The Innovation Gap

The global economy continues shifting away from mass markets towards more segmented local ones. Companies are increasingly challenged to understand how to service these new customer segments. Companies know how to make just about anything; the problem is determining what should be made. The Director of the IIT Institute of Design , Patrick Whitney, calls the gap between what produces know how to make and what consumers actually need the “innovation gap”. According to Whitney, design can bridge the gap by discovering users’ needs and translating them into new offerings.

Here are a few ways in which deign thinking can help companies innovate:
•Discovering what users value and linking it to business value
•Illustrating new value with compelling stories and scenarios about user experience
•Communicating and visualizing complex information
•Exploring innovation options quickly and cheaply through rapid prototyping
•Integrating physical products, information technology, services, and environments into holistic user experiences