Entrepreneurship and the Design Process : The Paradox of Innovation in a Routine Design Process

The inner workings of a specific design situation is examined, with the aims of testing the capacity of a new material in a semi-structural application and changing the design practices and organization through the introduction of a new material. The different aspects of the innovation process in this particular design situationare also investigated. Findings show that design habits are based strongly on the history of the product and are influenced specifically by the underlying technology used in the industry from the beginning. There is a consistent pattern in the total product development system, including the technical solutions, the technologies, the organization, and the involved trades. Results indicate that the innovation process is complex, fragile, and uncertain. Innovation can only succeed if the technology being used is robust at the organizational level, the design practices level, and the technology level. This is called a product-process innovation—one cannot exist without the other.(JSD)