As I am a design - driven
engineer, it is my viewpoint that this method of innovation and creation is
generally the best and most effective. There are a lot of reasons why design
driven innovation can be seen as better than other types of innovation. The
below diagram outlines the spectrum of innovations and what factors drive the
different types of innovations along the innovation process.
Tech
push and demand pull fall short as innovation methods as they do not fully
encompass the factors that lead to a lasting and adapted innovation. The
diagram above illustrates the places where each type of innovation specializes.
Market
Pull innovation is largely demand based; a market pull innovation occurs in
response to fulfilling a market made ‘need’ in a market that already exists.
These innovations are often made to follow a trend in the market, what is
demanded by consumers at the time. This
type of innovation often falls short because as the trends change, so does the
market demand and innovation must be constantly occurring to adapt and follow
the market pull.
Tech
Push innovation is a type of innovation that can be largely radical and can
lead to an influx of products that are not always necessary. It seems that
sometimes Tech Push innovations occur to fill needs that do not previously
exist, which can be viewed as frivolous invention. Some of these innovations
might be adapted and successful, but if they are not, it creates more ‘stuff’
that just clutters the market. Tech push innovations do not create a new market
but they intrude upon an existing one. An innovation that creates a new market
is the general hope of most innovation and thus, it is my belief that superior
to Tech Push and Market Pull is Design Driven innovation.
There
are many reasons why Design Driven innovation outweighs both Tech Push and
Market Pull innovation. Design Driven innovation creates something that
encompasses new meaning. In one of my recent readings I read by Roverto
Verganti I read the quote, “People do not buy products, but meanings.” This
quote encompasses Design Driven innovations and why they are for the most part
the most successful, as they encompass new meaning which is what people are
looking to buy. A product is useless if a person cannot determine how the
product can add meaning to their lives in some way.
In
my own recent innovation process my team and I made a discovery that led to the
outlining of a Design Driven innovation project. The first step in any
successful innovation process is doing market research, and in our case it was
observing people studying and conducting interviews about what people might
need to make their time studying better. We hypothesized that for people
studying along in public areas, it might be difficult for them to get up for
short amounts of time to get a snack or use the restroom without having to take
all of their belongings with them. The
Design Driven innovation process consists of conducting research into what
consumers might actually need, and thus often has positive market performance
as it the innovation has been approved by a sample before it goes to market. In
our research we found that often people felt tied to their public study space.
It was difficult and involved risk for them to get up for a short period of
time and leave their belongings for fear that they would be stolen. The
feedback we got was that people wanted to be able to safety leave their stuff
for a short period of time without the risk of their belongings being stolen
before they returned.
Phase
two of Design Driven innovation once a need have been determined in an existing
market is the testing of a concept. This is crucial in Design Driven innovation
as it helps to determine the existing need further and if it has been addressed
properly by the innovation. For our design project we created a detailed sketch
prototype of a GPS lock that could be attached to belongings that would sound
an alarm if the items were moved further than a specified trigger radius before
the owner returned; GPS tracking was also a feature in the innovation to ensure
the item could be tracked if the alarm wasn’t enough of a deterrent. The
feedback we gathered was primarily positive as the product was easy to identify
as a lock and not particularly hard to figure out how it worked. Many people we
asked said that they would use something like our lock and seemed very
interested in the idea. By producing a prototype that people can comprehend and
examine, it better determines the success of a potential innovation, as you are
able to get market related feedback about it.
Design
Driven innovation is superior to Market Pull and Tech Push as it creates
something that carries new meaning. A Design Driven innovation is both proven
by extensive market research and also testing, which makes the innovation more
credible when brought to market as its success has already been primarily
tested and approved by consumers. Because a Design innovation focuses on satisfying
a consumer need it makes the product stronger as it creates a new market of
consumers, and this is ultimately the goal of innovation as it makes the
innovation most strong.
