RESEARCH

Design Factory brings together researchers from different disciplines to explore design, development, and innovation from a wide variety of disciplinary perspectives. The in-house researchers represent a variety of fields: cognitive and work psychology, educational sciences, mechanical engineering, management, industrial design etc. All of us work in developing the ADF platform and its practices further in order to both effectively translate research results into practice and ensure the relevance of theoretical endeavors. Come join one of the bite-sized research insights talks at Kafis to hear what we’re up to, or venture upstairs to the Aquarium!

ONGOING PROJECTS

Design+

Organisational change and design thinking

DesignBites

Experimentation in food and beverage ventures

LEARNING DEVELOPMENT

Assessing the long-term impact of education

OECD

Creativity and critical thinking in engineering education

UNIVERSITIES OF THE FUTURE

Collaborative digital shift towards a new framework for industry and education

Drive

Design thinking and strategising

EMPATHIC ENGINEERS

A project for better technology development

RESEARCH BLOG

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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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BOOKS AND REPORTS ON THE DESIGN FACTORY

PUBLICATIONS

  1. Björklund, T.A., Keipi, T., Celik, S. & Ekman, K. (2019). Learning across silos: Design Factories as hubs for co‐creation. European Journal of Education.
  2. Björklund, T.A. & van der Marel, F. (2019). Meaningful moments at work: Frames evoked by in-house and consultancy designers. The Design Journal, 22(6), 753-774.
  3. Kähkönen, E. (2019). Is it safe to paint your wall white?  A case study on titanium dioxide classification. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management.
  4. Tan, S. Y., Hölttä-Otto, K., & Anariba, F. (2019). Development and Implementation of Design-Based Learning Opportunities for Students To Apply Electrochemical Principles in a Designette. Journal of Chemical Education, 96(2), 256-266.
  5. Kershaw, T.C., Bhowmick, S., Seepersad C.C., & Hölttä-Otto, K. (2018) A Decision Tree Based Methodology for Evaluating Creativity in Engineering Design. Frontiers in Psychology. 10, 32.
  6. Clavert, M., Löfström, E. & Nevgi, A. (2018). Change agency as a way of promoting pedagogical development in academic communities: a longitudinal study. Teaching in Higher Education, 1–18. DOI: 10.1080/13562517.2018.1451321.
  7. Mendez, AR, Tan, TY, Low, HY, Hölttä-Otto, K, Tan, H, Khoo, X (2018). Micro-textured films for reducing microbial colonization in a clinical setting, Journal of Hospital Infection, January 2018, (98)1, 83–89.
  8. Hölttä-Otto, K., Otto, K., Song, C., Luo, J., Li, T., Seepersad, C. C., & Seering, W. (2018). The Characteristics of Innovative, Mechanical Products—10 Years Later. Journal of Mechanical Design, 140(8), 084501.
  9. Björklund, T.A. & Krueger, N. (2016). Generating resources through the co-evolvement of entrepreneurs and ecosystems. Journal of Enterprising Communities, 10(4), 477-498.
  10. Min G.K., Suh, E.S., Hölttä-Otto, K. (2016). System Architecture, Level of Decomposition, and Structural Complexity: Analysis and Observations, Journal of Mechanical Design, 138(2), 021102.
  11. Min G.K., Suh, E.S., Hölttä-Otto, K. (2016). Impact of technology infusion on system architecture complexity, Journal of Engineering Design.
  12. Otto, K., Hölttä-Otto, K., Simpson, T.W., Krause, D., Ripperda, S., Moon, S.K., (2016). Global Views on Modular Design Research: Linking Alternative Methods to Support Modular Product Family Concept Development, Journal of Mechanical Design 138 (7), 071101
  13. Rekonen, S.M. & Björklund, T.A. (2016). Perceived managerial functions in the front-end phase of innovation. International Journal of Managing Projects in Business, 9(2), 414-432.
  14. Rekonen, S.M. & Björklund, T.A. (2016). Adapting to the changing needs of managing innovative projects. European Journal of Innovation Management, 19(1), 111-132.
  15. Clavert, M., Löfström, E. & Nevgi, A. (2015). Pedagogically aware academics’ conceptions of change agency in the fields of science and technology. International Journal for Academic Development, 20(3), 252-265.
  16. Clavert, M. & Paloposki, T. (2015). Implementing Design-Based Learning in Teaching of Combustion and Gasification Technology. International Journal of Engineering Education, 31(4), 1021–1032.
  17. Clavert, M., Björklund, T.A. & Nevgi, A. (2014). Developing as a teacher in the fields of science and technology. Teaching in Higher Education 19(6), 685-696.
  18. Laakso, M. & Clavert, M. (2014). Promover la creatividad y las habilidades del pensamiento de diseño entre los estudiantes universitarios (Promoting creativity and design thinking skills among University students). Revista de Estudios de Juventud 104, pp. 215-228.
  19. Nikander, J., Liikkanen, L. & Laakso, M. (2014). The preference effect in design concept evaluation. Design Studies 35 (5), 473-499.
  20. Björklund, T.A. (2013). Initial mental representations of design problems: differences between experts and novices. Design Studies 34(2), 135-160.
  21. Björklund, T.A., Bhatli, D., & Laakso, M. (2013). Understanding idea advancement efforts in innovation through proactive behavior, Journal of Research in Marketing and Entrepreneurship, 15(2), 124-142.
  22. Björklund, T.A., Nordström, K.M. & Clavert, M. (2013). A Sino-Finnish initiative for experimental teaching practices using the Design Factory pedagogical platform, European Journal of Engineering Education, 38(5), 567-577.
  23. Clavert, M. & Nevgi, A. (2011). Yliopistopedagogisen koulutuksen merkitys yliopisto-opettajana kehittymisen kokemuksessa. Peda-Forum 11(2), 6-16.
  24. Hassi, L. & Laakso, M. (2011). Making sense of design thinking. In: Karjalainen, T-M., Koria, M. & Salimäki, M. (eds.): IDBM papers vol 1 (pp. 50-63). Helsinki: IDBM Program, Aalto University. ISBN 978-952-92-8641-6.
  25. Björklund, T.A. (2010). Enhancing creative knowledge-work: Challenges and points of leverage. International Journal of Managing Projects in Business, 3(3), 517-525.
  26. Kirjavainen, S., Björklund, T. A., Eloranta, M.-M. & Laakso, M. (2010). The impact of leadership, management and power in an international knowledge-intensive organization. Cadernos EBAPE.BR, 8(2), 339-352. ISSN 1679-3951.
  27. Björklund, T. A. (2009). Challenges in knowledge-intensive creative teamwork. In K. Kähkönen, A. S. Kazi & M. Rekola (toim.): Human Side of Projects in Modern Business (ss.141-150). Helsinki, Finland: Project Management Association Finland (PMAF) in collaboration with VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. ISBN 978-952-92-5638-9

  1. DesignBites (2019). Bite-size insights into Finnish food and beverage ventures. Aalto University Design Factory.
  2. Clavert, M. (2018). Academics’ transformative learning at the interfaces of pedagogical and discipline-specific communities. Helsinki Studies in Education, number 20. ISBN 978-951-51-3875-0. Unigrafia, Helsinki.
  3. Björklund, T.A., Laakso M., Kirjavainen, S. & Ekman, K. (eds.) (2017). Passion-based co-creation. Aalto University, Helsinki. ISBN 978-952-60-3740-0. 251 p.
  4. Björklund, T.A. (2017). Small wins as footholds for co-creation. In Björklund, T.A., Laakso M., Kirjavainen, S. & Ekman, K. (eds.) (2017). Passion-based co-creation. Aalto University, Helsinki. ISBN 978-952-60-3740-0, pp. 80-89.
  5. Björklund T. (2015). The Dynamics of Proactive Striving – Initiating and sustaining development efforts in product design and entrepreneurship. Aalto University publication series DOCTORAL DISSERTATIONS, 128/2015.
  6. Laakso, M. & Ekman, K. (editors) (2014). Proceedings of the 10th NordDesign Conference.
  7. Björklund T., Clavert, M., Kirjavainen, S., Laakso, M. & Luukkonen, S. (2011). Aalto University Design Factory through the eyes of its community. Study report. Aalto University Design Factory, Espoo.
  8. Björklund, T.A. (2009). Challenges in knowledge-intensive creative teamwork. In K. Kähkönen, A. S. Kazi & M. Rekola (toim.): Human Side of Projects in Modern Business (ss.141-150). Helsinki, Finland: Project Management Association Finland (PMAF) in collaboration with VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. ISBN 978-952-92-5638-9

  1. Kirjavainen, S., Björklund, T.A., (2019). From invention disclosures to innovation – Challenges in transforming practice. The 22ndInternational Conference on Engineering Design, ICED’19, 15.-20. Delft, The Netherlands, 5th-8thAugust 2019.
  2. Kirjavainen, S. & Hölttä-Otto, K. (2019) To Classify or Combine: The Effects of Idea Generation Mechanisms on the Novelty and Quantity of Ideas. ASME International Design Engineering Technical Conferences, IDETC2019, August 18-21, 2019, Anaheim CA.
  3. Kosmala, M., van der Marel, F: & Björklund, T.A. (2019). Interpretations of design thinking across a large organization. The 22ndInternational Conference on Engineering Design, ICED’19, 15.-20. Delft, The Netherlands, 5th-8thAugust 2019.
  4. Kukko-Liedes, V., Mikkonen, M. & Björklund, T.A. (2019). Experimentation throughout the product development process – lessons from food and beverage ventures. The 22ndInternational Conference on Engineering Design, ICED’19, 15.-20. Delft, The Netherlands, 5th-8thAugust 2019.
  5. Mattila, P., van der Marel, F. & Mikkonen, M. (2019). Perceived culture of networked knowledge hubs. The 22ndInternational Conference on Engineering Design, ICED’19, 15.-20. Delft, The Netherlands, 5th-8thAugust 2019.
  6. Raviselvam, S., Karuppasamy, S., Wood, K. & Hölttä-Otto, K. (2019) An extreme user approach to identify latent needs: adaptation and application in medical device design. ASME International Design Engineering Technical Conferences, IDETC2019, August 18-21, 2019, Anaheim CA.
  7. Sheppard, S.D., Björklund, T.A., Chen, H., et al. (2019). Connecting people, process and output: Making sense of a research lab through creating a shared frame. Clive L. Dym Mudd Design Workshop XI, Claremont, California, USA.
  8. Simon, P., Björklund, T.A. & Sheppard, S. (2019). Early-career engineers’ perceptions of support for innovation at the workplace – what seems to matter. The 22ndInternational Conference on Engineering Design, ICED’19, 15.-20. Delft, The Netherlands, 5th-8thAugust 2019.
  9. Surma-aho, A., Chen, C. Hölttä-Otto, K. & Yang. M. (2019) Antecedents and outcomes of designer empathy – a retrospective interview study. ASME International Design Engineering Technical Conferences, IDETC2019, August 18-21, 2019, Anaheim CA.
  10. Björklund, T.A., Akkola, M. & Maula, H. (2018). Constructing the future of design: How design professionals perceive their changing role. Academic Design Management Conference ADMC18, dmi design management institute.
  11. Björklund, T.A., Hannukainen, P. & Manninen, T. (2018). Measuring the impact of design, service design and design thinking in organizations on different maturity levels. ServDes 2018, Service Design & Innovation Conference.
  12. Klenk, M., Björklund, T.A., Gilmartin, S. & Sheppard, S. (2018). Early-career engineers at the workplace: Meaningful highs, lows, and innovative work efforts. ASEE 2018, American Society for Engineering Education.
  13. Maula, H., Björklund, T.A. & Mikkonen, M. (2018). Artist, explorer or co-creator? A narrative analysis of designers’ career stories. EGOS 2018, European Group for Organizational Studies.
  14. Mikkonen, M., Tuulos, T. & Björklund, T.A. (2018). Perceived long term value of industry project-based design courses: Alumni reflections from two decades of the Product Development Project. NordDesign 2018.
  15. Surma-aho, A., Björklund, T.A. & Hölttä-Otto, K. (2018). Assessing the development of empathy and innovation attitudes in a project-based engineering design course. ASEE 2018, American Society for Engineering Education.
  16. Surma-aho A., Björklund T.A. & Hölttä-Otto K., (2018). An analysis of designer empathy in the early phases of design projects, NordDesign 2018.
  17. von Unold, B., Böhmer, A.I., Toye, G., Björklund, T.A., & Sheppard, S. (2018). Implications of contextual empathic design for engineering education. ASEE 2018, American Society for Engineering Education.
  18. Wiggins, C., Arruza Cruz, M., von Unold, B., Björklund, T.A., Gilmartin, S. & Sheppard, S. (2018). Coding for culture, diversity, gender, and identity: the potential for automation in research. ASEE 2018, American Society for Engineering Education.
  19. Pink, S., Rieken, B., Björklund, T.A. & Sheppard, S. (2017). What makes an inquisitive engineer – An exploration of question-asking self-efficacy and outcome expectations among engineering students. American Society for Engineering Education, Annual conference, Columbus, Ohio.
  20. Levine, A., Björklund, T.A., Gilmartin, S. & Sheppard, S. (2017). A preliminary exploration of the role of surveys in student reflection and behavior. American Society for Engineering Education, Annual conference, Columbus, Ohio.
  21. Miranda Mendoza, C., Leal Martinez, D. & Forget, M. (2017). Geographically distributed teams in engineering design: Best practices and issues in cases of international teams working from different continents. American Society for Engineering Education, Annual conference, Columbus, Ohio.
  22. Hölttä-Otto, K. & Raviselvam, S. (2016). Guidelines for finding lead user like behavior for latent need discovery, NordDesign 2016, August 10-12, Trondheim, Norway.
  23. Kirjavainen, S., Björklund, T.A. & Laakso, M. (2016). Framing activities and the co-evolvement of products and operations in new ventures, NordDesign 2016, August 10-12, Trondheim, Norway.
  24. Raviselvam, S., Tam, V., Hölttä-Otto, K. Wood, K. & Nagarajan, K. (2016). A Lead User Approach to Universal Design – Involving elderly in the design process, International Conference on Universal Design (UD2016), August 21-24, York, UK.
  25. Raviselvam, S., & Hölttä-Otto, K. (2016). User extreme conditions to enhance designer creativity and empathy: Application using visual impairment, ASME IDETC International Conference on Design Education, Charlotte, NC, August 21-24. Paper number: IDETC2016-59602
  26. Mattila, P. Mäkinen, S.. & Laakso, M. (2014). Facilitating collaboration between individual participants in a university-industry research and development project. Proceedings of the 10th NordDesign Conference.
  27. Rekonen, S. & Björklund T. (2014). Managerial activities and challenges in the front-end phase of the innovation process. Proceedings of the PMI Research and Education Conference 2014, Portland.
  28. Clavert, M. (2013). Academics’ conceptions of pedagogical change agency and the challenges of acting as a pedagogical change agent in the fields of science and technology. INTED 2013 (7th International Technology, Education and Development Conference), 4.–6.3.2013
  29. Clavert, M. & Laakso, M. (2013). Implementing design-based learning in engineering education: Case Aalto University Design Factory. 41th annual SEFI Conference
  30. Clavert, M., Nevgi, A. & Löfström, E. (2013). What is pedagogical change agency in higher education? 15th Biennial EARLI Conference for Research on Learning and Instruction, “Responsible Teaching and Sustainable Learning”, 27.–31.8.2013, Munich, Germany
  31. Leisti-Szymczak A., Liikkanen L., Laakso M. & Summanen I. (2013). Let me do my job – Designers’ experiences of collaborating with a client. In Proceedings of the Co-Create 2013 conference
  32. Nikander, J., Liikkanen, L. & Laakso, M. (2013). Naturally emerging decision criteria in product concept evaluation. In Proceedings of the19th International Conference on Engineering Design, ICED13
  33. Rekonen, S., Björklund, T.A., Laakso, M. & Likkanen, L.A. (2013). Evolvement of Managerial Activities and Leadership Style of New Product Development Project Managers. 11th IRNOP Conference, IRNOP 2013, Oslo, International Research Network on Organizing Projects.
  34. Rekonen, S., Björklund, T.A. & Liikkanen, L.A. (2013). The influence of technical expertise on managerial activities throughout the innovation process. The International Conference on Engineering Design.
  35. Summanen, I., Liikkanen L., Laakso M. and Leisti-Szymczak A. (2013). Co-developing a new technology for product concept testing with remote users. In Proceedings of the Co-Create 2013 conference
  36. Taajamaa, V., Sjöman, H., Kirjavainen, S., Utriainen, T., Repokari, L., & Salakoski, T. (2013). Dancing with ambiguity design thinking in interdisciplinary engineering education. In Design Management Symposium (TIDMS), 2013 IEEE Tsinghua International (pp. 353-360). IEEE.
  37. Clavert, M., Nevgi, A., Löfström, E. & Niemi, H. (2012). Defining pedagogical change agency in developing academic communities of practice in higher education. FERA Conference on Education, 22.–23.11.2012
  38. Laakso, M., & Liikkanen, L. (2012) Dubious role of formal creativity techniques in professional design. In Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Design Creativity ICDC2012
  39. Liikkanen, L. & Laakso M. (2012) Concept design as knowledge construction – the Case of user-centered design. In Proceedings of the 12th International Design Conference DESIGN 2012
  40. Björklund, T.A. & Laakso, M. (2011). Idea advancement in new product development – a grassroot perspective. 18th International Product Development Management Conference.
  41. Björklund T.A., Luukkonen, S., Clavert, M., Kirjavainen, S., & Laakso, M. (2011). The role of experimentation in creating and sustaining motivation in design work. Roozenburg, N., Chen L. & Stappers, P. (Ed.) Diversity and unity. Proceedings of IASDR2011, the 4th World Conference on Design Research.
  42. Hassi, L. & Laakso, M. (2011). Conceptions of design thinking in the management discourse. The 9th International European Academy of Design Conference.
  43. Hassi, L. & Laakso, M. (2011) Conceptions of design thinking in the design and management discourses – Open questions and possible directions for research. Proceedings of IASDR2011, the 4th World Conference on Design Research
  44. Hassi, L. & Laakso, M. (2011) Design thinking in the management discourse: Defining the elements of the concept. Proceedings of the 18th International Product Development Management Conference, IPDMC 2011
  45. Kirjavainen, S. & Björklund, T.A. (2011). The central role of exploration in designing business concepts and strategy. The 18th International Conference on Engineering Design.
  46. Kirjavainen, S. & Clavert, M. 2011. Manifestation of Design Thinking in Creating a Business Concept and Strategy. Paper presentation at IPDMC 2011 (18th International Product Development Management Conference), 5.-7.6.2011.
  47. Liikkanen, L., Hämäläinen, M.M., Häggman, A., Björklund, T.A., Koskinen, M.P. (2011). Quantitative evaluation of the effectiveness of idea generation in the wild. In M. Kurosu (Ed.): Human Centered Design, HCII 2011, LNCS 6776, pp. 120–129. Springer, Heidelberg.
  48. Liikkanen, L., Laakso, M. & Björklund, T.A. (2011) Foundations for Studying Creative Design Practices. 2nd International Conference on Creativity and Innovation in Design, DESIRE’11.
  49. Luukkonen, S. & Björklund, T.A. (2011). Leadership practice differences at the front end and development phases of innovation process. 27th EGOS Colloquium, July 6-9, 2011, Gothenburg.
  50. Björklund, T.A., Laakso, M. & Eloranta, M.-M. (2010). Innovations and the ability to advance ideas: Antecedents and practices of advancement. 3rd Latin American and European Meeting on Organization Studies.
  51. Kirjavainen, S., Björklund, T.A., Eloranta, M.-M. & Laakso, M. (2010). The impact of leadership, management and power in an international knowledge-intensive organization. 3rd Latin American and European Meeting on Organization Studies.
  52. Laakso, M. & Björklund, T.A. (2010). Issues in the operations improvement of European-Latin American innovation projects. 3rd Latin American and European Meeting on Organization Studies.
  53. Björklund, T. A. & Eloranta, M.-M. (2009). Adapting knowledge: Interaction between education and working life. In Proceedings of INTED2009 Conference, pp. 2138-2148. International Association of Technology, Education and Development (IATED): Valencia, Spain. ISBN 978-84-612-7578-6.
  54. Hämäläinen, M. M. & Laakso, M. (2009). Participative, employee-driven method for knowledge-harvesting in university-industry collaboration – A Case Example from Finnish Industry,” Proceedings of the INTED2009 Conference
  55. Laakso, M., Hämäläinen, M.M. & Häggman, A. (2009). Improving Lead organization and supplier interaction – A case study” 2009 In Proceedings of the ICSB World Conference
  56. Laakso M., Ukkonen, M., Forsblom, J., Häggman, A. & Hämäläinen, M.M. (2009). SME operations development – Empirical observations of allocating improvement activities on the basis of cost-effect estimations. 6th Annual International Conference on Small and Medium Sized Enterprises
  57. Liikkanen, L.A., Björklund, T.A., Hämäläinen, M. & Koskinen, M. (2009). Time constraints in design idea generation. International Conference on Engineering Design 24-27 August 2009 / Stanford, USA. (9)81-89.

CONTACT

  • Kalevi “Eetu” Ekman DF Director & PDP Professor

    kalevi.ekman@aalto.fi
    +358 50 555 3566

  • Hanna Aarnio Research/Doctoral candidate

    hanna.aarnio@aalto.fi
    +358 50 527 8354

  • Tua Björklund Professor of Practice

    tua.bjorklund@aalto.fi
    +358 50 511 3182

  • Katja Hölttä-Otto Professor

    katja.holtta-otto@aalto.fi
    +358 50 436 1868

  • Kevin Otto Professor

    kevin.otto@aalto.fi
    +358 50 4664070

  • Teo Keipi Postdoc researcher

    teo.keipi@aalto.fi
    +358 50 476 3733

  • Sine Celik Postdoc researcher

    sine.celik@aalto.fi
    +358 50 574 5355

  • Maria Clavert Professor of Practice

    maria.clavert@aalto.fi
    +358 50 521 3044

  • Paul Savage Postdoc researcher

    paul.savage@aalto.fi
    +358 40 353 5965

  • Maria Mikkonen Researcher

    maria.mikkonen@aalto.fi
    +358 50 452 0729

  • Senni Kirjavainen Researcher

    senni.kirjavainen@aalto.fi
    +358 50 521 5964

  • Floris van der Marel Researcher (currently visiting DF Melbourne)

    floris.vandermarel@aalto.fi

  • Alvaro Chang Researcher/Doctoral Candidate

    alvaro.changarana@aalto.fi
    +358469416732.

  • Anna Kuukka Researcher & designer

    anna.kuukka@aalto.fi

  • Satu Rekonen Postdoc researcher

    satu.rekonen@aalto.fi
    +358 50 521 4874

  • Jie Li Researcher/ Doctoral Candidate

    jie.li@aalto.fi
    +358 449134556

  • Saurabh Deo Researcher/Doctoral Candidate

    saurabh.deo@aalto.fi
    +358 504713727

  • Antti Surma-aho Researcher

    antti.surma-aho@aalto.fi
    +358 40 5080716

  • Erika Perttunen Researcher & Communicator

    erika.perttunen@aalto.fi
    +358 50 384 1653

  • Karliina Kyhälä Research assistant

    karliina.kyhala@aalto.fi

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