course Archives - MSPI - Master's in Sustainable Product-Service System Innovation

Value Innovation 2015

Christian Johansson — Wed, 25 May 2016 09:36:40 +0000

Students in the Value Innovation course presented the results of their real-life projects, conducted in collaboration with industrial partners.

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PSS Extreme Innovation

Tobias Larsson — Sat, 02 May 2015 21:35:40 +0000

The students in the PSS Extreme Innovation course develops sustainable PSS innovations, in close collaboration with industry and society.

Course Purpose

The purpose of the course is for the students to gain an understanding of how different solutions are developed within industry today through applying and integrating knowledge necessary for future product- and service innovation. Participants will gain knowledge in project management, creative concept development, systems thinking for sustainability and technological solutions.

Course Objectives

The course is focused on carrying out a product/service system innovation project with sustainability and innovation focus.

The objective of the course is to acquire, apply and integrate knowledge central to the development of sustainable PSS innovation, in close collaboration with industry and society. By carrying out real team based projects in a collaborative mode the student will have the chance to reflect upon acquired theoretical base and apply this in a real setting. The experience will render the student a good position to enter into the work life.

Course Contents

Team collaboration
Innovation engineering
Needfinding
Creative concept development
Concept selection
Engineering design
Simulation driven design
Prototyping

Aims & Learning Outcomes

On completion of the course the student will know:

How to perform needfinding
How to develop and evaluate concepts
How to prototype solutions
How to work effectively in team based setting
How to develop innovative PSS design
How to work in concurrent engineering mode
How to employ advanced simulation driven design tools in applied setting

Learning & Teaching

Course focus is to give the participant knowledge to perform and carry out real product/service development with focus on sustainability and innovation Through reflection sessions, workshops, team exercises and project work students will gain an understanding of the course content. Students will complete assignments on group basis, and will share his/her learning with others through his/her written documents, group work and presentations. The course will be provided in English.

See examples of projects from the 2011-2012 course!

Course examiner

Professor Tobias C. Larsson.

Course Leaflet

BTH-PDRL-Leaflet-PSSEI-Course

More PSS Extreme Innovation

PSSEI 2017/2018:
PSSEI 2016/2017:
PSSEI 2015/2016: Fishing, Asphalt Rollers, Aero Engine Services, and Elderly loneliness.
PSSEI 2014/2015: Urban Mining, Quantified Self, and Aero Engine Marketing Strategy.
PSSEI 2013/2014: High Voltage Cables, Urban Mining, and Keyless Rollers.
PSSEI 2011/2012: Medtech and Construction Equipment.
More about PSS Extreme Innovation

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Creativity for Product Service System Development

Tobias Larsson — Sat, 02 May 2015 21:32:32 +0000

Creativity for Product-Service System Development gives students a theoretical and practical understanding of creative concept development methods.

Course Objectives

Advanced level students will gain a deeper understanding and practical experience of creative concept development methods at the early phases of the product development process. Student will be able to rethink and reconceive how human needs are currently fulfilled through methods that help to identify user needs, generate concept ideas and evaluate and prioritize those ideas.

Course Contents

The role of creativity in the product development process
Creativity techniques
Methods for evaluating and prioritizing between concept ideas
Creativity related group dynamics and basics for managing creativity in organizations
The business case for creativity

Aims and learning outcomes

On completion of the course the student will be able to:

Independently plan and facilitate effective creativity sessions using creativity techniques to contribute to sustainable product-service system development
Describe the importance of creativity and the significance of identifying user needs in the early stages of the product development process
Describe and apply the concept of creative tension in the innovation process
Demonstrate an ability to select and utilize advanced methods for need identification, problem exploration and the discovery of innovation opportunities.
Identify and choose appropriate prioritization guidelines for the purpose of evaluating and choosing concept ideas.

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Design Thinking

Tobias Larsson — Sat, 02 May 2015 21:30:49 +0000

The aim of the course is that students will get good insights and skills in how both technical and social innovations are created.

The course covers the design and development of new products (hardware and services) and processes (technical and organizational), with particular focus on methods, tools and strategies for the early phases of the innovation process. The course is based on Design Thinking – an approach to deal with complex issues and contexts in which the designer match insights about the needs of people with viable solutions in a market offer.

MSPI Design Thinking Process

The course includes lectures and exercises related to theories of design processes and methods in the field of design and innovation. Students will actively search for and analyze users’ needs and then develop ideas, concepts and detailed solutions to match those needs.

Design Thinking Criteria

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Methods for Sustainable Product- and Service Development

Tobias Larsson — Sat, 02 May 2015 21:28:22 +0000

The Methods for Sustainable Product- and Service Development course provides an understanding of product-service system development methods and tools.

Course Objectives

The purpose of the Methods for Sustainable Product- and Service Development course is for the advanced student to gain theoretical understanding of product-service system development methods and tools both in general and to support a full socio-ecological sustainability perspective, as well as suitable applications.
Students will have practical experience in using such methods and tools to real products-services allowing the students to have a basis for applying supplementary methods and tools as necessary.

Course Contents

Overview of Product Development: A description of general processes and theories on the development of products and services.
Methods for Eco-Design and Sustainable Product Development (SPD): State-of-practice in industry and state-of-art in research regarding methods and tools, and the individual strengths and limitations of these will be considered from different perspectives like full sustainability, time, cost, complexity, etc.
Applications of the Methods for Sustainable Product Development: Application of the methods from module 1 and module 2.

Aims and learning outcomes

On completion of the course the student will be able to:

Analyze product development processes from a generic stage-gate process (e.g. in companies and in theory)
Comprehensively describe different tools and concepts relevant to Eco-design and SPD and demonstrate the ability to apply the SSD framework to describe how these tools and concepts are best utilized.
Relate to people now practicing such methods and tools by knowing key terms, roles, and approaches
Describe criteria for selecting and assessing SPD tools depending on the context

Apply the above to identify sustainability challenges in a product design and recommend suitable solutions to those challenges

Learning & Teaching

This course is offered to graduate-level students of engineering, industrial economy, industrial design, or equivalent. Through, lectures, site visits, workshops, assigned readings and assignments students will gain an understanding of the course content. Students will complete assignments on an individual or small group basis, and will share his/her learning with others through his/her written documents, group work and presentations. There will be a mid-term written examination and a final project. The course will be provided in English.

Course responsible and examiner

PhD Sophie Hallstedt

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Knowledge Enabled Engineering

Tobias Larsson — Sat, 02 May 2015 21:27:33 +0000

Practices for engineering knowledge management are changing to meet higher demands on cross-functional knowledge sharing, particularly evident when targeting the development of complex product-service combinations with long lifecycles. This course gives the participants an understanding of activities in which the capabilities of current knowledge management systems fall short in terms of addressing the need for knowledge of the engineering teams with such a new target in mind. Participants will gain knowledge in methods and technologies for effective engineering knowledge management, which have been summarized under the Knowledge Enabled Engineering (KEE) umbrella term.

More Knowledge Enabled Engineering

Information about previous projects in the KEE course:

KEE 2015: Wearable Technology Innovation
More about KEE

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Value Innovation

Tobias Larsson — Sat, 02 May 2015 21:26:32 +0000

Course Purpose

Value innovation is the simultaneous pursuit of differentiation and low cost.

Value innovation is the simultaneous pursuit of differentiation and low cost. Value innovation focuses on making the competition irrelevant by creating a leap of value for buyers and for the company, thereby opening up new and uncontested market space. Because value to buyers comes from the offering’s utility minus its price, and because value to the company is generated from the offering’s price minus its cost, value innovation is achieved only when the whole system of utility, price and cost is aligned The purpose of the course is to give the participants an understanding of how methods and tools to develop products, based on a value view, may be used. Participants will gain knowledge in project set-up, project charter, voice of the customer, value analysis, concept creation, verification and presentation. The course is focused on carrying out a product development project with value focus. By carrying out real team based projects in a collaborative mode the student will have the chance to reflect upon acquired theoretical base and apply this in a real setting. The experience will render the student a good position to enter into the work life.

Course Objectives

After completion of the course the student will be able to:

Perform needs analysis
Develop and evaluate concepts on value contribution
Make value adding prototype solutions
Work effectively in team based setting
Perform value analysis

Course Contents

Value innovation
Value modeling
Opportunity recognition
Customer value
Value creation
Team management
Customer needs assessment
Value process

Learning & Teaching

Course focus is to give the participant knowledge to perform and carry out value driven development projects with focus on innovation. Through lectures, workshops, team exercises and project work, students will gain an understanding of value innovation. Participants work in groups, going from needs to finished product (or prototype) in close collaboration with industry with the aim to gain understanding and experience of todays and tomorrows ways of working in value driven markets. Students will complete assignments on group basis, and will share his/her learning with others through his/her written documents, group work and presentations. The course will be provided in English.

Course responsible and examiner

Professor Tobias C. Larsson

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Engineering for Sustainable Society

Tobias Larsson — Sat, 02 May 2015 21:23:28 +0000

Course Content

This project-based course focuses on the theme of product innovation. “Product” should here be interpreted broadly: as hardware, software, processes, services or combinations of these in systems (often called product service systems), i.e. technical and human systems and their interaction.

Aims & Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, students should:

Have a basic understanding of possibilities and limitations of engineering for supporting the transformation of society towards sustainability.
Know about basic concepts of product innovation and with that as a base be able to facilitate communication between engineers and non-engineers.
Understand the significance of various decisions during product development for the products socio-ecological impacts (both positive and negative) throughout the product life-cycle, e.g., how such decisions influence human need satisfaction and energy and transportation needs.
Know about various methods, tools and incentives for sustainable product development and procurement.
Have a basic ability to evaluate various technologies from a sustainability perspective and the ability to present those evaluations to professionals as well as non-professionals in regards to engineering (e.g. decision makers in business and politics).
Have “order of magnitude” knowledge in the energy and transportation fields and a basic ability to do general “order of magnitude” estimations.
Apply the framework for strategic sustainable development (FSSD) to the product development process.

Learning & Teaching

The course will partly be project driven, i.e. the specific content will be based partly on the students’ preferences of topics and the knowledge needs identified during the project work.

There will be a number of lectures as a general support. Much of the mutual transfer and creation of knowledge taking place in dialogues between students, between students and instructors, and through on site studies of real life examples.

Students will practice their ability to evaluate various technologies and practice their ability to present those evaluations to professionals as well as laymen as regards engineering (e.g. decision makers in business and politics). The course is delivered in English.

Scheduled lecture/seminar hours: 5 – 7 hours per week.

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Introduction to strategic sustainable development

Tobias Larsson — Sat, 02 May 2015 21:21:33 +0000

Strategic Sustainable Development

Strategic Sustainable Development revolves around a generic framework for planning in complex systems. It is based on research published in international journals and is generically called the Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development. It is also known amongst business and political leaders as The Natural Step Framework after the organisation that was created to promote its use. Along with a network of other partner institutions, researchers at BTH are instrumental in its ongoing development, particularly in the field of sustainable product innovation.

The framework is a widely-applicable approach to sustainable development and has been applied in hundreds of organisations around the world. Businesses such as McDonalds, IKEA, Scandic Hotels, Interface, Starbucks, Nike, Hydro Polymers, Rohm and Hass, and communities such as the Swedish Eco-Municipalities, and Whistler and Canmore (Canada), have used this framework to help define and adopt their sustainable development goals.

Framework advantages

The framework has the advantages of being:

Scientific – Basic concepts from physics, natural, and social sciences provide a foundation.
Holistic – Recognizing the highly complex interdependency of the natural world and society, the framework is based on systems thinking to support decision making.
Structured – There is a clear distinction between: (1) the functioning and boundaries of the system; (2) the principled, scientific view of sustainability; (3) guidelines for strategic decision-making; (4) actions; and (5) various support methods and tools.
Strategic – A clear, principled view of a future sustainable society guides decisions using a future success looking backwards (i.e. backcasting) approach.
Creativity-Enabling – By backcasting from basic constraints of a future sustainable society, a vast range of possibilities become possible within these broad but concrete constraints.
Based on Scientific Consensus – The principled, scientific definition of sustainability has been derived and refined through a scientific consensus process.
Tested by Application – Theories and concepts are continually applied and tested by academics and practitioners in concert with business and society.

Understanding sustainability

Within the MSPI programme, this framework is introduced to build a shared and comprehensive understanding of sustainability. Participants will become familiar with the framework and its application, which will allow them to select and use the many tools and concepts of sustainable development in a clear, structured and effective manner.

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Product-Service System Design Research

Tobias Larsson — Sat, 02 May 2015 21:00:02 +0000

The Product-Service System Design Research course introduce students to research theories and methods that are applicable for investigating PSS design issues.

Course Purpose

The purpose of the course to introduce the students to the theories and methods that product-service system innovation are based on, both from an business and public sector state-of-practice perspective and from a state-of-art research perspective. The students will gain an increased understanding of the application of different processes for the development of product- and service solutions.

Course Objectives

The aims of the PSS Design Research course are to make students better qualified and equipped for their research by (i) helping them select a theoretical foundation and develop a research approach, and (ii) make appropriate choices regarding methods and tools.

The objectives are to provide the students with:

insight into existing design theories and models to enable them to select a suitable theoretical foundation;
an overview of design research methods to enable them to develop the most appropriate approach for their own situation;
the opportunity to get to know and learn from researchers in the field

Course Contents

Design research history and background
Research paradigm
Design Science
Research plans
Qualitative methods
Validation of research
Case studies

Aims & Learning Outcomes

On completion of the course the student will know:

How design research is carried out
Validity of research
Planning of research
Qualitative and quantitative methods in design research
The nature of design and design research
Formulating research questions
Analysing a design process (protocol analysis)
Research questions / hypotheses
Concepts, models, schools and theories of design and designing;
The nature and use of theories
Defining research focus

Learning & Teaching

Course focus is to give the participant knowledge to understand theories and methodologies regarding design research and the planning of research. Through, lectures, workshops, assigned readings and assignments students will gain an understanding of the course content. Students will complete assignments on an individual or small group basis, and will share his/her learning with others through his/her written documents, group work and presentations. The course will be provided in English.

Course responsible and examiner

Professor Tobias C. Larsson

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Master Thesis in Sustainable Product-Service System Innovation

Tobias Larsson — Sat, 02 May 2015 20:38:08 +0000

The thesis project is a chance to really dig in and focus on a topic of your choice.

To promote learning through discussion, thesis projects are done in groups of 2-3 MSPI students. With the help of other thesis groups and the program team, there is plenty of opportunity to take advantage of the knowledge and experience around you and apply it to a project!

Thesis projects will explore a topic from each perspective stemming from the three themes of the program:

Sustainability, to make sure that sustainability is inherent in the thesis,
Innovation, which includes both invention/discovery (generation of new theories, ideas and concepts) and to bring “the newess” up on the agenda.
Product-Service System, which is a concept that integrates products and services in one scope for planning, development and delivery, thus for the whole life cycle.

This means that you try to explore topics in relation to how they help or hinder an organization, community or society to achieve compliance with a sustainable PSS innovation.

The reason that this criteria exists is because of the trans-disciplinary nature of the program, i.e. where we share a common understanding of what sustainability is (i.e. the principles of sustainability), PSS and Innovation to explore how we can uniquely contribute to attaining sustainability-driven PSS solutions.

Course responsible and examiner

Professor Tobias C. Larsson

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