Whereas innovation has become part of daily language, in practice, realizing new product and new service development is a complex and daunting task for engineers, design engineering managers, managers, and those involved in other functions in organizations. Most books on innovation management approach this topic from a managerial or economic perspective; this text takes the actual design and engineering processes as starting point. To this purpose, it relates product design and engineering processes and their management to sources of innovation, collaboration with suppliers, and knowledge providers (for example, inventors and universities), and users.
The managerial aspects get ample attention as well as the socioeconomic aspects in the context of product design and engineering. For this wide range of topics, the book provides both theoretical underpinning and practical guidance. Readers and students will benefit from this book by not only understanding the key mechanisms for innovation but also by the practical guidance it offers. The author uses diagrams, models, methods, and steps to guide readers to a better understanding of innovation projects. This practical approach and the link to theory make the book valuable to practitioners as well as engineering students.
Dr Rob Dekkers, reader at the Adam Smith Business School, University of Glasgow, has practical experience in innovation and new product development, has consulted and trained practitioners and students about improving their practices in innovation and new product development, and is actively engaged in research into innovation and new product development with national and international collaborators. After graduating from Delft University of Technology he worked in the industry as internal consultant for Philips Machine Factories, production manager at Philips Consumer Electronics, and senior project manager new product development at AKZO Pharmaceutical Division. His research and teaching has covered a wide range of interdisciplinary topics. He has co-authored more than 150 publications in academic journals, books, chapters in edited books, contributions to conferences, and reports.
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