Uncovering the Hidden Meaning of Things: Why Design-Driven Innovation is Central in Technology-Intensive Organizations

Design has recently being associated with user-centered innovation: a process to get closer to users and better understand their needs. There are firms though, such as Apple, Alessi, and Kartell that pursue a more radical approach via design-driven innovation. Rather than starting from user needs, and then designing and developing the product, they propose radically new visions and meanings that initially even confound users - but then convert them. They anticipate and influence the emergence of new product categories: through a close interaction with interpreters of changes in society, culture, and technology these organizations are capable of creating proposals that radically redefine what a product could mean for people. Corporations that succeed in creating these proposals - which go beyond what customers ask today to what, in the future, they will be excited to buy - are the corporations that lead the innovation game, build strong brands, and have products with longer life cycles than their competitors'. Roberto Verganti's keynote will focus in particular on the role that new technologies have in redefining the meaning of products and services, and consequently on the role of design-driven innovation in technology-intensive firms and technology suppliers.