Design and craft domains possess knowledge and experiences that are valuable to product development; however, such knowledge is often tacit, localized, and embedded within each respective domain. In this paper, we examine how a combination of design tools—prescribed as boundary objects—supports knowledge exchange and collaboration between these two domains in a design intervention setup. This setup is developed to explore the intangible values inherent within a heritage product—a product inherited from the previous generations— closely connected to local craftspeople and a point of inspiration for designers. Two design intervention sessions have been conducted in cross-domain collaboration efforts between craft and design representatives from Malaysia. The method devised and employed in this paper enabled a detailed study of different types of boundary objects that represent knowledge from each domain, stimulated knowledge exchange across domains, and transformed part of the tacit knowledge shared into explicit forms. We found that craftspeople and designers can collaborate and share knowledge more effectively by focusing on specific knowledge within their domains that might be of value to the other. Finally, we highlight the importance of promoting inclusive and conscious adaptation of content from the local cultural heritage in the product development process.

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Millions of people worldwide die prematurely or suffer from severe health ailments due to cooking equipment that causes unhealthy doses of (household) air pollution. Many attempts to address this have fallen short because technology was not improved sufficiently or the way it was introduced constituted an ill fit with the broader “cooking eco-system”. In terms of technology, (biomass) gasifier stoves look promising on all three sustainability dimensions (people, planet, profit) but have not been adopted on a substantial scale across cultures and regions either. We therefore used a design approach that takes multiple contexts (target groups) into account and compared the performance of a gasifier stove that was developed following this multi-context approach with four previous gasifier versions. With the comparative assessment using criteria well beyond mere technological performance we found that it performed better than these versions as well as than what could be expected based on historical learning, while providing additional systemic advantages. These results encourage verification of the value of the multi-context approach in more settings while providing clues for refinement of the assessment method.@en

Many global sustainable development issues affect large numbers of people, e.g. clean cooking. Most current projects focus on a specific use context, therefore do not scale well to new contexts and consequently do not reach enough beneficiaries. We present an approach, Context Variation by Design (CVD), in which insights from different contexts are intentionally combined early on in the process to develop solution directions. This creates a richer solution space than when contextual variations are developed sequentially. The rich solution space is then the basis for these contextual variations which might include connections and synergy between them. We discuss several real-life project examples that demonstrate that this approach indeed creates a basis for better solutions. In particular, confronting insights from different contexts at an early stage reveals new solution directions. To fully capture the potential the approach needs to be applied throughout the design process.@en

Purpose
– Vietnamese agro-food firms are often small and have short value chains. They are facing increasing competition from multinationals to serve the consumers of the rising middle class. It is assumed that co-creation or open-innovation can be a competitive innovation strategy for the Vietnamese firms. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to understand whether the agro-food firms have the “mental space” or an according mindset to innovate with their customers.

Design/methodology/approach
– A three dimensional model of “mental innovation space” (MIS) was developed, comprising of the: focus of innovation, level of innovation and degree of collaboration. A total of 14 Vietnamese agro-food companies agreed to embark on a process of problem definition for innovation according to these three dimensions. This process creates a deeper understanding of the firms’ fuzzy front end of innovation and results in less hypothetical findings, compared with traditional interviews.

Findings
– The results show that the Vietnamese agro-food firms have a rather small MIS. They are inexperienced with innovation in new product development and are even more unfamiliar with co-creation. However, the firms recognise the need for innovation and are enthusiastic about the use of co-creation. The applications of co-creation firms foresee are close to the market, motivated by meeting customer demand and keeping up with competitors.

Originality/value
– The characteristics and willingness of the Vietnamese agro-food firms make that it is believed an open atmosphere can be created. Then, co-creation can foster innovation in order to strengthen their competitive position.@en

The world is complex. Amongst others, this means that many elements are interconnected. When designing solutions, this complexity is often seen as cumbersome, resulting in (over) simplification of the issue at hand. This leads to solutions that are optimised for one specific context. Especially when these solutions are aimed at tackling large scale development issues, redoing the process every time when a new context is entered is very resource intensive. A multi-context design approach that was recently developed, takes another premise: if multiformity of a design challenge is acknowledged from the start, this encourages to intentionally bring together insights from multiple contexts. This collective intelligence results in design solutions with higher quality that also allow for quicker scaling and adaptation to multiple contexts thereby achieving more impact against lower overall costs. The first intended result, higher quality, has been tested in various set ups. The most elaborated experiment was conducted with junior designers for a medical company. The main question was: “To which extent does a multi-context approach result in higher quality of design concepts?” Starting from the same issue (maternal health care, a portable ultrasound device), three groups developed concept directions for solutions, with differences in the sources of insights that were provided. All assessments that were performed point in the same direction, being that the results from the multi-context group were more creative and relevant. Several lessons were obtained about the execution, which are translated into recommendations for more and better experiments and actual use in industry settings. @en

This paper aims to give an overview of the existing models of co-creation and create meta-models from these existing ones. The existing models were found in academic and popular or business publications. A total of 50 models was analysed and clustered and used to create 4 meta-models of co-creation. These meta-models depict the ‘joint space of co-creation’, ‘the co-creation spectrum’, ‘the co-creation types’ and ‘the co-creation steps’. They form a framework to classify existing research as well as define boundaries for upcoming projects. These meta-models should contribute to the clarity, understanding and application of co- creation.@en

In Vietnam, the middle class is expected to grow from 12 million to 33 million people between 2012 and 2020. The growth causes an increase as well as a shift in consumption. Products that were not accessible or affordable before will become increasingly so, such as cars, dishwashers, meat products and airconditioning. In urban areas the changes are most prominent and so are the side effects: increased amounts of waste, smog, pollution and use of fossil energy or pesticides. The main objective of this study was to identify sustainable behaviour that followed or did not follow from the intervention project GetGreen Vietnam. 604 urban middle class consumers participated in a series of sustainable consumption trainings. Before, during and after the trainings, quantitative and qualitative data was collected on 90 sustainable actions. 64% of the participants self-reported to be engaged in a sustainable action before the intervention and this percentage increased to 80% after. The group environment and activity-based meetings of GetGreen Vietnam project (GGVN) were critical for the success of the intervention. Participants reported that before GGVN certain actions were already habitual as a money saving strategy (e.g. sparse electricity use or food leftovers re-use) or due to past scarcity (e.g. sparse water use). Many participants reported the intention to buy sustainable products but fewer participants took action to do so. A powerful strategy toward more sustainable consumption in Vietnam can be to create more groupbased
activities around the themes of energy and shopping for food. A twofold approach is needed that both installs new sustainable consumption patterns and keeps old habits rooted in daily rituals. Role models should set an example for the young population and consumers and (Vietnamese) producers should be better connected to increase mutual trust and transparency.@en

The world is complex. Amongst others, this means that many elements are interconnected. When designing solutions, this complexity is often seen as cumbersome, resulting in (over) simplification of the issue at hand. This leads to solutions that are optimised for one specific context. Especially when these solutions are aimed at tackling large scale development issues, redoing the process every time when a new context is entered is very resource intensive. A multi-context design approach that was recently developed, takes another premise: if multiformity of a design challenge is acknowledged from the start, this encourages to intentionally bring together insights from multiple contexts. This collective intelligence results in design solutions with higher quality that also allow for quicker scaling and adaptation to multiple contexts thereby achieving more impact against lower overall costs. The first intended result, higher quality, has been tested in various set ups. The most elaborated experiment was conducted with junior designers for a medical company. The main question was: "To which extent does a multi-context approach result in higher quality of design concepts?" Starting from the same issue (maternal health care, a portable ultrasound device), three groups developed concept directions for solutions, with differences in the sources of insights that were provided. All assessments that were performed point in the same direction, being that the results from the multi-context group were more creative and relevant. Several lessons were obtained about the execution, which are translated into recommendations for more and better experiments and actual use in industry settings.

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