PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT PATH MAKERS 2024

Tuotekehityksen tiennäyttäjät 2024

Product development strategies, resources, capabilities and experts are vital for every nation’s future success and corporate’s competitiveness – as well as for tackling global challenges. Aalto Design Factory, Academic Engineers and Architects in Finland (TEK), the City of Espoo, and Technology Industries of Finland Centennial Foundation have teamed up to direct attention to how product development opens new pathways through a new award, Product Development Path Makers.

What?

The Product Development Path Makers award seeks to recognize inspiring experiments, projects, initiatives or activities that have opened up new types of opportunities and/or impact in product development. Nominees will be evaluated in terms of 

• pioneering new product development practices, 
• bold and successful experimentation challenging established norms, and 
• potential to generate novel user/customer value beyond the experiment or activity itself.

For example, a winning experiment or activity could have piloted a new way of co-creating with users, reflect a new type of development collaboration across a network of organizations, or created new methods to support identifying circular innovation opportunities. The award can be granted to a project team or community of people that has enacted the experiment or activity.

How?

Nominate an experiment, activity or project you have found inspiring – this can be something you have been a part of yourself. The application period is open 15.8.-25.9.2024, with online form asking nominations to provide:

• A public summary of the experiment or activity and 1-3 images 
• A short description of 
  • what was done, with whom and in what context 
  • what was novel and ground breaking in the experiment or activity, 
  • what type of user or customer value or potential for it was created, and
  • what kind of new opportunities or novel impact the experiment or activity could open up in product development 
• Possible links to further information and contact information

We understand product development broadly, as an interdisciplinary effort that can target physical or digital products or services. 

Based on the nominations, a jury consisting of Aalto professors, City of Espoo, TEK, Technology Industries of Finland and OP will select the finalists, and everyone gets to weigh in which finalist receives the main prize through an open vote in October. The awards will be handed out in November, in conjunction with the PD.X event 12.11.2024 at Aalto Design Factory.

Who?

You can nominate something you have been a part of yourself or some project, intiative, experiment or activity you’ve heard about that you think opens up new opportunities in product development.

To qualify, the core activity or core team needs to have resided or taken place in Finland. The experiment or activity also needs to fulfill the EU criteria of “do no significant harm” (DNSH) – in other words, they should create new opportunities without compromising sustainability.  As the award is given out by Aalto, TEK, City of Espoo and Technology Industries of Finland Centennial Foundation, experiments or activities led by employees of these organizations are not eligible for the award, however, suggested initiatives can contain collaboration with these organizations and their employees. Aalto employees cannot receive the financial award, but may be recognized as a part of an activity.