This paper presents an insight into end-users' perception of smart grid products for households. The analysed products included three types of home energy management products (HEMPs) namely: smart thermostats, smart plugs and smart wall sockets. The analysis involved existing commercial HEMPs, as well as newly designed HEMPs from a students' project executed at University of Twente (Netherlands) in 2013 and 2014. Various industrial design methods were applied, and an online survey was utilised for data collection. The smart thermostat was considered the product with the greatest potential to stimulate energy-efficient behaviour. Features most preferred by end-users are: 1) visual display of energy information; 2) monitoring of energy use of appliances; 3) remote control, and expected ease of use. Appearance also appeared to have influenced the preferences of end-users regarding specific HEMPs. This study highlights the main features that household end-users desire in products that could stimulate energy-efficient behaviour.@en

The Network of Applied Design Research (NADR), established in 2016, has played a crucial role in shaping the field of Applied Design Research. The specific role of Applied Design Research was discussed during the Dutch Design Week 2018, under the theme "Applied Design Research as a Catalyst of Change.” The discussion centered around four key questions: What has been designed? What has been investigated? What was the realized or intended change? What was the role of the Applied Design Researcher? While these questions may seem straightforward, they reveal the complexity of Applied Design Research, emphasizing the intricate interplay between design, research, and implementation processes. When examining the various tasks, roles, and activities undertaken by Applied Design Researchers, seven distinct roles were identified – 1) Developer, 2) Discoverer, 3) Initiator, 4) Change Manager, 5) Networker, 6) Interpreter, and 7) Reframer. The role of the Developer (1) focuses on creating new solutions, encompassing the design and development of products, services, materials, games, apps, and production methods. The developer's primary objective is to bring about something entirely new. The Discoverer (2) engages in research activities spanning ergonomic and usage studies, human behavior research, technical exploration, material studies, and investigations into new production and design methods. Their core function is to understand the world and seek objective facts and new insights. The Initiator (3), often described as an open-minded opportunity hunter, collects and combines various ideas and possibilities to create new initiatives and projects. They operate as drivers and motors of innovation, converting ideas into tangible projects. The role of the Change Manager (4) involves coordinating and organizing practical aspects to achieve anticipated results within the agreed-upon time and budget. Additionally, the change manager acts as an organizational change agent, aiming to implement new solutions within the involved organizations. The Networker (5) serves as a connector and gatekeeper, linking people, organizations, and ideas across different professional networks. They play a crucial role in developing support among stakeholders and managing mutual expectations. The Interpreter (6) focuses on connecting different concepts and contextual frameworks, serving as a bridge between theoretical models from science and practical experiences from design practice. They contribute to creating a common vocabulary to manage mutual expectations. The Reframer's (7) role is to show the significance of achieved results by adopting a different perspective on outcomes that others might perceive as irrelevant or self-evident. This role is vital in interpreting and giving new significance to facts, reframing problems, and contributing to the uniqueness of Applied Design Research. Overall, the analogy of the Applied Design Researcher as a catalyst of change is apt, akin to a catalyst in chemistry. The Applied Design Researcher acts as a connector, bringing people together, ensuring understanding, fostering common goals, and achieving meaningful results.@en

Two residential Smart Grid pilots, PowerMatching City, Groningen (NL) and Pecan Street, Austin Texas (USA) have been compared regarding their energy performance and the experiences of users in these pilots. The objective of the comparison was to gain new insights that could support the successful deployment of future residential Smart Grids. Measured data on electricity generation and electricity consumption of households in 2013 and 2014 were evaluated. Existing reports with results of surveys of users were also analyzed. The energy performance revealed that the average domestic electricity consumption of households in PowerMatching City was lower compared to Pecan Street (2.6 GW h versus 10.1 GW h). At the same time, households in Pecan Street generated a higher amount of electricity compared to PowerMatching City (6.8 GW h versus 1.14 GW h). Households in Pecan Street consumed on average, 8% less electricity with respect to the USA average household domestic electricity consumption of 10.9 GW h; while households in PowerMatching City consumed 19% less electricity compared to the Dutch average household domestic electricity consumption of 3.1 GW h. Households in PowerMatching City appeared to have a higher potential to contribute to electricity demand and supply balancing, because their electricity consumption from the grid was largely reduced with increased self-generation. User experiences revealed that end-users in both pilots preferred technologies that automatically shift their energy use, since this requires minimal effort from them. We conclude that the pattern of households’ electricity generation and consumption in Smart Grid pilot projects, and their contribution to peak load balancing in the electricity network is largely influenced by existing Smart Grid set-ups, local climate and related needs for heating and cooling, the average capacity of installed energy generating technologies and the prevailing energy behavior.

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In health care, the design, development and commercialization of innovative products is often found frustrating due to the slow inefficient and difficult nature of its systems. One part of this problem is the fact that health systems are highly regulated complex systems that include various stakeholders and unique challenges. Nevertheless, designers and other innovators are often unaware of these unique features of health systems. It is important that designers and managers are able to understand the system, anticipate challenges and account for them in their work. We therefore aim to establish and evaluate an overarching conceptual model, which can delineate both the systems of health care innovation process and the relevant stakeholders in these systems. This paper reviews the application and potential benefits of one of the promising models called Multilevel Design Model (MDM) by employing an expert-participatory testing on multiple cases in documented clinical reports (n=8). The evaluation of the MDM model followed by further adaptations and changes to the model itself, as well as to the accompanying user guidelines. With some adjustments, the MDM was able to visualize and explain the systems of the health care innovation process in a systematic and shared manner usable for health product designers, innovators and health organizations. We propose the adjusted MDM model for further use in the design and development of health care innovations in order to avoid the typical stagnation of product dissemination after implementation.@en

Participatory design or co-design is defined as the active engagement of all stakeholders in a design process. However, in many co-design projects, only end users are involved. Participants are often considered as the traditional representatives of a generalized stakeholder group, without prior analysis made on each individual’s specific interest. These assumptions fail to capture opportunities for integration and satisfy multiple stakeholders simultaneously, which is required to design successful products in complex systems like health care. To maximize the benefit of collaboration, it is important for designers to improve understanding of the participants and their role as a stakeholder in their product’s ecosystem. This study aims to contribute to this understanding by discussing a potential visualization method that maps different stakeholders’interest in the development of new products within the health care system. The method is based on a Multilevel Design Model and was tested by means of a researchbased- modeling approach, in which several design experts where asked to map or position several design phenomena on a pre-defined template. Both the selection of the phenomena and the mapping results of the various experts where evaluated through comparison. A positive correlation was found between the type of expertise of the different experts, and their specific interest in the innovation system. This led to the conclusion that the visualisation method may prove to be a useful instrument for analysing stakeholders at different levels of institutional and nontechnical systems. Therefore, it may potentially help to manage the problem of complexity and resolve equivocality in the design process.@en

The transition of the electricity system to smart grids requires residential end-users to be more involved in managing energy demand and supply. New innovative products and services could help to support end-users to play a more active role in the management of the future electric power system. This paper evaluates the role of Industrial Design Methods (IDMs) in the development of new innovative smart grid related product concepts at the household level. Based on students' design projects, carried out within a master study programme, various IDMs were systematically utilized to develop new innovative products for smart grid households. Our study shows that five IDMs, namely: platform-driven product development, delft innovation model, theory of inventive problem solving, technology roadmapping, and innovative design and styling were mainly applied in the development of the conceptual products. This study shows that a thorough and careful application of various IDMs helped to develop inspiring potential smart grids product concepts that could support end-users at the household level to gain more insight into their energy use, and contribute to balancing energy demand and supply. These concepts include various in-home displays, smart plugs, and smart wall sockets. The resulting product concepts are presented in this paper. We conclude that the systematic use of various IDMs helped to identify and incorporate various technological, societal, market, and end-user aspects necessary for creating innovative smart grid related products that meet end-user and future market expectations.@en