Monday, July 23, 2018

INNOVATION SPECIAL .....Inspiring Innovation through Design Thinking – I

Inspiring Innovation through
Design Thinking – I

It is a myth of innovation that brilliant ideas emerge from geniuses as fully formed. In reality most innovations are
born from hard work and discipline.
Breakthrough ideas such as Tata’s Nano car or Reliance’s Gio services emerged not by chance, but by studying the challenges we encounter every day in our life.
Solutions are not just realised; they are designed.
Tim Brown, the CEO of the innovation and design firm IDEO, in his book ‘Change by Design’ gives a lucid picture
of the subject.
In this article, I’m liberally referring to his book.
Industrialisation has led to incredible changes – feeding millions of people, raising our standards of living – the way we live, work and play. It has brought people closer together. It is also leading to a culture of excess consumption and at the same time causing creation of enormous waste and changing the climate of the
planet.
Unbalanced growth:
A purely technocentric view of innovation is less sustainable now than ever. We need products that balance the needs of individuals and of society as a whole.
New ideas are needed to tackle the global challenges of health and poverty.
We need an approach to innovation that is powerful, effective, broadly accessible and that individuals and businesses can use to generate breakthrough ideas to
create an impact. Design Thinking offers an approach to fill the gap.

Innovation today:
We are trying to meet the human needs with the knowledge and skills we have learned over the years. Design Thinking takes the next step of putting these tools into the hands of people who may have never thought of themselves as designers and apply them to a vastly greater range of problems.

IDEO’s Experirnce:
In 2004 Shimano, a leading Japanese manufacturer of bicycle components was experiencing flattening  growth in high end bike segments in USA.
They always relied on new technology and had invested heavily on the next innovation. In the face of changing
market, they wanted to collaborate with the celebrated design and innovation firm IDEO to explore the changing terrain of the cycling market. The interdisciplinary team comprised designers, behavioural scientists, marketers and engineers, whose task was to identify the constraints for the project.They started with a hunch that they
should not focus on the high end market.c
Empathising:
They tried to find out why 90 percent of the American adults don’t ride bikes, despite the fact that 90 percent of them did as kids. They discovered that many are discouraged by their experience with the retail sales staff; by the confusing complexity and excessive cost of the bikes, accessories, and specialised clothing; by the danger of cycling on the roads not meant for bicycles; and by the demands of maintaining a sophisticated machine that could be used only on weekends.
This human centred approach – which looked for insights from bicycle fans and also, more important, from people outside Shimano’s core customer base - led to the
realisation that a whole new category of bicycling might reconnect American consumers to their experiences as
children. A huge untapped market began to take shape in front of their eyes.

Experimentation:
The design team, inspired by the old coaster bikes, came up with the concept of ‘Coasting,’ meaning total relaxation. Coasting would bring lapsed bikers back into an activity that was simple, straightforward, healthy and
fun. Coasting bikes, built for pleasure than for sport, would have no controls on the handlebar, no cables snaking along the frame, no nest of precision gears to be
cleaned, adjusted, repaired, and replaced. As like the earlier bikes, the brakes would be applied by backpedalling. Coasting bikes would feature comfortable padded seats, upright handlebars, and puncture resistant
tyres and requires almost no maintenance. But this is not simply a retrobike (mountain bike): it incorporates
sophisticated engineering with an automatic transmission that shifts the gears as the bicycle gains speed or slows.

Prototyping:
Three major manufacturers began to develop new bikes incorporating innovative components from Shimano, but didn’t stop with the bike itself. They created instore
retailing strategies for independent bike dealers. The team developed a brand that identified coasting as a way to enjoy life. In collaboration with local governments and
cycling organisations, it designed a public relations campaign including a Website that identified safe places to ride.

Sustaining:
Many other people and organisations became involved in the project as it passed from inspiration through ideation and on into the implementation phase. Remarkably, the
first problem the designers would have been expected to address – the look of the bikes – was deferred to a late stage in the development process, when the team
created a “reference design” to show what was possible and to inspire the bicycle manufacturers’ own design teams. An exercise in design has become an exercise
in design thinking.

Aravind Eye Hospital Idea
It was founded to explore ways to deliver eye care to people of poor countries. The imported practices and facilities were expensive and beyond the reach of most Indians. The traditional practices lacked the fruits of newer developments. Dr Venkataswamy felt there must be a third way.
Empathising, he realised that giving his patients something consistent with what they were accustomed to in their villages , but still good enough to meet
acceptable medical standards, allowed him to serve the poor in an economically viable way.
 CS 121-2city to break a chocolate bar in to f

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