develop creative concepts to investigate a significant challenge, engage with stakeholders in the real world to inspire and evaluate your ideas, and review your progress and evolving body of work with peers and your advisor to inform your subsequent steps.

Survey new models and approaches to interaction design and design for service in professional practice.

Learn research strategies and tools to assist you in your literature and artifact reviews, investigate making as a means of exploring and understanding your topic, and explore ways of visualizing your discoveries to aid your learning and share your findings with others.

Spring Semester, Year 2

Bring your thesis project to fruition by synthesizing your discoveries and disseminating valuable insights that have the potential to benefit others. Take advantage of electives to cultivate your expertise in design for interaction, and design for services or social innovation.

Model, test, and refine, your design concepts that have emerged from your year of deep research and design exploration to deepen your understanding of your topic, synthesize your findings and apply what you learned to your project, document, present, and publicly defend your thesis, and showcase your project as a unique feature of your design portfolio to demonstrate your ability to take on a significant research and design project.

Explore ways of encapsulating your study, synthesizing and structuring your discoveries, and writing and designing your thesis for dissemination.

We invite you to connect with us and learn more about the School of Design and our MDes program.

Check out examples of students’ work . Join us for an online visitors session . Review other areas of our site such as Frequently Asked Questions and Application Process . Plan a visit to Carnegie Mellon and coordinate a tour of the School of Design while you’re here. Contact us to schedule a call with our academic advisor to discuss any outstanding questions that arise. We look forward to meeting you!

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What Is Design Thinking & Why Is It Important?

• 18 Jan 2022

In an age when innovation is key to business success and growth, you’ve likely come across the term “design thinking.” Perhaps you’ve heard it mentioned by a senior leader as something that needs to be utilized more, or maybe you’ve seen it on a prospective employee's resume.

While design thinking is an ideology based on designers’ workflows for mapping out stages of design, its purpose is to provide all professionals with a standardized innovation process to develop creative solutions to problems—design-related or not.

Why is design thinking needed? Innovation is defined as a product, process, service, or business model featuring two critical characteristics: novel and useful. Yet, there’s no use in creating something new and novel if people won’t use it. Design thinking offers innovation the upgrade it needs to inspire meaningful and impactful solutions.

But what is design thinking, and how does it benefit working professionals?

What Is Design Thinking?

Design thinking is a mindset and approach to problem-solving and innovation anchored around human-centered design . While it can be traced back centuries—and perhaps even longer—it gained traction in the modern business world after Tim Brown, CEO and president of design company IDEO, published an article about it in the Harvard Business Review .

Design thinking is different from other innovation and ideation processes in that it’s solution-based and user-centric rather than problem-based. This means it focuses on the solution to a problem instead of the problem itself.

For example, if a team is struggling with transitioning to remote work, the design thinking methodology encourages them to consider how to increase employee engagement rather than focus on the problem (decreasing productivity).

The essence of design thinking is human-centric and user-specific. It’s about the person behind the problem and solution, and requires asking questions such as “Who will be using this product?” and “How will this solution impact the user?”

The first, and arguably most important, step of design thinking is building empathy with users. By understanding the person affected by a problem, you can find a more impactful solution. On top of empathy, design thinking is centered on observing product interaction, drawing conclusions based on research, and ensuring the user remains the focus of the final implementation.

The Four Phases of Innovation

So, what does design thinking entail? There are many models of design thinking that range from three to seven steps.

In the online course Design Thinking and Innovation , Harvard Business School Dean Srikant Datar leverages a four-phase innovation framework. The phases venture from concrete to abstract thinking and back again as the process loops, reverses, and repeats. This is an important balance because abstract thinking increases the likelihood that an idea will be novel. It’s essential, however, to anchor abstract ideas in concrete thinking to ensure the solution is valid and useful.

Here are the four phases for effective innovation and, by extension, design thinking.

The first phase is about narrowing down the focus of the design thinking process. It involves identifying the problem statement to come up with the best outcome. This is done through observation and taking the time to determine the problem and the roadblocks that prevented a solution in the past.

Various tools and frameworks are available—and often needed—to make concrete observations about users and facts gathered through research. Regardless of which tools are implemented, the key is to observe without assumptions or biased expectations.

Once findings from your observations are collected, the next step is to shape insights by framing those observations. This is where you can venture into the abstract by reframing the problem in the form of a statement or question.

Once the problem statement or question has been solidified—not finalized—the next step is ideation. You can use a tool such as systematic inventive thinking (SIT) in this stage, which is useful for creating an innovative process that can be replicated in the future.

The goal is to ultimately overcome cognitive fixedness and devise new and innovative ideas that solve the problems you identified. Continue to actively avoid assumptions and keep the user at the forefront of your mind during ideation sessions.

The third phase involves developing concepts by critiquing a range of possible solutions. This includes multiple rounds of prototyping, testing, and experimenting to answer critical questions about a concept’s viability.

Remember: This step isn’t about perfection, but rather, experimenting with different ideas and seeing which parts work and which don’t.

4. Implement

The fourth and final phase, implementation, is when the entire process comes together. As an extension of the develop phase, implementation starts with testing, reflecting on results, reiterating, and testing again. This may require going back to a prior phase to iterate and refine until you find a successful solution. Such an approach is recommended because design thinking is often a nonlinear, iterative process.

In this phase, don’t forget to share results with stakeholders and reflect on the innovation management strategies implemented during the design thinking process. Learning from experience is an innovation process and design thinking project all its own.

Check out the video about the design thinking process below, and subscribe to our YouTube channel for more explainer content!

Why Design Thinking Skills Matter

The main value of design thinking is that it offers a defined process for innovation. While trial and error is a good way to test and experiment what works and what doesn’t, it’s often time-consuming, expensive, and ultimately ineffective. On the other hand, following the concrete steps of design thinking is an efficient way to develop new, innovative solutions.

On top of a clear, defined process that enables strategic innovation, design thinking can have immensely positive outcomes for your career—in terms of both advancement and salary.

As of December 2021, the most common occupations requiring design thinking skills were:

• Marketing managers
• Industrial engineers
• Graphic designers
• Software developers
• General and operations managers
• Management analysts
• Personal service managers
• Architectural and engineering managers
• Computer and information systems managers

In addition, jobs that require design thinking statistically have higher salaries. Take a marketing manager position, for example. The median annual salary is $107,900. Marketing manager job postings that require design thinking skills, however, have a median annual salary of $133,900—a 24 percent increase.

Overall, businesses are looking for talent with design thinking skills. As of November 2021, there were 29,648 job postings in the United States advertising design thinking as a necessary skill—a 153 percent increase from November 2020, and a 637 percent increase from November 2017.

As businesses continue to recognize the need for design thinking and innovation, they’ll likely create more demand for employees with those skills.

Learning Design Thinking

Design thinking is an extension of innovation that allows you to design solutions for end users with a single problem statement in mind. It not only imparts valuable skills but can help advance your career.

It’s also a collaborative endeavor that can only be mastered through practice with peers. As Datar says in the introduction to Design Thinking and Innovation : “Just as with learning how to swim, the best way to practice is to jump in and try.”

If you want to learn design thinking, take an active role in your education. Start polls, problem-solving exercises, and debates with peers to get a taste of the process. It’s also important to seek out diverse viewpoints to prepare yourself for the business world.

In addition, if you’re considering adding design thinking to your skill set, think about your goals and why you want to learn about it. What else might you need to be successful?

You might consider developing your communication, innovation, leadership, research, and management skills, as those are often listed alongside design thinking in job postings and professional profiles.

You may also notice skills like agile methodology, user experience, and prototyping in job postings, along with non-design skills, such as product management, strategic planning, and new product development.

Is Design Thinking Right for You?

There are many ways to approach problem-solving and innovation. Design thinking is just one of them. While it’s beneficial to learn how others have approached problems and evaluate if you have the same tools at your disposal, it can be more important to chart your own course to deliver what users and customers truly need.

You can also pursue an online course or workshop that dives deeper into design thinking methodology. This can be a practical path if you want to improve your design thinking skills or require a more collaborative environment.

Are you ready to develop your design thinking skills? Explore our online course Design Thinking and Innovation to discover how to leverage fundamental design thinking principles and innovative problem-solving tools to address business challenges.

About the Author

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Engineering Design Innovation at the SEGAL DESIGN INSTITUTE, McCORMICK SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING

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design innovation centre

Creativity and innovation are subjects of urgent concern at the highest level for any developing countries.So individuals and companies should be constantly reminded to adopt more creative and more innovative ways to compete successfully in a globalizing world. A design innovation centre can be an answer for our country’s crisis in this sector. It can act as an essential integrating platform to develop creativity capability and enhance industry standards; create branding for products and build content in the fields of entertainment, education, performing arts and media arts; and increase public demand for good design. This centre will have functional spaces under wide range of scenarios which can be categorized as learning and graduation, discussion spaces ,lectures and films, libraries, archives, flexible partitioning as workspace ,static exhibitions , digital displays, multifunctional spaces, concert events, prototyping laboratories, other R&D facilities as well as all amenities required for a residential campus. As a part of progressive concept of bringing industry into the classroom, the students and faculty will have access to industry thinking and are exposed to a competitive environment and can work with some of the leading brands to acquire business knowledge hands-on.these companies ‘ll be allotted to open their studio’s and Research & development incubators on campus. Bangalore the silicon valley of India will be the apt site for D.I.C so that it can work in hands with country’s top rated research institutes and creative schools such as IISc , NID R&D campus etc as well as multi national companies operating in the city. Designed space for designers which enhances their thoughts , skills, and creativity to fulfil the dreams of a developing nation.

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Established in 1969, the IDC School of Design (previously known as the Industrial Design Centre) at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, was the first design school in any technical education environment in India. It has expanded through the years, from its initial offering of a diploma course to the current variety of multi-level degree courses in design, including doctoral studies.

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1 ABSTRACT This paper presents the design of an urban structure for about 1000-2000 persons originating primarily from the so-called creative class, a creative settlement. This settlement provides a smart working environment for innovation (driven companies) and start-ups, an area for high quality living as well as for leading edge education. Both, the theoretical concepts, their background, and the research-driven design process having lead to this creative settlement are presented. The methods applied in this approach include ethnographic methods, qualitative interviews, quantitative surveys as well as approaches from design thinking. This paper represents a case study applying and explaining theoretical concepts form the Enabling Spaces approach. A balanced and sustainable research-based ecosystem integrating the poles of innovation/creativity, qualitative living, and high quality educational concepts and facilities is presented. This paper presents the basic concepts of a master...

This paper presents the design of an urban structure for about 1000-2000 persons originating primarily from the so-called creative class, a creative settlement. This settlement provides a smart working environment for innovation (driven companies) and start-ups, an area for high quality living as well as for leading edge education. Both, the theoretical concepts, their background, and the research-driven design process having lead to this creative settlement are presented. The methods applied in this approach include ethnographic methods, qualitative interviews, quantitative surveys as well as approaches from design thinking.

anubha kakroo

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Genoa Boat Show 2024: between innovation and design

Y8, YYacht, design by Javier Jaudenes, Surge - Projects

The 64th edition of the most important Italian boat show is underway, marking the return to the Palasport in Genoa, renewed to a design by the Renzo Piano Building Workshop

The Genoa Boat Show 2024 , with growing numbers and a full calendar of talks, conferences and events, including the fifth edition of the Design Innovation Award, is being held in the Ligurian capital from 19 to 24 September .  

At this, the 64th edition , no fewer than 1052 brands are exhibiting, with 1030 watercraft on display, 220,000 square meters of exhibition space between sea and land, with 85% of the areas out of doors (5,000 square meters more than in 2023), over 100 innovative models and 30 premieres.   

Showcasing innovation in materials and propulsion to safeguard the environment – and not just the marine environment – the Genoa Boat Show returns to the Palasport, restored to the city after being restyled by the Renzo Piano Building Workshop , with a new logo evoking the stylized form of a ship’s bow.  

“We now have an enduring combination of sustainability with innovation, forming the cornerstone of the steadily evolving sector of pleasure boating,” says Marina Stella, Director General of Confindustria Nautica . She stressed that “the Design Innovation Award, established by Confindustria Nautica and the Genoa Boat Show, was created precisely to enhance the excellence of nautical design and reward products that represent the best of technological and stylistic innovation.”

BGM75, Bluegame, design by Bernardo Zuccon, interior design by Piero Lissoni

 SL120A, Sanlorenzo, design by Chris Bangle e Bernardo Zuccon

“ Yachting and Design. Made in Italy’s positive influence ”, Salone del Mobile.Milano 2024 - Ph. Romano Dubbini

“ Yachting and Design. Made in Italy’s positive influence ”, Salone del Mobile.Milano 2024. From left, Luisa Bocchietto, Architect, Jury Member for the Design Innovation Award of Genoa Boat Show ; Marina Stella, - Director General of Confindustria Nautica ; Maria Porro, President of Salone del Mobile.Milano  - Ph. Romano Dubbini

Genoa Boat Show 2024: Design Innovation Award is back

Now in its fifth edition, the Design Innovation Award is divided into ten categories and three Special Prizes – Innovation, Career and Talent – awarded to projects that stand out for originality, sustainability and social impact. The award ceremony is scheduled for 20 September at the Palazzo della Borsa in Genoa.  

Maria Porro , confirmed for the second consecutive year as president of the Jury , has the task of choosing the most significant projects for cutting-edge technological solutions, innovative design and sustainable materials.   

The involvement of the President of the Salone del Mobile.Milano is a natural consequence of the interaction between the two sectors. They are united by research in the field of materials, components and finishes that increasingly brings the world of interior design and supplies closer to pleasure boating.   

“ Boating is an increasingly interesting sector for furnishings. Boats are houses on the water. This sector is an excellence of Made in Italy and has developed to an amazing degree, in large part due to the work of great architects,” pointed out Maria Porro on the first day of the Salone del Mobile.Milano last April. She was opening the Round Table “Yachting and Design. Made in Italy’s positive influence” organized by the Salone del Mobile.Milano in conjunction with the Genoa International Boat Show, as part of the cultural programm of the Event.  

“ In recent years,” confirmed the architect Luisa Bocchietto, a member of the Steering Committee of the Design Innovation Award and moderator of the encounter, “boating has made rapid progress in terms of performance and interiors. For these reasons it can benefit greatly from furniture companies. At the same time, the designers who work with furnishings will derive many new ideas from designing for watercraft, compelling them to work on spaces in  more careful and creative ways, and also in contact with nature . ”    

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