Nowadays, user integration is focused at an early stage of the innovation process by using methods of open innovation, especially of participatory design. The methods LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY®, gamification with LEGO® MINDSTORMS® as well as interactive workshops are investigated successfully concerning their suitability. This evaluation relates to various objectives and applications by dint of three case studies relating to factory planningmerged technologies, digitalization and professional education. The comparison of the used methods shows the need of a context-and objective-related preselection of methodological approaches of participatory design to tap their full potentials.

Innovation is a necessity for the survival in the dynamic and complex environment companies are currently in. Innovation is not only the result of a creative development process, but comes out also from the value adding process itself, and derives from the generation of knowledge, including the interaction and application of knowledge for market success. Therefore, the ability to collect all possible knowledge and trigger it for success is of great importance for being competitive. This is also the main focus of participatory design activities. In this work, with a special view on the importance of knowledge management, an approach using the analysis of relevant and available knowledge has been set up for the determination of suitable methods for participatory design activities. In detail, objectives of knowledge management are identified according to different requirements of the innovation lifecycle. Cognitive and technology gaps among participants are further analyzed to provide an in-depth view on the problem of participatory design. With the matching of problems with the potentials of possible participatory design methods, proper methods are further identified, which helps to realize objectives of knowledge management, in the end leading to the success of value adding.

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The activities to introduce Industry 4.0 and Digitalization into manufacturing environments imply a multitude of new systems and technologies which change work environments and tasks that are existing there up to now. In order to cope with the increasing complexity, employees in production must be transferred into knowledge workers. This requires new approaches of work organization, training and education, and the active involvement of employees in shaping future workplaces and processes. To achieve these goals new approaches and methods for collaborative design and reorganization of workplaces and processes involving employees by means of participatory design need to be developed and implemented. Due to the large number of available methods, targeted support for the workers is required for selecting suitable methods. In this paper, the motivation and reasons to use participatory design are explained, an approach to support method selection is developed, and a computer-aided selection procedure for empowering the responsible persons on the shop floors is presented. Following, this is the basis for applications in an industrial context, where the solution can be validated and improved based on practical experiences.