Value Innovation | MT2568 | 7.5 ECTS

Extended product warranties up to 10 years, leasing or pay-per-use schemes are few examples of how manufacturing companies are shifting their focus from selling products to offering ‘solutions’, by combining products and services to maximize value for their customers. This transformation challenges engineers to work systematically with value creation throughout the entire development process, from the initial need identification stage to detail design.

The purpose of the course is to give participants an understanding of value-driven methods for product/service design. The acquired theoretical base is be applied in real-life projects in collaboration with selected industrial partners.

The term ‘Value innovation’ refers to the creation of new and uncontested market space, through the development of solutions that generate a leap of value for customers and users (e.g., by means of new functionalities and/or reduced usage effort), while reducing cost and negative impact on our planet and society. The course aims at introducing students to the Design Thinking (DT) methodology framework. DT is an approach for user-centered innovation that has gained increased popularity in the last few decades, both in industry and in the public sector. DT represents a paradigm shift from the traditional linear problem solving approaches, being applied to cope with design situations dominated by ambiguity and lack of knowledge (wicked problems).  The four phases of the framework – Initiation, Inspiration, Ideation and Implementation – helps individuals to unleash their innovation potential, and to organize the engineering toolbox when wicked problems are in focus.

Course participants have the chance to apply the acquired theoretical base in ‘real-life’ development projects conducted in collaboration with selected company partners, in individually and in teams. The regular interaction with stakeholders from industry and society will help students in gathering focused feedback on their learning, as well as in deepening their reflections on the topic of value innovation.

The course addresses topics such as:

• innovation models and types;
• market and customer analysis;
• need finding interviews and observations;
• benchmarking and trend analysis;
• brainstorming and systematic innovation;
• value and sustainability criteria for concept selection;
• prototyping theory and techniques;
• value and cost modelling tools for design concept selection.

Knowledge and understanding

On completion of the course the student should be able to:

• be able to reflect on how the development of new solutions (products and services) are organized;
• be able to manage wicked problems in design with a user-centred approach;
• be able to justify the use of methods and tools to support each phase of the innovation process.

Skills and abilities

On completion of the course the student should be able to:

• be able to categorise and describe target groups and customer types for new products and services;
• be able to analyse customer experience with existing products;
• be able to apply needfinding methods and tools, i.e. interviews and observation, in a relevant environment;
• be able to analyse societal and technological trends and elaborate on their significance for the development of new products and/or services;
• be able to formulate and prioritize the list of needs for innovative products and/or services;
• be able to generate innovative product and/or service concepts using systematic innovation approaches;
• be able to apply methods and tools for design concept selection;
• be able to apply quantitative value modelling techniques to innovative hardware and/or services;
• be able to visualize ideas through the generation of simple prototypes;
• be able to measure the ability of the prototypes to meet the customer needs;
• be able to work effectively in a team based setting.
• be able to verbally and in writing present and discuss their findings and conclusions, in dialogue with other students.

Values and attitudes

On completion of the course the student should be able to:

• be able to discuss how chosen methods and tools relate to industrial state-of-practice and academic
• state-of-the-art;
• be able to critically assess new product development activities with respect to value (desirability,
• feasibility, viability) and sustainability dimensions (people, planet, profit);
• be able to reflect on their own – and others' – methods, insights and conclusions.

The underlying guiding principle of the course is that Design Thinking is learned best through applying it (experiential learning). Hence the course focuses on problem-based learning, with the aim at creating an understanding for how DT can support the design of new products/services, from needs to prototypes.

The course features lectures on design and innovation, which include a mix of short theory reviews (of methods, tools, and strategies for design and innovation) and active work in different group constellations. They are complemented by workshops and class exercises that give participants a first-hand experience of the most relevant tools in the Design Thinking toolbox.

The course project (Project assignment) is conducted in small teams and in collaboration with selected company partners. The course project stretches over the entire period of study and challenges students to reflect on the implementation of proposed solution concepts both from a technical and business-oriented viewpoint. Experience from the project work are shared during presentation events in the classroom, while peer evaluation and group coaching (feed forward) are used to stimulate critical reflection regarding the process and the results. The course project results are gathered in a written report, which constitutes the basis for grading. The evaluation considers results, process and presentation.

Individual self-reflections (Written assignment) aim at further stimulating students in learning about methods and tools for value innovation, through solving open-ended problems found in trigger material.

The teaching language is English.

Instructor Responsible:

 Ass. Prof. Marco Bertoni, BTH

A schedule for the course will be handed out during the first week (tentative schedule attached below, pending changes). Any updates to the schedule will be made on Canvas. Your attendance and participation is highly valued at all class sessions unless they are noted as optional.

The student’s individual grade for the course is established as follows:

Project assignment (course project)

34% of course grade

The course projectsis conducted in small teams (3-5 people) and in collaboration with selected company partners. It stretches over the entire period of study and challenges students to reflect on the implementation of proposed solution concepts both from a technical and business-oriented viewpoint. Experience from the project work are shared during presentation events in the classroom, while peer evaluation and group coaching (feed forward) are used to stimulate critical reflection regarding the process and the results. The course project results are gathered in a written report, which constitutes the basis for grading (A-F).

Written assignment                                                     

66% of course grade

Individual self-reflections (Written assignment) aim at further stimulating students in learning about methods and tools for value innovation, through solving open-ended problems found in trigger material..

LADOK

The project and individual reflection report will be recorded together in LADOK as 5.0 credits for Written Assignment and 2.5 credits for Project Assignment, for a total of 7.5 credits for the course.

The course is mainly referencing the following readings:

• Lindstedt, P., Burenius, J. (2006), ”The Value Model”, Nimba, ISBN 91-630-6349-2.
• Kim, W. C., & Mauborgne, R. A. (2014). Blue ocean strategy, expanded edition: How to create

uncontested market space and make the competition irrelevant. Harvard Business Review Press. ISBN 9781625274496

Other papers and readings that will be handed out during the course.