The Power of Design: Product Innovation in Sustainable Energy Technologies

2.1 Introduction to Innovation Methods in Design Processes

Angèle Reinders

Delft University of Technology, Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, Design for Sustainability, Delft, The Netherlands

University of Twente, Faculty of Engineering Technology, Department of Design, Production andManagement, Enschede, The Netherlands

2.1.1 Introduction

This section provides theory on innovation processes and innovation methods for industrial design engineering. The theory will be illustrated by results of design cases with sustainable energy technologies that have been executed with various innovation methods by students.

Here, innovation will be considered as changes of product–market–technology combinations, and the theory will refer to this framework. In this Chapter, nine innovation methods that will be discussed in this book will be briefly introduced to the reader. These innovation methods are platform-driven product development (discussed in detail in Section 2.2), the Delft innovation model (discussed in detail in Section 2.3), TRIZ (theory of inventive problem solving) and technology road mapping (in Section 2.4 and 2.5), the design and styling of future products (Section 2.6), constructive technology assessment (Section 2.7) and the innovation journey (Section 2.8), risk diagnosing methodology (Section 2.9), and the multilevel design model (Section 2.10).

First, we would like to question what innovation is and discuss the setting of innovation in product design and engineering. ...