by Päivi J. Tossavainen

The growth of ser­vice business is projected to continue in EU. This trend touches all organizations. It also provides opportunities for Laurea, while systematic research and disciplined new business practices are sought in the field of service innovation and service design.

Traditionally European research on service has been strong. Thus, a joint research project with partners from various European countries is an excellent way to cooperate in this field.

Laurea SID is applying funds from EU to commence a joint research project. The funding scheme is FP7/ Marie Curie/ Industry-Academia Partnerships and Pathways (IAPP).

Our academic partners in this project proposal are Politechnico Di Milano, Italy, and University of Dundee, Glasgow, UK. On the business side, three small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) will participate.

The project creates strategic partnership network on EU level and  links the existing networks.  The co-developed collaborative environment focuses on enhancing service business through co-developed service innovation and design practices. The joint research project will also boost exchange of knowledge between the commercial and academic sectors.

The objective is to create a long-term strategic network in which the partners can assess study, co-develop and undertake a disciplined approach to innovation and development on service. Further, it enables firms to leverage and modify the unique and specialized processes and practices specifically needed for the service firm including appropriate design processes, practices, tools, templates, systems, and test environments.

The main activities for the project are:

• Conduct research on service  development and design practices
• Exchange of know-how and experience
• Recruitment of experienced researchers to work on the project
• Help public and private research to work together and improve networking
• Organize workshops, events, and conferences

As a result, a network of academics and professionals experts in the three main knowledge domain of business, service design and technologies is created. The intersection enables experimentation of the practices in the context of real service design projects in SMEs.

The deadline for this proposal is on January 16, 2013.

Further information: Päivi J. Tossavainen, paivi.tossavainen@laurea.fi