This descriptive study examines participant reactions to a new framework categorizing aging-in-place (AIP) services with AI and robotics through a think-aloud method. Using grounded theory, we examined older adults’ perceptions of AI’s role in promoting independence. The framework consists of four AI archetypes that address the cognitive and functional needs of the elderly with physical or digital interventions: Advisor AI, Burler Robot AI, Valet Robot AI, and Conductor AI. The authors conducted virtual interviews with four Boston-based retirees (mean age 70), revealing expectations and concerns regarding health monitoring, routine assistance, and social well-being. The findings emphasize inclusivity, adaptability, and practical relevance for aging populations and underscore the importance of trust, lifestyle integration, and adaptability in fostering meaningful AIP applications.

Legumes offer valuable agricultural and nutritional properties to face the urgent need for food system changes. To eco-design legume-based products, the value chains need to consider the constraints of their stakeholders, from farmers to consumers. This article describes an eco-innovation approach combining collaborative value mapping with KCP® workshops to design sustainable legume-based foods. This eco-innovation approach led to the emergence of expected concepts linked to the properties of products and more disruptive concepts related to dynamics in the value chain. Existing knowledge and knowledge gaps were identified. The results highlight the value of articulating value mapping and KCP® workshops. The approach proved to foster innovative, systemic solutions that consider both stakeholders’ needs and sustainability.

Customer engagement is crucial for success and innovation in digital businesses, but its impact on digital startups, particularly on business performance, is underexplored. This study investigates the relationship between customer-related digitalization factors, engagement, and business performance. Using a cross-sectional survey and Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling, data from 125 startups were analyzed. The findings reveal that digitalization factors, encompassing Data Security, Transparency, Consumer Reviews, and Effective Communication, significantly impact customer engagement and digital business performance. Additionally, customer engagement mediates the relationship between digitalization factors and digital business performance, highlighting its critical role in fostering customer loyalty, communication, and co-creation.

Most innovation performance measurement approaches focus on ex-post outcome data, leaving decision-makers without timely guidance during the early phases of new product development (NPD). This gap is particularly critical in high-risk, high-regulation industries such as Urban Air Mobility (UAM), where long development cycles, regulatory hurdles, and uncertain user adoption demand real-time, in-process innovation metrics. In this paper, we propose a Desirability-Feasibility-Viability (DFV) framework that links key innovation phases (Discovery, Development, and Commercialization) to leading indicators that track innovation progress before market entry. Using UAM as an illustrative case study, we demonstrate how our framework enables stakeholders to navigate uncertainty, optimize resource allocation, and make data-driven innovation decisions.

The automotive industry faces many simultaneous challenges like transitioning from combustion engines to electric vehicles. Suppliers must adapt to changing markets and develop new solutions. Existing transformation approaches focus on strategic goals and comprehensive implementation. However, there is no focus on the transition of the product portfolio. This paper presents a design-thinking-based approach to rapidly generate innovative product ideas. First, company assets, product portfolios, and market environments are analysed to define the ideation focus. Next, these are recombined by interdisciplinary teams to generate ideas, which are then evaluated. In a workshop with 15 experts from an exhaust pipe manufacturer, over 400 ideas were generated and refined into 15 actionable concepts in five hours. This approach supports rapid, cost-effective innovation and strategic transformation.

Many developments, such as the Amazon Fire Phone and Microsoft Zune, fail in the market, often due to addressing non-existent needs or providing no added value. Therefore, it is necessary to validate these needs and benefits in the early phases of development projects. One way to do this is by using a product profile that models needs and benefits and makes them accessible for validation. According to the literature, there are nine challenges and four fields of action for developing a design support in validating these product profiles. These fields of action range from stakeholder integration, method selection, and prototyping to the interpretation of results. This publication evaluates and describes the challenges and fields of action derived through expert interviews and literature research. A total of 28 publications were analyzed, and eight expert interviews were conducted.

Facing increasingly dynamic market environments and global challenges such as climate change and resource scarcity, companies are under constant pressure to innovate and remain competitive. As technology is a key enabler, companies need to understand the drivers of technological change. Technology Foresight systematically identifies and analyzes emerging technologies to support engineering design decisions. However, the growing volume of data is outpacing manual processing capabilities. This research explores the integration of Generative AI to enhance Technology Foresight by automating technology analysis and information synthesis. This paper presents a comprehensive problem analysis, reviews existing solutions, and proposes a framework that demonstrates the potential of Large Language Models combined with a Retrieval Augmented Generation architecture to transform Technology Foresight.

To support the transition towards a circular economy in hospitals, this qualitative study aimed at understanding how the adoption of reusable surgical gown can be facilitated. It investigates design features that enhance usability and promote sustained (re)use. A wearing test identified difficulties in wearing reusable gowns. Data collection included observations of 34 surgeries and a survey completed by 73 respondents. Thematic analysis revealed opportunities to improve usability, such as optimising packaging to speed up donning, a wider neck opening to reduce discomfort, and incorporating ‘tearable’ closures to simplify doffing. Innovation strategies relevant to the users involve thermal regulation, monitoring gown performance, and including reusable gowns in custom procedure tray packaging. These findings are discussed in relation to design adjustments and value-chain partners.

Digital Twins are widely recognized as a transformative technological trend, yet their potential to foster innovation, particularly their generative capabilities, remains underexplored. This paper investigates how they can transcend traditional optimization roles to serve as tools for advancing knowledge and generativity in the design of their physical counterparts. Leveraging C-K theory, a framework is presented for modeling design processes with Digital Twins, characterizing design scenarios and identifying two distinct forms of generativity. An illustration of these results shows how designers can leverage Digital Twin reflexive capacity to challenge and reconfigure underlying knowledge of their physical counterparts. The transformative value of this reflexivity, combined with remodeling capabilities, is highlights the exploration of new design pathway for Digital Twins themselves.

In this paper, two case studies are presented to validate a process model for the future robust advancement of product portfolios. In the first case study, the process model is implemented for a supplier in the automotive industry and evaluated by two company experts. In the second case study, the process model is implemented in a medical equipment company for 6 months. The evaluation shows that the investigated model can be applied and supports the process. The success evaluation is only assessed as expected added value, as the added value can only be observed when realizing the product portfolio. The evaluation in two case studies confirms the applicability and support potential of the model in corporate practice. At the same time, the need for improvement and multi-year implementation in the companies is identified.

Generative AI, guided by inventive heuristics, can systematically and rapidly generate hundreds of ideas for engineering inventive design problems. This paper examines the reliability and effectiveness of AI-powered “idea funnelling,” a process that generates, evaluates, filters, and synthesizes raw ideas into feasible solution concepts. Key challenges include the consistency and objectivity of AI-driven evaluations, the robustness of concept generation, and the collaboration of multiple AI chatbots such as ChatGPT and Gemini. The study explores the integration of human expertise in hybrid problem-solving teams to improve feasibility, contextual relevance, and innovation quality. Through comparative experiments, it provides insights to improve the reliability of AI-driven concept creation and the performance of hybrid AI-human teams in solving complex engineering design problems.

This study applies Artificial Intelligence-Generated Content (AIGC) to design cultural products inspired by Sanxingdui, an ancient Chinese civilization famed for mystical bronze artifacts. Addressing the challenge of merging tradition with modernity, an AIGC framework automates cultural element extraction, generates design concepts, and optimizes aesthetics using generative models. Comparative analysis via Quality Function Deployment (QFD) shows AIGC products achieve higher user satisfaction in aesthetics, symbolism, and engagement. The research highlights the significance of AI in enhancing creativity, efficiency, and cultural preservation, despite algorithmic limitations. It provides actionable strategies for integrating AI into cultural industries, bridging heritage and technology to drive sustainable innovation.

For a multi- product manufacturing organization, product innovation is a constant process. A question which every such organization must answer for every innovative idea is whether that idea is to be incorporated in the existing product as a continuous process or it should be implemented as a new product? This paper studies the impact of architectural and design factors on this decision and formulates a decision parameter to facilitate this decision. This has been done by studying various innovation ideas implemented at two motorcycle manufacturers, collected by studying their spare parts catalogues across models and the implementation decision in case of each idea. The study reveals a clear relationship between the factors and the decisions, and the formulated parameter can clearly demarcate the ideas between the two implementation choices.

One focus of creativity research is the question of how creative potential can be effectively unleashed in relation to certain cognitive styles such as convergent and divergent thinking. Neurobiological findings show that different brain structures need to be activated in order to specifically stimulate these cognitive styles. By integrating tools that help understand and optimize the neurochemistry of creativity into the design process, we enable a comprehensive application of creativity and improve the ability to develop innovative solutions. In this contribution, we therefore examine which neurobiological structures undaerlay creativity and how they can be activated in a natural way. We present practical tools for fostering creativity from litertaur, make the scientific mechanisms underlying creativity accessible to designers and propose an approach for implementing the tools.

Well-designed products are crucial to a company's business success. Management support is a critical success factor in ensuring that design-related aspects are given appropriate attention during product development. Despite the importance of management, the literature doesn't provide a clear picture of what characterizes a competent manager in product design. This gap impedes competence development and explains why organizations struggle to leverage the benefits of well-designed products. This research aims to address this gap by synthesizing important findings from the literature into a model of managerial competence. The model provides initial insight into the individual competencies managers need to meet their responsibility for good product design in organizations.

This paper presents the Chinese Cizhou Kiln culture via a User Experience (UX) based mobile APP. By applying Garrett’s UX methodology, this research proposes a ‘Culture-UX Integration Framework’. Section 1 introduces the digital background for heritage designs. Section 2 describes the Cizhou Kiln development challenges. Section 3 provides the examples of the existed crafts APP designs. Section 4 illustrates the Hi-Fi prototype. Section 6 contains the evaluation and validation parts of this work, and this paper ends by Section 7, the conclusion. This paper contributes a novel of the knowledge that design paradigm balancing heritage preservation and functionality, validated via testing. The authors’ framework offers replicable methods for digital heritage design, By merging aesthetics, function, and culture, it advances preservation.

The growing demand for responsible resource use presents a significant challenge in today’s time-, cost-, and quality-driven product development. Therefore, this paper explores integrating creativity techniques into early development phases to achieve innovative, lightweight, and sustainable designs. Using a case study on extending the useful life of a bicycle trailer, a generic framework is introduced, aligning lightweighting and sustainability objectives in the idea generation process. Lessons learned highlight the critical role of the moderator, the importance of an iterative process, and the need for guidelines on method selection. The findings provide actionable recommendations for fostering sustainable innovation in lightweight design and form a basis for further research on adapting creativity techniques to sustainability goals.