TRANS-USERS: industrialising the construction sector through user-driven innovation

Industrialisation has for a long period been seen as a way to increase the productivity in the construction sector, but the productivity is not growing as expected. The main question is now, where do we have to go from here?

The aim in the project is to examine the interplay between user-driven innovation and industrialisation strategies in the construction sector from user needs to mass customisation. By focusing on cases in the construction sector, where the development has taken place as system deliveries of bathrooms, kitchens, standardised single-family houses etc. it is possible to identify central preconditions and mechanisms that have worked in the transforming process. The project aims to transfer the identified experiences and mechanisms into strategic aspects so that they can be taken into account in the decision-making process in companies and in developing public policies for industrialising the construction sector.

It is this project's assumption that there are many strategies of industrialisation in different business models. Central aspects of the strategies of industrialisation are innovation, cooperation, and integration within and between the companies and customers. There are already lots of experiences, but it is necessary to accumulate the experiences and  learn from them. The result of the project will be new knowledge about the interplay between consumption and production within the construction sector. Special focus will centre on the mediating process between product criteria and user demands in the design process and the transformation of firms in the construction sector, when they combine new innovation strategies and new industrialisation strategies. The practical result will be strategic recommendations to the construction sector about what works and what does not work in the transformation of companies and their network relations. The result of the project may be seen as new knowledge for authorities, innovatively orientated companies (or investors in new companies) and clients, who may plan their activity with a greater possibility of success.