Jérémy Legardeur

A comparative study of ideation mechanisms used in eco-innovation tools

Today the challenges of sustainable development require new products, services or uses to be developed within the framework of an eco-innovation process integrating environmental and societal approaches. Creating such offers can be sometimes based upon using eco-innovation tools that focus on the idea generation phase and ideation mechanisms that allow stakeholders to redefine problems and develop new eco-creative concepts. This paper is focused on the comparison of the ideation mechanisms during the idea generation phase of eco-innovative concepts, called the eco-ideation phase. For this, it describes a set of academic and industrial studies taking into account the different ideation mechanisms. The tests compare an adapted creativity tool with existing eco-innovation tools regarding their performances during eco-ideation phases. In a second step, additional case studies are performed with the adapted creativity tool for eco-innovation, to assess whether this performance is maintained in various contexts and with various participants (in knowledge and skills). The results showed that the use of appropriate ideation mechanisms ensures a constant rate of idea generation throughout the eco-ideation session and a wide variety of ideas generated.

ID2: A New Tool to Foster Innovation During the Early Phases of Design Projects

Innovation has been extensively studied both in the social sciences and in the engineering design field. In this paper we present the specifications and features of a new tool designed to coordinate the development of new solutions during the early phases of design projects. It is the result of 18 months of fieldwork within industrial companies during which we played an active role in the development of an innovative solution. We were also able to closely analyze the activities of certain actors (in this case materials experts) who are often behind proposals for new materials and processes. The Innovation Development and Diffusion (ID2) tool is geared to help innovative solutions emerge, on the one hand, and consolidate these solutions by circulating them to the companys different specialists on the other. The tool is based on a concepts/criteria table enabling the viewpoints of the different actors involved to be summarized during the design phase. In this paper we shall show how functional features such as links, questions, alarms, information enquiries, and the possibilities for exchanging information between actors can contribute to developing solutions for these different professionals. We will also see how the “innovative” solution proposed can be developed further by comparing and assessing it in relation to a list of criteria which is gradually drawn up by the actors involved in the project. This tool is designed to be managed by a coordinating actor who may also, depending on his/her strategy, consolidate the proposal by involving an increasing number of people.

A New Approach for the Development of a Creative Method to Stimulate Responsible Innovation

Sustainable development forces companies towards eco-design. It often appears to be a constraint which does not encourage a calling into question of the product or service. It is also necessary to surpass this procedure by integrating the notion of creativity while keeping the coherence of the social and environmental aspects through an eco-innovation initiative. This chapter first presents the “eco-innovation” concept and a review of some eco-innovation tools, in order to identify their characteristics, and then, the paper describes a newly developed tool, “ecoASIT”, which is an eco-innovation tool based on a “closed world” notion and which implies that responsible innovation does not have to introduce new elements in the world of the problem.

A Pedagogical Game based on Lego Bricks for Collaborative Design Practices Analysis

In this paper we present a pedagogical game intended to simulate the collaborative design activities of mechanical products as part of the formation programme for future engineers. This game is based on the adaptation of the Delta Design game developed at M.I.T. The principle of the game is to co-imagine a space shuttle built in Lego® blocks with functions and rules assigned for several students. The software used (MLCad) provides for a shared and distributed use of the game. The core objective is to create a situation that brings the students together in a way that encourages them to experiment with different designs by making compromises, overcoming conflicts, and working within the constraints of the game. The underlying theory of this model is that by encouraging collaboration among each other when addressing the different obstacles and variables encountered, the students will have a better understanding of their own behaviour and the behaviour of other members. Thus, the students will intuitively contemplate the diverse and beneficial methods of collaboration required for practices between trades.

Towards a multi-input model, method and tool for early design phases in innovation

This paper focuses on the early design phases of innovative projects. More precisely, the question of the innovation opportunities development and management is addressed here, starting from a theoretical model and methodology, until precise tool perspectives. The key elements of our approach are the potential technology concept (PTC) multi-input model and the C-K theory. Our PTC model is based on three dimensions (concept, technology and potential) and highlights the need of interactions between them regarding strategic and operational levels. Starting from the analysis of these three dimensions, different opportunities for the innovation are identified. In order to develop every identified opportunity, the three dimensions have to be explored with specific workshops and the C-K theory resulting in a tree diagram. The paper presents also tool perspectives dedicated to structure the preliminary exchanges among all stakeholders using criteria to consolidate new ideas. Two case studies are finally proposed.

Management of new ideas during early design phases of innovative products in the surf industry

This paper focuses on the early design phases of innovative projects in the surf and sliding industry. More precisely, the questions of the innovation opportunities development and new ideas management are addressed here from a theoretical model and methodology perspectives and a software tool proposition for the information management during the early design phases. Our model is based on three dimensions (Potential Technology and Concept) and highlights the need of interactions between them regarding strategic and operational levels. Starting from the analysis of the three dimensions of our PTC model, different opportunities for the innovation are identified. Based on a case study of the design of a surf wetsuit, the paper presents the ID2 software tool (Innovation Development and Diffusion) dedicated to structure the preliminary exchanges among all stakeholders involved in the innovation process. This tool is mainly oriented towards the consolidation and the diffusion of new ideas in the early phases of innovative development.

Entrepreneurship and the Design Process: The Paradox of Innovation in a Routine Design Process

The inner workings of a specific design situation is examined, with the aims of testing the capacity of a new material in a semi-structural application and changing the design practices and organization through the introduction of a new material. The different aspects of the innovation process in this particular design situationare also investigated. Findings show that design habits are based strongly on the history of the product and are influenced specifically by the underlying technology used in the industry from the beginning. There is a consistent pattern in the total product development system, including the technical solutions, the technologies, the organization, and the involved trades. Results indicate that the innovation process is complex, fragile, and uncertain. Innovation can only succeed if the technology being used is robust at the organizational level, the design practices level, and the technology level. This is called a product-process innovation—one cannot exist without the other.(JSD)

Toward New Methods and Tools to Foster Product/Process Innovation

This article presents the specifications and features of a new tool designed to co-ordinate the development of new solutions during the early phases of design projects. It is the result of 18 months of field work during which we played an active role in the development of an innovative solution. We were also able to closely analyze the activities of certain actors (called materials experts) who are often behind proposals for new materials and processes. The ID2 (Innovation Development and Diffusion) tool is geared on the one hand to help innovative solutions emerge, and on the other to consolidate these solutions by circulating them to the company’s different specialists on the other. The tool is based on a concepts/criteria table enabling the viewpoints of the different actors involved to be summarized during the design phase. In this article we shall show how functional features such as links, questions, alarms, information enquiries and the possibilities for exchanging information between actors can contribute to developing solutions for these different professionals. We will also see how the “innovative” solution proposed can be developed further by comparing and assessing it in relation to a list of criteria which is gradually drawn up by the actors involved in the project. This tool is designed to be managed by a specific actor (a coordinating actor), who may also, depending on his/her strategy, consolidate the proposal by involving an increasing number of people.