Stepping into the future with design interventions

Abstract

The paper presents findings from ongoing research of the process by which SMEs benefit from design. The study describes how selected companies use design in their development work in a temporal context to construct value in their business. Furthermore the paper discusses how companies build the future for their business with the help of external design knowledge. Twelve companies where selected into this study. Companies have different temporal goals for the design project and therefore the future aspect in the design work differs in each case. Some companies are aiming to improve the business in a short term, while some are more investing to long-term goals and futures business opportunities through design and continuous development process. Accordingly aims (conscious or unconscious) in these development projects have been to reach either incremental or radical steps into the future through design. The study shows how these different temporal goals have affected to the content of the design task and the outcome of the project. Furthermore temporality affects to the value creation through design. This study shows that the use of design in industry needs to be connected to temporal goals in the company's strategy. According to this study development work with designers can be seen as an opportunity to open futures views for innovation in industry.

Renewing technology-driven materials research through an experimental co-design approach

“…Design thinking can use inductive, deductive and even abductive thinking, meaning creative problemsolving, suggesting that something is more than its initial impression. This is the grounding for creativity in design and therefore design thinking can 'look into the future' and show 'what could be' (Cross, 2007, Niinimäki et al, 2015. In the current case, one process that made a big impression on material researchers was the megatrend session that was held quite early on in the project.…”