Material Demo Lab - Selection Criteria for Methods Training Business Model Generation and Design Prototyping with Material Scientists

Abstract

Former research has shown that material scientists face several challenges in the later stages of the innovation process, especially in market placement meeting the needs of business customers and other stakeholders. Problems are e.g. too complicated communication of their work, missing understandable business cases, and uninspiring demonstrators. These developing issues could already be prevented in an early TRL level by using and combining product design and business modeling methods. But already existent method compilations lack in instructions which methods are suitable for this constellation. The paper presents a decision model for the selection of product design and business modeling methods in the innovation process in the field of advanced materials science. First, the appropriate selection criteria is defined by a) literature analyses, b) a survey of material scientists, and c) observations in conception, implementation, and evaluation of trainings in the “Material Demo Lab” as part of a research project addressing the topic. Then, the decision model is applied to the set of product design and business modeling methods of the “Delft Design Guide” as one popular handbook in the field. In addition, intervening factors are described that were observed during the work with the methods and limit the field even further.

As a result, in addition to the decision model, the filtered, appropriate methods are presented. For further application the paper delivers a decision model and a selection of adequate methods for similar cases to enforce the innovation outcome of material scientists.