Abstract
Nowadays, we are living in an environment of uncertainties and constant transformation. The innovation process is reverted, thereby, from the top-down to the bottom-up logic, where the stakeholders are invited to participate in the process of creating innovation. In that sense, socio-technical innovation implies a process of systemic change, both in the productive structure and in the relations between actors inside the system, with technical and behavioral implications, which affects production, distribution and consumption. A model that may simplify the complexity of such processes is the Multi-Level-Perspective (MLP), which considers the interactions between niches (micro level), socio-technical regimes (meso level), and landscapes (macro level). The MLP shows that, in order to change the landscape effectively, we have to start from the bottom, in other words, the socio-technical regimes open opportunities to receive innovations from the niches, small social groups, and communities. This way, we propose a simple framework of four main steps for the strategic management of the design process to develop Sociotechnical Innovations. A key point is considering that technological development and the relations among the actors involved in innovation is the way to improve the performance of innovation, to increase the possibilities of adoption and to generate the desired impact. Keywords: sociotechnical innovation, co-design, Multi-Level-Perspective, participatory design.
Highlights
The current reality leads us to a global, fluid, dynamic, networked and hyper-segmented scenario, which transforms the society and has consequences in innovative processes
Innovation has always been linked to research and development centers (RandD) of large companies, with financed laboratories and researches who would lead their discoveries to the market and with no contact with ideas developed outside the organizational boundaries
Taking into account the points and process characteristics highlighted above, we suggest here a simple framework for strategic management of the design process that may be applied in operational terms: Immersion and Definition: the participatory design intervention process within a community naturally gets started with the recognition of local people and their relationships with each other and with the territory where they live in, in order to identify their needs, desires and stories
Summary
The current reality leads us to a global, fluid, dynamic, networked and hyper-segmented scenario, which transforms the society and has consequences in innovative processes. The bottom-up movements and the integration of people in the innovation process, which depend on their participation and collaboration, reinforced by network connections and which was possible because of the communication technologies, are challenging the established traditional systems.
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