Innovation in Product Design and Development
Monday 28 April 2008
Event Summary
This event provided an insight to the specialist academic expertise available to the manufacturing industry. The importance of product design, development and innovation to industry was illustrated with examples and expert guidance was provided on how to avoid product development failures.
Professor Tom Inns, Chair in Design, University of Dundee
Professor Colin Burns (Martach Consulting)
Event detail and schedule
17.00 – 17.30 - Networking + buffet
17.30 -17.40 – Jamie Henderson (Manager, Innovation Portal). Jamie will provide an introduction and brief overview of the Innovation Portal and the small grants scheme.
17.40 – 18.00 – Professor Tom Inns, Chair in Design, University of Dundee
Approximately 50% of all new product development projects are failures. Tom will illustrate with examples, how to avoid the pitfalls and justify why new product development is important to companies. In addition, Tom will highlight the key drivers for a successful customer driven implementation strategy.
18.00 - 18.25 – Professor Colin Burns (Martach Consulting)
Colin Burns is the former Head of Studio for IDEO, the company responsible for the creation of the first Apple mouse, the Palm V computer and Polaroid camera. Colin will outline the why's, how's and wherefores of design, development and innovation.
18.25 – 18.35 - Questions
18.35 – 18.40 - Refreshments
18.40 – 19.00 – Group Focus – An opportunity to have your say
A breakout session for small groups
- What are the main barriers to innovation in the your industry
- What have been the most important innovations within your organization in the past 10 years?
Each group to present findings to the Workshop
19.00 -19.15 – Feedback Session (Colin Burns, Tom Inns)
Post group findings: feedback, advice, further probing and suggestions
19.15 – 19.30 – Networking
Feedback
We asked the attendees of the Innovation in Product Design and Development event for their feedback. The overall impression of the event was that it was both useful and enjoyable and the majority of the attendees felt that the event had highlighted significant areas for development.
- 100% of attendees rated the event excellent or very good
- 100% of attendees said that the event highlighted areas for development.
- 80% of attendees said they would consider working with academia