programme here

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programme here
I N T E R N AT I O N A L C O N F E R E N C E & W O R K S H O P S / C A P T U R I N G T H E V A L U E O F D E S I G N I N B U S I N E S S
DESIGN
MEETS
BUSINESS
TM
Name
Company
DESIGN MEETS BUSINESS
CONFERENCE 3-4 DECEMBER 2014
1
WELCOME TO
DESIGN MEETS
BUSINESS 2014
When everyone is offering the same products and services to the same
markets, the only competitive parameter that remains is price. That is why a
new agenda is required, one that challenges and encourages everyone to
think in new directions and to explore new and innovative business areas
and methods.
Since 2011, D2i – Design to innovate has been working to facilitate a series
of exciting projects in which design has been the catalyst, stimulating new
and different ways to think and develop both business areas and business
per se. We have arranged this conference with a view to presenting the
experience and results from this work – interspersed with input from some
of the sharpest minds in the fields of research, education, business development and innovation.
Our approach is – and has always been – that design should solve problems. In this context, we are not talking about design in its traditional and
classic sense. We view design as a tool for identifying structures, capturing
tendencies, tracing behaviour patterns, thinking systematically and generating dialogue. Using design in this way provides access to completely new
ways to think and act when we are working to develop enterprises and business areas in the interface with a company’s competencies and experience.
At the DESIGN MEETS BUSINESS conference, we will be focusing on
breaking down barriers between design and business. Through the application of dialogue, collaboration, skills and experience, we are attempting
to find new tracks, to walk new paths so as to create better conditions for
everyone to tackle the commercial challenges of the future; and thus to
achieve additional competitive advantages.
We look forward to experiencing the meeting between design and business
together with all our guests.
4
PROGRAMME
8
DETAILED PROGRAMME
14
A NEW STRATEGY’S
IN TOWN
20
DESIGN CAPACITY MODEL
22
A MOBILE SPACE FOR
INNOVATION
26
VETS’ CHOICE
30
FRENCH HOT DOGS
AND DANISH JOBS
34
Best regards,
D2i – Design to innovate
SPEAKERS
Ulrik Gernow
SVP LEGO
Chairman of the Board, D2i
That is why a new
agenda is required,
one that challenges
and encourages
everyone to think in
new directions and
to explore new and
innovative business
areas and methods.
ULRIK GERNOW, SVP LEGO, CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD, D2I
Thit Juul Madsen
Head of Secretariat, D2i
DESIGN MEETS BUSINESS
CONFERENCE 3-4 DECEMBER 2014
3
PROGRAMME
3 DECEMBER 2014
AT CAMPUS KOLDING
9.00 - 9.30
REGISTRATION AND BREAKFAST
At Campus Kolding’s foyer you can register and enjoy a nice breakfast.
Location: Foyer, Campus Kolding
9.30 - 10.00
PLENARY: CONFERENCE OPENING
Thit Juul Madsen, Head of Secretariat, D2i – Design to innovate
Carl Holst, President of Southern Denmark Regional Council
Ulrik Gernow, Chairman of the Board for D2i – Design to innovate & Vice President,
Innovation and Marketing, LEGO Group
Location: Auditorium, Campus Kolding
10.00 - 12.15
CEO SUMMIT – HOW CAN DESIGN DRIVE INNOVATION AND BUSINESS IMPACT?
Keynote speakers:
Kurt Ward, Senior Design Director, Philips Design
Tobias Haug, Head of Design & Co-Innovation Center, SAP Design Services
Cees Kuypers, Director, DLG FOOD
Facilitator: Sam Bucolo, Professor, Design and Innovation at University of Technology, Sydney
Centre University of Technology Sydney
Location: Auditorium, Campus Kolding
12.15 - 13.00
LUNCH
Location: Campus Kolding
13.00 - 13.30
PERSPECTIVES ON DESIGN IN BUSINESS
Poul Rind Christensen, Professor at University of Southern Denmark
Lykke Bloch Kjær, Project Manager at Laboratory for Design and Sustainability,
Kolding Design School
Location: Auditorium, Campus Kolding
13.30 - 14.25 DESIGN MEANS BUSINESS – REAL LIFE EXPERIENCES AND RETURN
ON INVESTMENT (PART 1)
Session organised by Monday Morning – Scandinavia’s leading independent think tank. Monday Morning and D2i – Design to innovate have in a collaboration produced the publication
“Newdoing – How Strategic Use of Design Connects Business with People”
Adam Stensberg, Vice President and Head of Development, Zealand
Rikke Lildholdt, Marketing Director, Saint-Gobain Nordic & Baltic
Martin Lassen, Commercial Director, KRUUSE
Moderators: Morten Hyllegaard, director, and Liv Fisker, analyst, Monday Morning.
Location: Auditorium, Campus Kolding and later in room 41.01/ Campus Kolding
14.25 - 14.40
COFFEE BREAK & NETWORKING
14.40 - 15.30
DESIGN MEANS BUSINESS – REAL LIFE EXPERIENCES AND RETURN
ON INVESTMENT (PART 2)
Location: room 41.01
15.30 - 15.45
COFFEE BREAK & NETWORKING
15.45 - 16.15 DESIGN-DRIVEN INNOVATION – MEANING AS SOURCE OF COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
Claudion Dell’era, Assistant Professor, Department of Management,
Economics and Industrial Engineering of Politecnico di Milano.
Location: Auditorium, Campus Kolding
16.15 - 16.45
PANEL DISCUSSION AND WRAP UP: IS THERE HOPE FOR DESIGN IN BUSINESS?
Christian Bason, Chief Executive at Danish Design Centre
Elsebeth Gerner Nielsen, Rector, Design Skolen Kolding
Kaare Sølvsten, Boardmember at Design Denmark, Partner at Seier+Soelvsten
Kurt Ward, Senior Design Director, Philips Design
Thit Juul Madsen, Head of Secretariat, D2i – Design to innovate
Tobias Haug, Head of Design & Co-Innovation Center, SAP Design Services
Moderator: Sam Bucolo, Professor, Design and Innovation at University of Technology, Sydney
Location: Auditorium, Campus Kolding
16.45 -17.15
BEST BUSINESS CASE AWARD
Location: Auditorium, Campus Kolding
17.15 - 18.00
DRINKS AND NETWORKING
Location: Foyer, Campus Kolding
19.00 - 24.00
DESIGN MEETS FOOD
The Food Design Gala Dinner.
Location: Design School Kolding
DESIGN MEETS BUSINESS
CONFERENCE 3-4 DECEMBER 2014
5
PROGRAMME
4 DECEMBER 2014
AT DESIGN SCHOOL KOLDING
8.30 - 9.00
REGISTRATION & BREAKFAST
At day two you can register and enjoy a nice breakfast at Design School Kolding.
Location: Design School Kolding
9.00 - 9.15
WELCOME
Thit Juul Madsen, Head of Secretariat, D2i – Design to innovate
Location: Auditorium, Design School Kolding
9.15 - 10.00
BECOMING DESIGN LED – LEARNING FROM OTHERS
Sam Bucolo, Professor, Design and Innovation, University of Technology, Sydney
Location: Design School Kolding
10.00 - 10.30
10.30 - 12.30
Track 5: Exploring the Crossroads of Design and Business Creation – Young researchers
Open Forum
The paper development workshop will be chaired by:
Madeline Smith, Head of Strategy at the Institute of Design Innovation, The Glasgow School
of Arts
Poul Rind Christensen, Professor, Department of Entrepreneurship and Relationship
Management at University of Southern Denmark
Location: Campus Kolding
12.30 - 13.30
LUNCH
13.30 - 16.00
WORKSHOPS: TRACK 1 – 5 (PART 2)
THE BUSINESS CHALLENGE
Karsten Bech, Project Manager at D2i – Design to innovate
Location: Design School Kolding
Track 1 – 4:
Workshop presentations and Open Space
Location: Design School Kolding
WORKSHOPS: TRACK 1 – 5 (PART 1)
Track 5:
Paper Development Workshop
Location: Campus Kolding
16.00 - 16.45
PANEL DISCUSSION AND WRAP UP
Location: Design School Kolding
16.45 - 17.00
BEST PAPER AWARD
Location: Design School Kolding
1700 - 18.00
DRINKS AND NETWORKING
Location: Design School Kolding
Track 1: Enabling Business Transformation through Design
Facilitated by Sam Bucolo, Professor, Design and Innovation, University of Technology, Sydney
Location: S.17, Design School Kolding
Track 2: The Evolving Role of the Designer – Enabling and Embedding Sustainable
Design Innovation
Facilitated by Don McIntyre, Programme Director & Creative Technologist, Institute of Design
Innovation, The Glasgow School of Art
Location: 2.19, Design School Kolding
Track 3: Designing as relating
Facilitated by Professor Henry Larsen from Mads Clausen Institute for Product Innovation
at SDU Design
Location: 3.4, Design School Kolding
Track 4: Design as sensemaking - facilitating the convergence of Design and
Business Strategy
Facilitated by Design Consultant Lykke Bloch Kjær, D2i – Design To Innovate
Location: 1.4, Design School Kolding
DESIGN MEETS BUSINESS
CONFERENCE 3-4 DECEMBER 2014
7
WEDNESDAY 3 DECEMBER
9.00 – 9.30
REGISTRATION AND BREAKFAST
9.30-10.00
CONFERENCE OPENING
Thit Juul Madsen, Head of Secretariat, D2i – Design to innovate
Carl Holst, President of Southern Denmark Regional Council
Ulrik Gernow, Chairman of the Board for D2i – Design to innovate & Vice President, Innovation and
Marketing, LEGO Group
DETAILED
PROGRAMME
10.00-12.15
CEO SUMMIT – HOW CAN DESIGN DRIVE INNOVATION
AND BUSINESS IMPACT?
Strategic use of design constitutes an approach to product and
business development. Hear CEOs tell how design drive innovation and add value to their business.
Designs changing role
Kurt Ward, Senior Design Director, Philips Design
The Senior Design Director strongly feel that the solutions for
the challenges of society only can be found by joining together in
order to use our collective ability to innovate from the private and
public space right down to our own personal domains. Design
plays an important in this new paradigm as the facilitator of this
transformation.
The Value of Design: the quantifiable and the intrinsic
Tobias Haug, VP and Head of Design & Co-Innovation Center
EMEA, SAP SE
According to Tobias Haug it is clear that design is an important
engine for corporate profit in a rapidly changing world, where
it is often necessary to out-imagine the competition. However
investing in design costs, and understanding and quantifying
its benefits can be challenging. Through practical examples
and business metrics, this talk will describe how to manage the
tension between repeatable business and creative design to
establish lasting value in your organisation.
13.00-13.30
PERSPECTIVES ON DESIGN IN BUSINESS
Highways and Byways to Design in Business – the Fuzzy
Back End of Design
Poul Rind Christensen, Professor at University of Southern
Denmark
Poul Rind Christensen will give a little taste of the anthology new
published anthology “Highways and Byways to Design in Business – the Fuzzy Back End of Design”. The anthology provides
various “highways and byways” for showing why and how design
processes lead to radical innovations. These paths for designing
radical innovations are illustrated through a mix of cases and examples of designers collaborating and co-creating with users in
many different contexts to develop unique and creative solutions
to complicated and wicked problems.
Designers possibilities of creating sustainable
futures within businesses
Lykke Bloch Kjær, Project Manager at Laboratory for Design and
Sustainability, Kolding Design School and D2i – Design to innovate
Lykke Bloch Kjær will share experiences about how designers
can make practice-based developments with design methods
and – processes and thereby get companies to move from a
desire for increased sustainability into action.
13.30-15.30
DESIGN MEANS BUSINESS – REAL LIFE EXPERIENCES
AND RETURN ON INVESTMENT
Strategic use of design proves its worth at the bottom line – this
is the real life experience from three small and medium sized companies who will share their experiences at this workshop. We will
discuss opportunities and practical barriers of integrating design
as a tool for business development, and during a dynamic format
varying between presentation, live-interview and interactive participation, we will discuss, what is the return of invest of design?
Why and how business meets design
Cees Kuypers, Director, DLG FOOD
Meet:
•Adam Stensberg, Vice President and Head of Development,
Zealand
•Rikke Lildholdt, Marketing Director, Saint-Gobain Nordic &
Baltic
•Martin Lassen, Commercial Director, KRUUSE
The Director from DLG FOOD believes that strategic design
provides a significant competitive advantage for companies.
Strategic design gives the possibility for companies to implement
a differentiation strategy so they can compete on value instead of
trading commodities.
Session organised by Monday Morning – Scandinavia’s leading
independent think tank. Monday Morning and D2i – Design
to innovate have in a collaboration produced the publication
“Newdoing – How Strategic Use of Design Connects Business
with People”.
Facilitator: Dr. Sam Bucolo, Professor, Design and Innovation
Research Centre University of Technology Sydney
Facilitators: Morten Hyllegaard, director, and Liv Fisker, analyst,
Monday Morning
DESIGN MEETS BUSINESS
CONFERENCE 3-4 DECEMBER 2014
9
15.45 – 16.30
DESIGN-DRIVEN INNOVATION – MEANING AS A SOURCE
OF COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
Claudio Dell’Eara, Assistant Professor in the Department of
Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering of Politecnico di Milano
Claudio Dell’Era will give a presentation about Design-Driven
Innovation. Research activities developed by Claudio
Dell’Era are concentrated in the area of Management of
Innovation. Specifically research interests are about innovation
strategies developed by leading companies that operate in
design-intensive industries where symbolic and emotional values
represents critical success factors to generate competitive
advantage.
PANEL DISCUSSION AND WRAP UP: IS THERE HOPE FOR
DESIGN IN BUSINESS
We will wrap up day 1 with a panel discussion on the future of
Design and Business. Hear representatives from the crossroad
of design and business discuss if there is any hope for design in
business.
Meet
• Tobias Haug, VP and Head of Design & Co-Innovation Center
EMEA, SAP SE
• Kurt Ward, Senior Design Director, Philips Design
• Christian Bason, Chief Executive at Danish Design Centre
•Thit Juul Madsen, Head of Secretariat, D2i – Design to
innovate
•Elsebeth Gerner Nielsen, Rector, Design School Kolding
•Kaare Sølvsteen, Board Member Design Denmark, partner at
Seier+Soelvsteen
Facilitator: Dr. Sam Bucolo, Professor, Design and Innovation
Research Centre University of Technology Sydney
16.45-17.15
BEST BUSINESS CASE AWARD
During the last four years through consultations, workshops, D2i
has taught businesses and public institutions how to reap the
benefits of design. The conference is an opportunity to celebrate
organisations that have succeed in embedding design and have
made their business leaner, smarter and more profitable through
design.
The conference provides a
unique opportunity for design
practitioners, policy-makers,
business executives and
academics to advance their
knowledge about the crossroad
between design and business.
THURSDAY 4 DECEMBER
8.30-9.00:
REGISTRATION AND BREAKFAST
At day two you can register and enjoy a nice breakfast at Design
School Kolding.
Design Led Innovation is an emerging innovation approach
which has been applied by firms to shift their design efforts to
solely focus on products and services to one which allows them
to strategically consider their entire business model to achieve
maximum competitive advantage.
9.00-9.15:
WELCOME
Summary from day 1 og what to expect from day 2
Thit Juul Madsen, Head of Secretariat, D2i – Design to innovate
The approach is underpinned through the development of a
design thinking management capability which allows firms to
gather deep stakeholder insights, envisage alternative futures
and prototype through customer co-design activities to reframe
competitive strategy, in order to drive products and service
programmes.
9.15-10.00:
BECOMING DESIGN LED – LEARNING FROM OTHERS
Sam Bucolo, Professor and Chair for Innovation and Design,
University of Technology, Sydney
During this workshop, participants will explore the key stages of
framing a customer-centric disruptive strategy to transform an
existing organisation. Using an industry based case study, the
interactive workshop will reveal the key steps in the Design Led
Innovation process and highlight how design can be applied to
drive competitive strategy.
In Sam Bucolo’s key-note presentation he will convey from his
own practical experience of working with numerous SMEs why
design matters, how it can be embedded in organisations, how
to overcome organisational resistance to this type of innovation,
and what likely short-, medium- and long-term outcomes can
result when design meet business.
The session will aim to challenge and provoke the audience to
reconsider their current approaches to innovation from a design
led perspective, as well as providing some practical examples of
the necessary steps needed to achieve this change in thinking
and competitive positioning.
10.00-10.30:
THE BUSINESS CHALLENGE
Karsten Bech, Project manager at D2i – Design to innovate
Karsten Bech will present experiences from the EU-funded strategic design project ‘D2i – Design to innovate’. Karsten will also
present the challenges and dilemmas of design projects, with
some business case studies that will provide the context for the
following workshops.
10.30-12.30
Track 1: Enabling Business Transformation through Design
Facilitated by Sam Bucolo, Professor, Design and Innovation,
University of Technology, Sydney
•Are your innovation efforts relevant to today’s economic
challenges?
•How do you know if your design efforts are supporting the
growth of your business?
•How can design be applied to assist firms remain relevant in
rapidly changing economic conditions?
Track 2: The Evolving Role of the Designer – Enabling and
Embedding Sustainable Design Innovation
Facilitated by Don McIntyre, Programme Director & Creative Technologist, Institute of Design Innovation, The Glasgow School of Art
•What are the design skills and approaches that your business
can adopt to enhance innovation capability?
•How can designers best support new skills and understanding within organisations to leave a sustainable legacy?
•What are the new needs placed on the designer, and how
can that capacity be better evidenced to show value?
The role, perception and the value of the designer has evolved
significantly over recent years, moving from a position typically
associated with aesthetic appeal, to one with the capabilities
to build innovation capabilities and positively affect long-term
strategy.
In this new paradigm, how can designers best support new skills
and understanding within organisations to leave a sustainable
legacy? What are the design skills and approaches that businesses can adopt to enhance innovation capability? What are
the new needs that are placed on the designer, and how can that
capacity be better evidenced to show value?
The planned workshop by the Institute of Design Innovation, The
Glasgow School of Art, will use case studies and interactive participation to identify and highlight how the designer and Design
Innovation can unleash capabilities in organisations, and explore
the new competences required to embed benefits beyond the
short term.
DESIGN MEETS BUSINESS
CONFERENCE 3-4 DECEMBER 2014
11
Track 3: Designing as relating
Facilitated by Professor Henry Larsen from Mads Clausen
Institute for Product Innovation at SDU Design
Location: Design
School Kolding
•How can designers and company practitioners work with
confidence in the dynamic, risky and emergent environment of
a design process?
•How can designers and company practitioners become more
aware of their own part in this interplay of interactions?
Naturally, design focuses on the objects or services to be
designed and on the interaction between the people who are
supposed to use them and those objects or services.
However, we tend to forget that the process of developing and
using a product or service cannot be fully understood if we
neglect to take into account the interactions of those involved.
These processes of interaction are highly complex, as they
involve a diverse range of stakeholders with varying interests.
As much as design proposals emerge from the ongoing negotiations and positionings between those involved as they strive
to make sense of their interactions and tasks, tensions are also
engendered in those positionings through an interplay of the
hopes, dreams and aspirations of those involved and the inherent
constraints of the present.
Conflicts, power relations and political negotiations constrain
and enable the emergence and use of a product or service.
Track 4: Design as sensemaking - facilitating the convergence of Design and Business Strategy
Facilitated by Project Manager Lykke Bloch Kjær, Design School
Kolding and D2i – Design to innovate
•How can you create new sustainable businesses by exploring
future possibilities and constraints?
•What are the innovation drivers in your organisation and how
can you put them into play?
•How to keep focus on the strategy within a company by being
humble to the receiver.
Lykke Bloch Kjaer will discuss how you can design a sustainable
business strategy.
By sensemaking through the use of design methods, it is possible to increase the collective understanding of the complexity
within a company and the world around us.
At this workshop, Lykke Bloch Kjaer will share experiences from
the D2i-project. They will share ways of thinking, methods and
processes that companies and designers can apply to cultivate
dynamic cultures, mindsets and approaches. Take part of this
workshop and learn to create real strategic impact and sustainable market value.
Track 5: Exploring the Crossroads of Design and Business
Creation – Young researchers Open Forum
The paper development workshop will be chaired by Madeline
Smith, Head of Strategy at the Institute of Design Innovation,
Glasgow School of Art and Poul Rind Christensen, Professor,
Department of Entrepreneurship and Relationship Management
at University of Southern Denmark
Madeline Smith and Poul Rind Christensen facilitate this paper
development workshop, where upcoming themes and research
challenges at the crossroads of design and business will be
addressed.
Radical innovations often come from nascent enterprises rather
than from incumbent firms. The same holds true for research.
Therefore, we have invited young researchers - doctoral students,
postdocs and assistant professors - in the cross fields of design,
management, innovation and entrepreneurship and have asked
them to present proposals for research agendas that they find
groundbreaking.
16.00-16.45
PLENARY: PANEL DISCUSSION AND WRAP UP
We will wrap up the conference with a panel discussion on the
future of Design and Business and address some of the key challenges and opportunities that emerged during the conference.
Facilitator: Dr. Sam Bucolo, Professor, Design and Innovation
Research Centre University of Technology Sydney
17.00-18.00
DRINKS AND NETWORKING
The Design meets Business Conference closes with a celebration of the new crossroads of the design and business communities. This is done by awarding the best paper of the day, and
inviting participants to ‘Drinks & Networking – a chance to say
goodbye and to reaffirm new relationships established during the
conference.
16.45-17.00
BEST PAPER AWARD
The best papers from the paper development workshop will be
shortlisted to win the best paper award. Come to the best paper
award show and get a sense of current and upcoming challenges in the research of design and business.
Topics may cover various aspects of the intersection between
the two fields, including the views and paradoxes on the value
of design in business, the role of relationship management in
co-design, the dilemma of direction and emergence and the
organisational context of design in business.
All conference participants are welcome to join the discussions
on this workshop focusing research.
PRACTICE
12.30-13.30
LUNCH
13.30-16.00
WORKSHOPS: TRACK 1 – 5 (PART 2)
Track 1 – 4:
Workshop presentations and Open Space
After lunch, the facilitators and participants will present and
share the key takeaways and questions from the workshops.
Together, we will address those insights, allowing everybody to
input into the key learning and takeaways from the Design Meets
Business Workshop Day.
DESIGN
BUSINESS
Track 5:
Paper Development Workshop continued
RESEARCH
DESIGN MEETS BUSINESS
CONFERENCE 3-4 DECEMBER 2014
13
ARTICLE SOURCE: NEW DOING – HOW STRATEGIC USE OF DESIGN
CONNECTS BUSINESS WITH PEOPLE
A NEW
STRATEGY’S
IN TOWN
A number of studies document that companies who use design
strategically do significantly better than their competitors. But
even though strategic use of design can generate growth
and maintain jobs in Denmark, far too few Danish companies
incorporate this approach in their overall business strategy.
W
hile the rest of the world
struggled with the most
severe financial crisis
since the depression in
the 1930s, the Danish
LEGO Group quadrupled
its business over ten years, even shortcutting
the American company Mattel (they are the ones
with the Barbie doll, ed.) to become the world’s
largest toy manufacturer.
‘The key to our success is our ability to
remain innovative and to continuously renew the
products we offer to our customers,’ Managing
Director Jørgen Vig Knudstorp stated in a press
conference in February 2014, as he presented
an impressive profit of DKK 6 billion after tax for
the year 2013. The total turnover was DKK 25.3
billion.
Behind the success of the LEGO Group lay
targeted work with strategic use of design methods, (see text box 1), which helped establish a
creative and user-oriented work ethic, resulting
in the current employment of 180 designers
from 26 different countries in the LEGO Group’s
product development department.
‘Our innovation process is highly systematised, and we use a great number of tools to
stimulate brainstorming, idea generation and
business development. Each week, we have
children coming in to play with our products
alongside our designers. We involve our users,
we test ideas, we build prototypes and we make
sure that employees at every level are allowed to
utilise their creativity,’ Senior Vice President Ulrik
Gernow explains.
‘We often say that we understand the world
of children; what stimulates them and what’s
cool. We generate ideas, then validate and hone
our ideas as we go along, by way of consumer
insight, and then, when we launch a new
product, we are fairly sure it’ll be a success,’ he
elaborates.
Strategic Use of Design Works
The success of the LEGO Group exemplifies
what a number of international studies have indicated for quite a few years now: that companies
who implement strategic use of design perform
better than their competitors – and this is true for
large, medium-sized as well as small companies.
DESIGN MEETS BUSINESS
CONFERENCE 3-4 DECEMBER 2014
15
• In 2013, a study from the Design Management
Institute, an independent American design institution,
showed that over a ten-year period, companies who
utilise strategic use of design did 228 per cent better
than the rest of the 500 companies on the American
S&P 500 Index. See figure 1
• A 2007 report from the British network organisation Design Council reached similar results in Great
Britain and concluded that there is ‘clear evidence of
a relationship between design investment, business
performance and long-term stock market value.’
• In Sweden, the employers’ organisation Teknikföretagen, followed more than one thousand companies
over a period of seven years (2003-2010) and documented that companies who implement strategic use of
design increase their value greatly beyond companies
who do not (13.4 per cent compared to 8.7 per cent).
• In a report from 2011, the Danish Business Authority
established that ‘there is a clear connection between
design utilisation and innovation,’ and those conclu-
sions are unequivocally backed up by figures in the
Region of Southern Denmark’s report from 2014 about
design utilisation in local companies, which concludes
that ‘companies who utilise design are more innovative.’
A Durable Competitive Parameter
Monday Morning has spoken to a number of experts in
design and business development, and they confirm that
strategic use of design methods provides a significant
competitive advantage for Danish companies who may
otherwise have difficulties competing with Asian and
Eastern European companies on traditional parameters
such as price and promptness.
‘Companies can choose to compete on price, which
includes having to knock down costs to an absolute
minimum. Or they can choose to differentiate,’ Poul Rind
Christensen, Professor at the Department of Entrepreneurship and Relationship Management at the University
of Southern Denmark, explains. ‘Think of Apple’s iPhone,
B&O or LEGO. They implement a very clear differentiation
strategy, with strategic use of design as their key method.
It’s a durable competitive parameter,’ he states. Sabine
Junginger, Associate Professor at Design School Kolding
FIGURE 1: STRATEGIC USE OF DESIGN EQUALS DOLLARS
Value growth in USD in design-driven companies compared to companies that are not design-driven.
45.000
40.000
Design Index
39.922.89
S&P 500 Index
35.000
30.000
228 %
25.000
20.000
17.522.15
15.000
10.000
5.000
0
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
Over the last 10 years, 15 companies driven by strategic use of design have maintained significant stock market advantage,
outperforming the S&P 500 Index by 228 per cent.
Note: The S&P 500 Index is an index of 500 American companies that have been picked by the analysts at Standard & Poor’s as representative of the American stock
market. The Design Index is an index of 15 design-driven organisations including Apple, IBM, Starbucks, Coca-Cola, Ford, Nike,
Walt Disney, Target, Whirlpool, Steelcase, Starwood, Procter & Gamble, Intuit, Herman Miller, and Newell-Rubbermaid.
Source — Design Management Institute, 2013
DESIGN MEETS BUSINESS
CONFERENCE 3-4 DECEMBER 2014
17
and fellow at Hertie School of Governance in Berlin agrees,
‘Technology is easily copied and prices can be cut.
But if you build a company on strong customer and
employee relations and use this to generate innovation
and development, that’s something you can’t just copy,’
she explains.
By implementing strategic methods, Danish companies
can develop new products as well as new production
methods and solutions, which will increase value and
push commodities up the global value chain – as we saw
it in the 1980s and 1990s, when the production apparatus of the textile industry in Central Jutland was moved
to low-income countries such as China and Vietnam and
substituted by new positions in logistics and marketing.
‘In the future, a company will have to compete on its
business model and not its specific products,’ Sam Bucolo
estimates. He is an expert in strategic use of design and
Professor of Design and Innovation at the University of Technology in Sydney where he, among other things, heads the
Design Led Innovation program, where they try to encourage
more Australian companies to utilise design methods.
‘Traditionally, design is about the company’s output, but
if you change the context of what designers look at, and it
becomes about the company’s business model or strategy
rather than output, then design thinking can provide enormous competitive advantages for a company,’ he states.
Numerous Danish Advantages …
And Denmark already has a number of advantages, which
can help establish the country as a global design centre.
Danish workplaces already operate with a fairly flat hierarchical structure, which enables employees to challenge
the common assumptions about how the work should be
carried out. This is a prerequisite if companies want to
generate new thinking in relation to both products and
production methods.
At the same time, a study from Copenhagen Business School and Rambøll from 2014 reveals that Danish
companies are extremely adept at focusing on customers’ needs, and this is good news. To come up with
new, innovative solutions, it is imperative that companies
understand customers’ needs and that they do not simply
develop solutions that spring from a managing director’s
gut feeling or an approach along the lines of ‘well, that’s
they way, we’ve always done it.’ The study concludes that
the bottom line in ‘customer-oriented companies’ is five
per cent better than in other companies.
Furthermore, Denmark has a growth layer of modern
design bureaus who work with strategic use of design.
Bureaus such as Hatch & Bloom, Experienced, DEVELOPA,
Design-People and Designit help build a culture where
Danish companies utilise design strategically.
It is the same positive picture that Søren Birkelund Ped-
ersen, Regional Project Manager of the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs’ initiative Invest in Denmark, paints when he talks to
international corporations and companies in London or New
York, emphasising the advantages of being based in Denmark: ‘In Denmark, we have particularly beneficial frameworks
for strategic use of design. First and foremost, we have been
brought up to think and act for ourselves, which is obviously
a great advantage when companies have to work from the
user’s perspective. Secondly, our Danish design inheritance
is beneficial because we are born with a sense of design.
Those are conditions that other countries cannot purchase –
no matter how much money they spend on design consultants.’ And according to Søren Birkelund Pedersen, international companies are in fact noticing Denmark: ‘Volvo is a
great example of how attractive Denmark is on account of
strategic design. As a matter of principle, Volvo is not based
outside Sweden. And yet, they have established a userdriven interaction and development centre in Copenhagen.’
… But No Lead
However, despite the obvious advantages, Danish
businesses have not yet seriously begun to implement
strategic use of design. A study from 2014, conducted
by Aarhus University, shows that only 30 per cent of the
140 companies who participated in the survey collect
and process new ideas structurally, and one in four top
executives consider their companies inadequate in terms
of launching new business ideas.
According to the Danish Business Authority, only nine
per cent of Danish companies involve designers in defining new business models and half of them do not even
see design as a strategic possibility. Only 13 per cent
have a design policy.
The Danish business landscape is characterised by
having few large companies such as Maersk, Novo Nordisk and the LEGO Group, and lots of small and medium-sized companies.
Because the small and medium-sized companies make
up the backbone of Danish trade and industry, it is essential that they become competitive within the global market,
in order to maintain growth and jobs in Denmark.
Strategic use of design could very well prove a useful
road for companies to follow according to Elsebeth
Gerner Nielsen, Rector at Design School Kolding and
former Danish cultural minister. But it is not easy:
‘Getting small and medium-sized companies to engage
in innovation in this manner is a huge challenge,’ Elsebeth
Gerner Nielsen says, and she continues: ‘Large companies do it: Grundfos is definetely on their way, LEGO and
Coloplast are utterly fantastic, Novo Nordisk is engaging,
as is Maersk. But how do we get small and medium-sized
companies to join in? That may well be Denmark’s greatest challenge,’ Elsebeth Gerner Nielsen states.
TEXT BOX 1:
TRADITIONAL
VS. STRATEGIC
The PH lamp, Arne Jacobsen chairs and blue
fluted china; these are all iconic Danish classics
that easily come to mind when we talk about
design. However, strategic use of design is much
more than classic design and clever graphics.
Strategic use of design is about the employment
of tools and methods from the world of design in
order to purposefully and systematically improve
anything from production to product, from strategy
to process.
A classic example of the difference between
tradition¬al and strategic design thinking emerges
when we look at the two companies Nokia and
Apple and their take on the mobile phone. In the
00s, Nokia designed nu¬merous models and
handsets, but they never changed their basic
understanding of the mobile phone. Apple, on
the other hand, decided to put all their eggs in
one basket – the iPhone – only they redesigned
the concept of the mobile phone by making it a
platform for differ¬ent services, which allowed the
users to ‘design’ their own specialised telephone
by way of apps.
DESIGN MEETS BUSINESS
CONFERENCE 3-4 DECEMBER 2014
19
SOURCE: CESFO, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN DENMARK, 2013
DESIGN
CAPACITY
MODEL
1. Design awareness
Who are the design thinkers?
All employees
see design as an
important factor
2. The importance of design
in internal processes
Design is present
in specific departments
Design is used in?
Top management
- on the strategic agenda
Strategy and
management
Innovation projects
Design is seen as
a possibility
Production processes
Product and service development,
including finish and styling
No one
5. Design capabilities
WHY
PURPOSE & APPLICATION
The Design Capacity Model is developed in
the D2i – Design to innovate project by Professor. Poul Rind Christensen and postdocs
Susanne Jensen, Marianne Storgaard, Pia
Storvang and research assistant Kiki Mikkelsen from the University of Southern Denmark.
The model was developed to help paint
a picture of the use of design in companies.
The model serves to give a systematic - but
not complete - overview of a company’s
potential for strengthening its innovative and
competitive performance through design
initiatives.
The strength of the Design Capacity
Model is that it uses several dimensions to
describe the design practice within a company. In consequence, several ways may be
found to improve the design potential of the
company. The model incorporates a dynamic
perspective, so companies can work towards
a desired level of design practice.
The Design Capacity Model is based on 5 dimensions,
which measure how prepared a company is to use design
to support its development and growth. Additionally, the
model includes the framework under which the company
is working by measuring the company’s status. Together,
the five dimensions and this status give an overall impression of the company’s framework conditions, its design
management capacity and its use of design.
The Design Capacity Model cannot stand alone, but
must be seen in connection with the impressions of the
company that occur through interview(s), consultations or
other contacts with the company. Also be aware that the
choice of the contact person(s) will colour the picture.
The model has several applications. Firstly, it can be
used to identify the company’s design management practice and to compare it with other companies. Secondly, it
can be used as a dialogue tool, at e.g. design consultation or other development activities. Thirdly, the model can
be used as basis for discussions in the company about
how the company wish to improve its design capacity in
the next few years. This is done through measuring of the
current use of design and the desired future for design.
Measurements can be made by the company, the design
consultant or in an interplay.
Design capabilities
originate from?
Both internal
and external
designers
Internal
designers/
design
department
Marketing
Not important
External
designers
engaged
No
designers
employed
No engagement
Technology
driven innovation
User surveys and user feedback
User observations
and focus groups
Users are engaged in
processes in the company
Supplier
driven innovation
User communities
and lead users
3. Users’ involvement
Market (user/customer)
driven innovation
How are users engaged?
4. Innovation drivers
What drives the
innovation processes?
Design driven innovation
(vision, market and technology)
D2i © 2014
The Design Capacity Model gives an
overview over a company’s potential
for strengthening its innovative and
competitive performance
DESIGN MEETS BUSINESS
CONFERENCE 3-4 DECEMBER 2014
21
OJ ELECTRONICS
CASE SOURCE: D2I - DESIGN TO INNOVATE
A MOBILE
SPACE FOR
INNOVATION
F
or the past 50 years, OJ
Electronics has been producing electronic solutions
for controlling heating and
ventilation. When preparing an overarching, more
closely targeted innovation strategy, the
company came up with completely new
ideas and specific tools for the process
– thanks to a design consultation. The
original idea was for a physical room. A
meeting room, where innovation ideas
could fly back and forth, thus laying the
foundations for future product development at OJ Electronics.
That’s the prologue, as Mette Munk,
Head of Product Management & Marketing at the company, tells it. “We wanted
to work our way towards improving control of our product development – to set
up a better ‘front loading process’. At the
same time, we were keen to generate
more ‘organisational energy’ to allow us
to come up with even better ideas – and
even more of them. So we had actually
planned to create a special room that
wasn’t subject to the same culture as
prevails in the office buildings; a place
where the development and marketing
departments could work together,” she
says.
’Even though you
might think that
our engineers
would be a bit
skeptical about a
playful method
like this, they’ve
given a positive
reception to
everything. It’s as
though they’ve
been dying to
have us turn the
spotlight on this
kind of innovation.’
METTE MUNK, HEAD OF PRODUCT MANAGEMENT
& MARKETING, OJ ELECTRONICS
DESIGN MEETS BUSINESS
CONFERENCE 3-4 DECEMBER 2014
23
For this reason, OJ Electronics was more than happy
to accept the offer of a design
consultation with D2i when the
opportunity presented itself
via a staff member who, while
attending an innovation course
at Design School Kolding, had
heard about the chance of
setting up such a consultation.
According to Mette Munk,
expectations mainly had to do
with “picking up some tools for
the more playful side of idea
generation”.
There was more in store
from the designers, however.
Innovation is not a single room
OJ Electronics manufactures
products for controlling heating
and ventilation. A little more
than half of the portfolio is
made up of the company’s own
standard products, while the
rest comprises OEM products
that the company sells on to
other manufacturers. In both
segments, OJ Electronics
has recently recognised the
importance of generating even
more innovation in the very
earliest phases of a project so
that the company can become
more proactive in relation to
the needs of the market. And,
it was agreed internally at the
company, this would demand
a very special place to work
with innovation. This idea was
challenged as soon as the designers stepped onto the field:
“Innovation is not generated in
a single room. Even the finest
physical setting cannot help
generate innovation and new
ways of thinking unless the culture and overarching philosophy follow suit. The primary aim
of the consultation was to help
OJ Electronics start to ‘play
seriously’ at all levels of the
organisation. The best route to
achieving this is to ensure that
the opportunity and the desire
to innovate are present at all
times and in all departments.
That is why we made sure to focus from the very start on ways
to implement new approaches
to thinking and working in the
daily processes and activities,
rather than focusing on how to
decorate an actual room.
The emphasis was more on
the way you work, the methods
and tools you use, and how you
make this visible and easy to
share,” explains Kim Aagaard
Holm, Design Consultant at
D2i. For this reason, the focus
of the design consultation
was on presenting a range of
creative tools and – in particular – on training the company in
how to use them so as to make
OJ Electronics a self-perpetuating organisation in relation to
optimal innovation processes
as quickly as possible. Really
useful knowledge Just three
months after the designers’
‘flying visit’, staff at OJ Electronics are already beginning
to see the first tangible signs
that the new knowledge works
– and can be applied. “We
have subsequently developed
a toolbox packed with some of
the things we were trained to
use at the consultation,” says
Mette Munk, Head of Product
Management & Marketing. “We
have cherry-picked those tools
that best match our culture:
idea generation, personas and
storyboards. We have printed
them on large posters which
we can hang in all our meeting
rooms. At the same time, we
have produced a little ‘cook
book’ that provides an introduction to how to use the various
tools, so that everyone can use
them efficiently,” she adds. She
goes on to explain that staff at
the company have become a lot
better at working with open and
closed approaches, i.e. being
able to say ‘we’re working
with idea development now,
everything’s possible’, and then,
at some point in the process,
saying ‘OK, it’s time to decide
what, exactly, we’re going to
do’.
Mette Munk relates that the
entire new set-up has been
extremely well received: “Even
though you might think that our
engineers would be a bit sceptical about a playful method like
this, they’ve given a positive
reception to everything. It’s as
though they’ve been dying to
have us turn the spotlight on
this kind of innovation. In fact,
we already have two tangible
projects in the pipeline where
we’re working with the designers’ methods.”
OJ ELECTRONICS
IN SHORT
OJ Electronics A/S manufactures
electronic solutions for controlling
underfloor heating, as well as
standard heating and ventilation
(HVAC).
Today, the company is one of
the biggest manufacturers in the
world of thermostats for electric
underfloor heating and a major
player in the field of HVAC in the
Nordic region.
OJ Electronics has its headquarters in Sønderborg, with sales
offices in the Poland, the United
Kingdom and the United States.
OJ Electronics employs more than
150 people and exports 97% of
its production.
We have cherrypicked tools that best
match our culture.
We have produced
a little ‘cookbook’
that provides an
introduction to how to
use the various tools,
so that everyone can
use them efficiently.
METTE MUNK, HEAD OF PRODUCT MANAGEMENT & MARKETING, OJ ELECTRONICS
DESIGN MEETS BUSINESS
CONFERENCE 3-4 DECEMBER 2014
25
KRUUSE
CASE SOURCE: NEW DOING – HOW STRATEGIC USE OF DESIGN
CONNECTS BUSINESS WITH PEOPLE
VETS’
CHOICE
O
ne day in 1973,
35-year-old Peter
Marschall knocked
on the door of the
Danish company
KRUUSE, where
they produce equipment for veterinarians and animal hospitals. He carried
with him drawings for the protective dog collar that would become
KRUUSE’s greatest success to date.
Most people recognise the coneshaped collar that looks a lot like a
lampshade, worn by dogs when they
are ill. However, only very few people
know that the collar, which prevents
dogs from licking their post-surgical
wounds, was invented by Marschal
and that it is manufactured by
KRUUSE, a company based on the
island of Funen in Denmark. Marschall came up with the idea more or
less accidentally as he was folding
a collar for his own dog using some
leftover plastic from a design competition for the lamp manufacturer Le
Klint. This was 41 years and several
million protective dog collars ago,
and the number of products produced by KRUUSE has increased
manifold. Today they offer all of
14,000 different products – including anything from treadmills for dogs
to rubber boots, surgical lamps and
skin glue.
However, a modern company can
no longer base its development strategy on inventors knocking on their
doors offering new, ingenious products. They need a targeted tactic.
From Wholesaler to Developer
KRUUSE’s challenge was obvious:
their business model was too steeped
in old-fashioned wholesale strategies
such as selling goods from external
producers to veterinarians, because
middlemen like KRUUSE themselves
are in great danger of being passed
over or replaced. They needed to
strengthen their positioning.
‘Whereas previously, we would
take on new products that we had
seen at fairs and then create a
RUUSE box for it, we now decided
to produce our own unique products.
Being a contractor is not enough
anymore; we have to offer innovative
and relevant solutions that customers
can’t get anywhere else. This will
make us more attractive for outside
business,’ Commercial Director
Martin Lassen explains.
The first step was for KRUUSE’s
production and sales teams to visit
the animal clinics and hospitals that
bought their products. Not to sell
KRUUSE products as they would
usually do, but to spend an entire day
in the clinic, to see with their own
eyes how their clients actually used
the products. ‘I think, perhaps, it was
a bit of a shock for them to see how
the real world works,’ Andrew Nagel,
Creative Director and Owner of the
design bureau DEVELOPA, who
arranged the visits, recalls.
‘Our job is not merely to make
analyses that we can then pass on
to KRUUSE. They have to go and
see what goes on for themselves,’ he
’Had you asked
KRUUSE two
years ago, we
would have said
that we were
quite capable of
developing new
products and
listening to our
customers. Only,
what we did back
then, was actually
focused on
coordination and
purchasing.’
MARTIN LASSEN,
COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR AT
KRUUSE
DESIGN MEETS BUSINESS
CONFERENCE 3-4 DECEMBER 2014
27
Design and innovation
is not something that
only takes place in the
production department.
It should be part of the
entire organisation –
regardless of whether
you’re working in
production, purchase
or sales, you are coresponsible for the
company’s innovation.
MARTIN LASSEN, COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR AT KRUUSE
KRUSE A/S
IN SHORT
Office: Langeskov, Funen
Product: 14,000 different
products for veterinarians, including anything from protective dog
collars to dog chews, gloves and
hypodermic needles, complicated
lab equipment and X-ray machines.
Typical customers: Veterinarians
all over the world.
Employees: 254
Founded: 1896
explains, thus emphasising a central
element of design thinking: obtaining
a profound understanding of the
people who use your products.
After concluding the fieldwork,
Nagel and his team brought the numerous notes, photos and experiences to DEVELOPA’s offices and
started organising a creative workshop at KRUUSE’s premises.
Mirror, Mirror on the Wall
Photos and notes from the fieldwork
decorated the walls at KRUUSE’s
head office during the workshop.
‘Vets use new media’ and ‘vets have
problems with storing their equipment’, some of the notes read. They
spoke of so-called ‘unmet needs’,
which would now form the basis of
the development of new products.
‘Had you asked KRUUSE two
years ago, we would have said that
we were quite capable of developing
new products and listening to our
customers. Only, what we did back
then, was actually focused on coordination and purchasing,’ Martin Lassen
explains.
During the workshop, KRUUSE
developed a variety of new products, and they are currently testing
the prototypes. Martin Lassen looks
forward to seeing the final version of
one product in particular – the new
flagship.
‘It’s been tested on about 30
dogs and by several veterinarians,’ he
explains although he is unwilling to
reveal what it is.
– But what if this new product
fails? Would that mean that it was all
for nothing?
‘No. We’ll definitely continue down
this road, and the process has taught
us a lot, regardless of how well this
particular product does. Design and
innovation is not something that only
takes place in the production department. It should be part of the entire
organisation – regardless of whether
you’re working in production, purchases or sales, you are co-responsible for the company’s innovation,’
Martin Lassen elaborates.
‘We’ve learnt to see and identify
needs and we’ve learnt that this
knowledge must be adapted creatively in order to be transformed into
new products. And now we have to
learn to accept that creative design
processes are uncertain,’ he concludes.
DESIGN CREATES NEW MANAGEMENT PRACTICES
KRUUSE’s work with design methods has resulted in the company
contemplating the establishment of an ‘innovation board’, which
will bring in outside expertise to stimulate the company’s design
processes, Commercial Director Martin Lassen reveals. And that is a
very good idea, according to Annabeth Aagaard, Associate Professor at the Department of Leadership and Strategy at the
University of Southern Denmark.
‘Once innovation moves out of the R&D departments and
spreads across the entire organisation, management will face different challenges. They have to do away with the no mistakes culture
and instead support an innovation culture, enabling it to succeed
outside the R&D department – in marketing, sales, production and
even in the boardroom. It’s about gearing the company to think in
new ways at every level,’ Annabeth Aagaard explains. To her, the
transition is primarily a managerial task.
‘I often think of good innovation management as a kind of advisory board whose function is to weed out, qualify and systematise the
company’s bank of ideas. We simply have to get better at converting
ideas into products, so that we don’t just innovate for the sake of
innovation, but generate new business and concrete results. It takes
a management who will prioritise this area and who understand that
they are the ones who must establish a direction by establishing a
link between business and innovation,’ Annabeth Aagaard concludes.
DESIGN MEETS BUSINESS
CONFERENCE 3-4 DECEMBER 2014
29
EASY FOOD
CASE SOURCE: NEW DOING – HOW STRATEGIC USE OF DESIGN
CONNECTS BUSINESS WITH PEOPLE
FRENCH
HOT DOGS
AND DANISH
JOBS
‘W
hy do you have
the same requirements for
different
products?’
Although it may
sound like a rather banal question,
it actually proved the instigator of
great changes in the food company
Easyfood, where they, amongst other
things, produce sausage rolls for
petrol stations and cinnamon rolls for
bakeries.
Easyfood had invited a team of
designers from Sustainable Interruptions (Bæredygtige Forstyrrelser, ed.),
a development project under D2i –
Design to innovate, to help them minimise production waste. As part of the
process, Project Manager Lykke Bloch
Kjær and her colleagues spent time
observing the employees who sorted
sausage rolls and sandwiches, before
they were wrapped and shipped off to
retailers.
‘It turned out that many employees would scrap products based on
their own gut feeling, and if in doubt,
products would go in the waste bin.
That resulted in an enormous waste,’
Lykke Bloch Kjær explains. Her background is textile design, which she
used to introduce Easyfood to a way
of thinking inspired by the fashion
industry.
‘We have now divided our products into gold, silver and bronze products,’ Flemming Paasch, Managing
Director of Easyfood, explains. ‘In
much the same way that a clothes
manufacturer does not have the
same requirements for their cheapest
and their most expensive items, our
sausage rolls, which are one of our
cheaper products, can differ slightly
in shape, while our more expensive
products such as the pulledpork
sandwiches have to be perfect each
time,’ he elaborates.
From User-driven to Design-driven
Working with minimising waste is
the latest example of how Easyfood
implements strategic use of design
in order to develop and optimise
their business. Since its founding in
2000, the company has put a lot of
effort into user involvement and the
collection of information pertaining
to customers’ relations to their products. Easyfood’s employees observe
and conduct interviews with customers at petrol stations and bakeries all
over Denmark to observe and listen
’Design is about
systematically
collecting and using
knowledge about
the customers’
needs while
simultaneously
adhering to our
own strategy and
the technical
possibilities
embedded in
our production.’
FLEMMING PAASCH,
MANAGING DIRECTOR OF EASYFOOD
DESIGN MEETS BUSINESS
CONFERENCE 3-4 DECEMBER 2014
31
to their reactions to foodstuffs,
prices and taste.
‘For example, we have figured
out why the French hot dog is so
popular at petrol stations,’ Susi
Philipp, baker at Easyfood, explains.
As part of the course ‘Easypilot’,
she was taught how to make user
surveys. ‘It’s because the hot dog
is handy and suitably sized – it’s
not just because it tastes good. We
use this information to develop new
products,’ she elaborates.
Another insight gained from the
user surveys is that petrol stations
and corner shops can increase
their sales of sausage rolls with
up to 30 per cent, if they heat the
rolls in a high-intensity oven, while
the customer is watching, rather
than selling sausage rolls out of
hot cupboards, because customers associate products from hot
cupboards with something old and
stale.
A Shared Responsibility
It is insights like these that enable
Easyfood to maintain a sizable part
of its production in Denmark rather
than relocating to Eastern Europe
where wages are lower.
‘The production costs in Denmark require Danish employees to
inject any given product with 5-6
times the value a baker in Poland
would have to, for it to be worth
our while to keep the production
in Denmark. We obtain this extra
value because our employees
are constantly actively engaged
in developing and improving the
products we offer our customers,’
Flemming Paasch says.
To Flemming Paasch, strategic
use of design is quite a central part
of Easyfood’s business development:
‘Design is about systematically
collecting and using knowledge
about the customers’ needs while
simultaneously adhering to our own
strategy and the technical possibilities embedded in our production.
This coupling is quite central for our
ability to create products that meet
customer needs and offer them
omething they didn’t realise they
wanted.’
EASYFOOD A/S
IN SHORT
Office: Kolding, Jutland
Product: ‘Convenience pastries’
such as sausage rolls, cinnamon
rolls, bread and other baked
goods.
Typical customers: Petrol
stations, wholesalers, bakeries,
canteens and sandwich bars.
Employees: 130
Founded: 2000
DESIGN CREATES JOBS IN DENMARK
In 2001, Easyfood started its production
of buttermilk rolls in Poland. It stayed there
for a decade. But in 2011, the company
moved the production to Denmark and
created eight new jobs in Kolding. The
decision had nothing to do with patriotism,
it was all about business, Innovation Manager, Kirsten Møller Jensen, emphasises:
‘When production and development departments are right next to one another, rather
than across borders, we have the ability to
test whether the ideas we come up with
are also practically feasible. The short distance ensures that that the knowledge we
generate in the development department
through user surveys is quickly incorporat-
ed into the production line,’ Kirsten Møller
Jensen explains.
Jan Stentoft, who is a professor at the
Department of Entrepreneurship and Relationship Management at the University of
Southern Denmark, conducts research into
Danish companies who move their production apparatus abroad or back to Denmark.
He recognises Easyfood’s line of argument:
‘Developers need to have continuous access to knowledge about what is practically
doable on a production line,’ Jan Stentoft
explains and not all information carries well
across borders or through telephone and
email: ‘You can’t always describe something
verbally – you need to see and feel to get
an understanding of the possibilities and
challenges in development processes.
Otherwise the development will stay
theoretical,’ he says. He also explains how
Easyfood’s production is different from that
of the textile industry, which has otherwise
been hugely successful in outsourcing its
production to Asia:
‘There are no great changes to the
technology used in textile production. They
know what the possibilities are and they
have standardised the language to describe
them. And then it’s no problem to situate
your production on the other side of the
globe.’
In much the same way that
a clothes manufacturer
does not have the same
requirements for their
most expensive items, our
sausage rolls, which are one
of our cheaper products,
can differ slightly in shape,
while our more expensive
products such as the pulled
pork sandwiches have to be
perfect each time
FLEMMING PAASCH, MANAGING DIRECTOR OF EASYFOOD
DESIGN MEETS BUSINESS
CONFERENCE 3-4 DECEMBER 2014
33
SPEAKERS
Carl Holst, chairman of the Regional Council of the Region of Southern Denmark
Kurt Ward, Senior Design Director at Philips Design
Carl Holst is President of the Regional Council of the Region of Southern Denmark since 2007. He is also Vice President
of Danish Regions and Chairman of the Regional Growth Forum of Southern Denmark.
Kurt is a senior design director at Philips who is responsible for strategic alliances and collaborations across businesses
and partners to stimulate, inspire and explore new value spaces and innovation opportunities.
Cees Kuypers, Director at DLG Food
Lykke Bloch Kjær, Project manager at Laboratory for Design and Sustainability, Kolding
Design School Kolding
Cees has been Director at DLG Food since 2012 and has extensive experience both internationally as well as in the consumption area. He has a Master in Business Administration from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, which is
his country of birth.
Lykke explores and showcases sustainability as a driver for growth and change, and looks at ways to combine materials,
products, services, and systems in consideration of the ”Triple Bottom Line”: the balance between financial profit,
environmental sustainability, and social equality.
Claudio Dell’Era, Assistant Professor in the Department of Management, Economics and
Industrial Engineering of Politecnico di Milano
Madeline Smith, Head of Strategy at Institute of Design Innovation,
The Glasgow School of Art
Claudio’s research interests are about innovation strategies developed by leading companies that operate in design-intensive industries, and approaches and practices adopted during innovation processes by high-tech companies that face
turbulent environments.
Madeline has specialized in strategy and evaluation, for clusters, innovation and complex collaborations. She has an interest in innovation, the role of collaboration, and how evaluation needs to evolve to capture the wider value of innovation
approaches and behavioral change.
Christian Bason, CEO at Danish Design Centre
Poul Rind Christensen, Professor at University of Southern Denmark
Christian has a broad and valuable experience in design, innovation and management. In the last eight years he has had a
position as Head of Innovation at the development unit MindLab, from where he has worked on developing and conveying
design methods in the public sector in Denmark and internationally. Christian Bason holds a Master in Political Science.
Poul holds a chair in design and innovation management at the University of Southern Denmark and is currently head of
the Center for Design, Culture & Management. His research emphasizes entrepreneurship and small business dynamics,
including design and innovation management.
Don McIntyre, Programme Director & Creative Technologist at the Institute of Design
Innovation, The Glasgow School of Art
Sam Bucolo, Professor and Chair for Innovation and Design, University of Technology, Sydney
Don built an unfashionable expertise in the combination of creative and technical disciplines. An interest in technology
flavored design innovation has led to collaboration with companies and organizations across commercial, public and
applied research sectors.
Sam is a leading academic and practitioner in design led innovation and has led projects which have transformed businesses by embedding design capability. He is interested in an understanding of the relationship of design led innovation
to business strategy and organization value.
Elsebeth Gerner Nielsen, Rector, Design Skolen Kolding
Thit Juul Madsen, Head of secretariat at D2i – Design to innovate
Elsebeth is rector of Kolding School of Design and holds a Master’s degree in Social Science from the University of
Southern Denmark. She has worked as head of a cultural house, as teacher at SDU and as a researcher at the Development Centre for Public information and Adult Education.
Thit is head of secretariat at D2i as well as a co-founder of the project. Thit holds a Master of Arts degree in Business
Innovation and Concept Creation and she studied public administration and international development at Roskilde University, specializing in CSR.
Henry Larsen, Professor at University of Southern Denmark
Tobias Haug, VP and Head of Design & Co-Innovation Center EMEA, SAP SE
Henry holds a chair in Participatory Innovation at the University of Southern Denmark and is interested in understanding
the interactions of many stakeholders, sometimes leading to a kind of change that will be called innovation, and sometimes not.
Tobias leads a international design team within SAP, and is a firm believer in the role of design management in establishing design practices within ‘traditional’ business environments and creating conditions in which design moves from
tactical to strategic value.
Karsten Bech, Project manager at D2i – Design to innovate and Head of post graduate
education at Design School Kolding
Ulrik Gernow, Chairman of the Board at D2i – Design to innovate & Vice President innovation
and marketing, LEGO Group
Karsten is project manager at D2i and has worked with design thinking for many years, where he several times has experienced how design thinking can contribute positively to both communication-and innovation processes.
Ulrik is responsible for product and marketing innovation and for building LEGO Group capabilities essential to deliver
the best LEGO core product experiences – such as product design, building system architecture, graphic design,
product technology, packaging and marketing campaigns.
DESIGN MEETS BUSINESS
CONFERENCE 3-4 DECEMBER 2014
35
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DESIGN MEETS BUSINESS
CONFERENCE 3-4 DECEMBER 2014
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DESIGN MEETS BUSINESS
CONFERENCE 3-4 DECEMBER 2014
39
4644 Mediegruppen as
D2i – Design to Innovate
D2i – Design to innovate constitutes the framing of the
Region of Southern Denmark’s concentrated design
effort. D2i – Design to innovate collaborates with
both Design School Kolding and the University of
Southern Denmark to establish design-based business
development in private companies and work on stimulating the use of design across business areas, by, among
other things, supporting development and innovation
processes that include design. The goal of D2i – Design
to innovate is to strengthen the demand for design in
established companies in order to increase growth as
well as exports.
Contact /
D2i – Design to innovate
T. +45 2594 6440
M. info@d2i.dk
www.d2i.dk
www.designmeetsbusiness.com
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