Ph.D. Projekt: Staging Innovation for conceptualization

The PhD project staging innovative processes across knowledge practices at the front end of innovation is part of the strategic research alliance TempoS funded by the Danish Research Council for Strategic Research and Aalborg University. The research alliance will inter alia accommodate research and outreach activities with the aim of developing a repertoire of methods capable of enabling user driven innovation and hereby design and concept development processes. The purpose of the project is to obtain knowledge of how new insights are made applicable for innovation thinking and concept development. In order for this to make sense I have from previously studies experienced that the organizational structures and the actors involved are of importance to include in the studies and the analysis. The theoretical approaches for the project and the understanding of data will be the notion of the sociotechnical space (Clausen, Yoshinaka 2007). In this notion I find it particular interesting to further explore the configuration of the space as a natural consequence of the initial staging of the space. Elements or actors that are brought into the space configures for certain agendas which intentionally or unintentionally configures for certain mindsets and behavior. Understanding the dynamics of the FEI space in order to cater for (re)thinking within early concept development in FEI will be relevant for practitioners working and managing FEI as well as academics working with organizational management in a nontraditional way as well as bridging the gap between design engineering (R&D) and the many new actors who are positioning themselves in the FEI development space. The purpose of the project leads to the following research questions: How is the temporary development space of FEI, where knowledge from different actors are transferred, transformed and made applicable for concept development, identified and described?What characterizes a proposal for a new concept development space considering the organizational structure, processes, approaches and methods for concept development in FEI?
The project is expected to contribute to understanding the activities applied in FEI with a holistic approach and framework for concept development. It will support the managing of the temporary development spaces where transforming, translating and the synthesis of knowledge is made accessible and tangible in relation to early innovative concept development.