A Multilevel Design Model: The mutual relationship between product-service system development and societal change processes

Change actors like designers play a strategic role in innovation and transition processes towards a sustainable society. They act at all levels of society and need help to find their way through increasingly interrelated innovation systems. To support their efforts, there is a need for a design supportive model that (1) can provide insight into...

Developing new products and services in entrepreneurial contexts

UCD4SME: Small to Medium-sized Enterprises involving their users and clients for product innovation

An increasing number of Small to Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) starts to realize the opportunities offered by User-centred Design (UCD). The issue is that our understanding of UCD either comes from large companies or is developed in an academic setting, without taking SMEs into account. This research project demonstrates that in order to make...

Towards a different view on ship design: The development of ships observed through a social?technological perspective

The research this paper reports on aims to develop a design and engineering strategy for complex ships in between incremental and radical innovation. The majority of European ship-design industry concentrates on the development of complex, one-off ‘specials’ for the offshore industry, like dredgers, drill ships, pipelaying ships, et cetera. This...

The Delft innovation method: A design thinker's guide to innovation

This paper will introduce a new book on innovating, the process that leads to innovation(s). It is based on the experiences in the innovation and creativity field from the Delft University of Technology as well as from independent consultancy. These experiences are condensed in an overall method for innovating from inside a company. To recognize...

Eco-efficient Value Creation: An Alternative Perspective on Packaging and Sustainability

The classical sustainability perspective on packaging is to reduce the environmental impact or eco burden of the packaging, using life cycle assessment to evaluate different design alternatives. Simultaneously, the classical marketing perspective on packaging is to generate value through differentiation, for instance, by providing additional...

Promoting academia-industry cooperation for innovation

Innovation and Innovation Management are essential instruments and methodologies to manage the changes that society and its productive sector are facing in order to find the right balance between competitiveness, trade demands, social equity and sustainable development. A clear role in this can be played by the local universities and by an...

Broadening industry perspectives of vehicle telematics application through virtual learning environments

EADIS is a two year international initiative funded by Leonardo Da Vinci UK. It involves five European design-related educational institutions who have developed a Vehicle Telematics Road Map. The map acts as the basis for an internationally available online training programme that shares knowledge about telematics and its innovative and...

The fragility of human-centred design

In human-centred design (HCD), researchers and designers develop products in cooperation with the potential users of these products. They attempt to give users a voice or a role in their projects, with the intention of developing products that match users' needs and preferences. This approach is especially interesting in the information and...

Design evaluation by combination of repeated evaluation technique and measurement of electrodermal activity

Consumer product design needs design evaluation for obtaining information about consumers’ preferences and liking to optimize market success. Such evaluations are usually conducted in simple single-shot studies where consumers only once have to evaluate, for instance, the attractiveness of a design. However, innovative designs often break common...

Probing applications: How firms manage the commercialisation of fuel cell technology

Waste and innovation. How waste companies and government can interact to stimulate innovation in the Dutch waste industry

This thesis answers the question how government and Dutch waste companies can interact in such a way that innovation is stimulated. The author has developed a method to determine the potential for self-regulation and self-control of a company or an industry. This method is based upon the measurement of degree to which the company has assured...

Ecodesign in Central America

This PhD thesis describes and analyses the change process started by the Ecodesign project in Central America, executed between 1998 and 2002. The project started using the concept and praxis developed in Europe. Nine ecodesign projects were performed in industry, and ecodesign was introduced to counterpart organisations. With these first...