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From growth to responsibility: Changing conversations in Silicon Valley – excerpt from book ‘Design+ Organizational renewal and innovation through design’

Erika Perttunen 30/01/2020
With the rising complexity and reach of technology, the work of designers can have global consequences. We need to be open to talking about the dark side of design and prepare for some difficult discussions on responsibility and who do designs include, exclude and advocate for.

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Erika PerttunenFrom growth to responsibility: Changing conversations in Silicon Valley – excerpt from book ‘Design+ Organizational renewal and innovation through design’
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The evolution of empathy

DF Researcher 30/01/2020

Empathy is part of our everyday life. Empathy allows us to understand others and to feel the joys and sorrows of fictional movie characters as if they were real. Empathic understanding helps us to recognize the needs of other people and can even lead to extreme forms of unselfish behavior. People have even donated their kidney to an unknown person without expecting anything in return. Where does this remarkable ability originate? Often, it’s said that only humans can feel empathy. But what should we think, for example, about birds that show characteristics of empathy or unselfish behavior among single-celled organisms?

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DF ResearcherThe evolution of empathy
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INSIGHTS AND IMPRESSIONS FROM VEGEMESSUT

Erika Perttunen 27/01/2020
What will be the next big plant-based protein? Will insect food make a second coming? What is this fermentation thing that everybody seems to be talking about? Is veganism merely a fad or is it here to stay? The DesignBites research team spent last Friday at Vegemessut getting insights and perspectives on the Finnish food and beverage scene.

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Erika PerttunenINSIGHTS AND IMPRESSIONS FROM VEGEMESSUT
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Internationalizing design service business – excerpt from book ‘Design+ Organizational renewal and innovation through design’

Erika Perttunen 14/01/2020
The ability to function effectively across national and cultural boundaries is a critical challenge faced by companies in the increasingly global economy. Idean, a Finnish design agency with a strong international presence, offers one example of a pathway to globalizing design services. Growth requires learning along the way, adapting plans and practices.

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Erika PerttunenInternationalizing design service business – excerpt from book ‘Design+ Organizational renewal and innovation through design’
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Designers as change agents – excerpt from book ‘Design+ Organizational renewal and innovation through design’

Erika Perttunen 03/01/2020
In engineering-driven organizations, designers often find themselves increasing design awareness amongst developers, selling the relevance of user research to management, or facilitating design workshops for product managers. Designers go beyond doing design work, and act as change agents creating more design-friendly working environments. Sharing showcases and offering opportunities for first-hand experience help to get the message across.

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Erika PerttunenDesigners as change agents – excerpt from book ‘Design+ Organizational renewal and innovation through design’
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Changing an organization without a mandate

Erika Perttunen 21/10/2019
The process of a professional group gaining a mandate and adopting their practice to an organization includes a variety of complementary actions. Introducing and adopting a practice simultaneously on multiple levels of an organization enhances the fit of the practice and provides opportunities to gain a mandate. Thus, the role of a change agent take shape in multiple ways in such contexts.

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Erika PerttunenChanging an organization without a mandate
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Managing for knowledge creation in exploratory projects

Satu Rekonen 15/10/2019

I recently defended my PhD thesis looking into how practitoners with little or no experience on creative problem-solving practices approach ambigious problems and, on the other hand, how this type of work should be supported. My research got started at the Design Factory and the data was gathered from Design Factory-based industry project courses and from companies involved in research projects based at DF. Below is the transcript of the introductory lecture I gave at my defence. 

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Satu RekonenManaging for knowledge creation in exploratory projects
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I SCREAM, YOU SCREAM, (VEGAN) ICE CREAM

Erika Perttunen 09/09/2019
Since its founding, 3 Friends has established a permanent place in customers’ hearts and freezers with its delicious ice cream. However, when the three founders decided to venture into the realm of vegan products, they faced a completely new development challenge: how to create a vegan ice cream on a par with their quality standards?

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Erika PerttunenI SCREAM, YOU SCREAM, (VEGAN) ICE CREAM