A Rapid Design‐Led Approach to Innovation Readiness: Advantages and Challenges

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to report on an ongoing suite of research that aims to develop a design‐led approach to help small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) understand their innovation readiness. At present, a number of tools are available to organizations when carrying out an audit to determine their innovation readiness; however, none of these methodologies have been connected to the practice of design‐led innovation. This article begins to address this gap by presenting a review of a 12‐hour intervention carried out in collaboration with a fund‐management organization located in northeast England as part of a European Union–funded research and innovation program, Creative Fuse. The article utilizes a qualitative approach guided by case study principles, semi‐structured interviews, and action research to reflect on the proposed design‐led approach to assessing innovation readiness. Advantages and challenges to the approach are considered with the intention of developing a practical approach to assessing innovation readiness within SMEs, which builds on design principles in order to rapidly outline the opportunities and potential barriers facing organizations when it comes to identifying areas for future innovation.

Multidisciplinary Innovation Armenia: Explorations in Design-Led Multidisciplinary Enterprise Education

“…The programme was based on a successful suite of design-led business support workshops designed and developed by a team of design academics and researchers at Northumbria University as part of the Creative Fuse North East action research programme [2], [3]. This programme, called Get Ready to Innovate (GRTI) [4], focused on promoting innovation-readiness (the willingness, creative mindset, and plans to make positive change) in established SMEs in NE England with the purpose of supporting those SMEs to deliver regional growth. The design-led approach was adopted for its focus on strategic development.…”

Design Listening: What Designers Hear and How They Respond

“…Over the past decade, design facilitation has emerged as a practice to drive organisational change (Lai, 2016) and multidisciplinary innovation projects (Minder and Lassen, 2019) as well as to facilitate the collaboration of stakeholders during large design events (Aguirre, Agudelo and Romm, 2017) or rapid design-led interventions (Gribbin, Bailey and Spencer, 2018). These events are intended to allow designers to support organisations in tackling the wicked problems & complex challenges they face (Lai, 2016) in a very limited amount of time (Bessant, 2005).…”

“…The emergence of design facilitation as a practice (Lai, 2016;Aguirre, Agudelo and Romm, 2017;Bird, 2019;Minder and Lassen, 2019) has roots in user-centred design (Minder and Lassen, ibid. ), is prevalent in service and systems design (Aguirre, Agudelo and Romm, 2017) and can be delivered in various ways (Lai, 2016;Aguirre, Agudelo and Romm, 2017;Bird, 2019;Minder and Lassen, 2019), one of which being rapid design-led interventions (RDLIs) (Gribbin, Bailey and Spencer, 2018).…”

“…Initially established in 2017 as part of the AHRC, ERDF and ACE-funded, Creative Fuse North East collaborative research programme (CFNE, 2021), GRTI has subsequently been delivered in both Armenia (Get Ready to Innovate Armenia, 2021) and the USA. The programme comprises intense workshops facilitated by a team of design facilitators (DFs) using bespoke design tools and methods to challenge sole traders' and SMEs leaders' thinking and help them uncover new opportunities to generate new value within their organisations (Gribbin, Bailey and Spencer, 2018).…”

Design‐led Innovation Readiness: priming micro SMEs for strategic innovation

“…Through the evolution of the dynamic and close-quarters setting and structure of GRTI, DFs rely heavily on this design process knowledge and understanding to tailor each session to the specific and emerging circumstances of the participating enterprise. Gribbin et al (2018) set out a model for the twelve-hour programme structured around four sessions 'inspired by the philosophy of design sprints and informed by previous research in the domains of both management and design'. The programme took advantage of the design sprint's use of Design Thinking tools used in a restricted time period rapidly to co-create concepts in response to a given situation and relied on management studies to identify resources that need to be in place to support the innovation endeavour as a foundation of future strategy.…”