innovation

A couple of weeks ago I went to the Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven. For one week there are several projects and exhibitions you can visit in the city of Philips. I visited the Design Academy and the Klokgebouw at Strijp S. For me as heritage and architecture student, these buildings were interesting, because they were redeveloped. But the building which struck me most was a tiny house placed next…

Whenever a ‘sensitive’ innovation comes about, for example genetic modification or sending humans one a one-way trip to Mars, people freak out. This negative attitude towards radical changes can have truly damaging effects, for example the hydrogen cell powered car being an innovation failure due to the bad public reception. Therefore, one must consider the societal mindset before setting off to…

Technology Assessment from a TPM student point of view First in order to reduce ambiguities, Technology, Policy and Management is a particular broad study. It could be compared with a Swiss Army knife, you study a broad technical side but also learn what governance and judicial aspects come with the problem or opportunity. With the study you get involved with many different multi-actor and…

Frugal innovation, an unexploited mine Frugal innovations aims at the bottom of the pyramid   (BoP), underpriveliged people with an average spending of costs   . In other words: stripped   down to the essential parts,   leaving the luxury behind. There   are two types of frugal innovations: -          The existing technical product, stripped down to the basics so it is affordable for the BoP  …

Innovative products are no longer radical   When we talk about innovation, we can distinguish two different types of innovation: the incremental innovation and the radical innovation. Whereas   incremental innovation tend to change step by step, the radical innovation completely changes the current situation.   If we look at the history of radical innovation, we find i.a electricity, the internet…

When travelling with the Dutch public transportation train company NS there is one thing that you will probably notice. There is a lot of room for improvement. Lucy has to go to work 5 days in the week and in the weekend she often goes to a museum in another city. Lucy will tell you her opinion of the design and the the possible improvements.  Does the NS have a value sensitive design? A value…

Once in my life I have heard someone say: I do not care about the wellbeing of others. I did not know what to think of this; the first that came to mind was that it had to be a joke. But it also made me wonder: why was I so surprised by this statement? It is because most people do care, and it is social desirable to care about others. In the current society people are socially pressured into…

When looking at several news sources, the refugee crisis is been presented as a dreadful situation. Refugees are often being presented as a terrible burden on our society. Some groups are starting to fight the presence of these groups in society by protesting and aggression and sabotage towards refugees and their shelter.  This is a very big mistake because refugees will be able to help our…

We are all consumers. From billionaires to bums and everyone in between. We all have needs, we all have desires. Whether it is a private plane or a sufficient meal, we all consume. This provides chances for producing companies, from goldsmith to grocer. In innovation there is a part of innovation that focusses specifically on the people that are not all that wealthy. Frugal innovations are…

A frugal mindset can be seen as an important asset when approaching innovation. Frugal innovation, with its ‘strip down to the basics’ principle brought us mass-produced-everything, such as cars, food, mobile phones and most other physical objects we interact with. Have a look around yourself and see if you can spot something that has not been mass-produced – and how much of your furniture is…

The availability of internet has started a bit of a revolution when it comes to innovation. What we take for granted today might have not existed 20 or so years ago – prime example being anything we do on the internet. It truly is the greatest innovation platform invented to date. One of the biggest beneficiaries of this internet platform are the service industry providers, i.e. businesses based…

Ever heard of this? Seen this... Or used this? You probably didn’t, because these are all examples of great inventions that unfortunately never made it to the market . But why didn’t they? I mean, who wouldn’t want a hangover mask, am I right? This is a question that thousands of people, probably including the inventor of the hangover mask, dream of knowing the answer to: How do innovations…