Design for commercialisation : enabling innovative product ideas through supportive creative environments

Abstract

Design as a field of practice is constantly evolving and has predominantly been used to stimulate and facilitate the humanisation of new technologies, so that they are usable and desirable for the capitalist economy (Boehnert, 2013, p. 14). With the evolution of the commercial and economic systems, the role of the designer now needs a shift so that it is able to facilitate new and appropriate interactions (Manzini, 2015, p. 180). This thesis explores what some of those interactions may look like and the role that design may be able to play in assisting them. Enabling society to be better equipped to communicate and collaborate with industry and academia, and vice versa, may be beneficial. The more society’s contributions can be heard, acknowledged and implemented, the better the economy may function. Increasing the transparency and understanding of these systems would potentially allow for less corruption and greater collaboration within and between them, possibly allowing for improved innovation. Once entrepreneurs are better equipped to integrate and take advantage of the institutional structures that are in place, this could drive economic development forward, and more informed and effective decisions might be implemented. Institutionally, through a better understanding of their resources and networks, such research could also lead to the implementation of better management and leadership strategies. This thesis focuses on the role of design as a catalyst for product development in the Western Cape. The concept of enabling innovative product ideas through design is analysed through an examination of three current case studies being developed in this region. To contextualise this a bit further, what is examined are the processes, developments and relationships, within and across the structures of the university, civil society and the design industry. This is explored to identify how each of these groups may support the design process, and where they may inhibit it. The primary objective is to provide a foundational road-map to enable innovative ideas from which citizen projects, universities and the design industry may benefit and continue to build upon. In this way, it may be possible to create a more synergetic relationship between universities, the design industry and civil society, or at least to make that relationship more transparent and mutually beneficial.