Category: SID cases & projects

  • Innovation versus an intern’s comfort zone

    I met Christopher Fabian, co-lead of UNICEF’s Innovation Unit at New York Headquarters, in spring 2012 in Finland. He was one of the panelists at the conference “Zombie Innovations or True Development” organized by Aalto University. During the conference I realized how close the subject was to my Master’s Study Programme in Service Innovation and…

  • Service Design meets Futures Thinking #4

    A research based series of posts discussing the statement “Futures Research supports the Service Design process in multiple ways and throughout the whole process” by Minna Koskelo (LinkedIn) and Anu K. Nousiainen (Linkedin). Part #4: We are in the Service Innovation business! Our three (and a half) previous blog entries have been summarizing the purpose of our study initiated…

  • Field notes from Cape Town

    By SID student Terhi P. Howzit? My calendar tells me that I have been here in Cape Town for three months now. Time flies, even in a place where the concept of time is very different, African-time, as they say. Project work and studying at CPUT I am here related to the UFISA collaboration and…

  • Service-dominant logic in business models – a workshop with Professor Vargo

    Written by Katri Ojasalo The two trending phrases in academic and business conversations are “service-dominant logic” (SDL) and “business model canvas” (BMC). Is there a connection between them? Or are they just two extremes: the first one an academic theory and the latter one a business tool? In fact, they are quite far from each…

  • Design (f)or Value in Service Business?

    © SID Seminar illustration by Jane Vita The 5th annual Service Innovation and Design seminar was held on the 14th of March in Laurea Leppävaara, Espoo. The focus of this year’s seminar was continuous value creation for customers. The seminar was also the closing seminar of TEKES funded projects CoCo and ServChange carried out together by Laurea…

  • Service design case study: how to turn customer challenges into new service offerings

    Author: Tuomas Suominen, tuomas.suominen@kaakelikeskus.fi In this blog post, I present how you can turn your customers challenges into new service offerings. The most crucial thing is to gather as much information as you can about your service users daily tasks. In this case study, this was done by interviewing clients. You can be surprised how…

  • IN PLANNING: A joint research project to create strategic partnership network

    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…

  • Takeoff into Design Thinking

    There is an ever growing list of definitions for design. Some people agree with Nelson & Stolterman who’ve said that “Design is the ability to imagine that-which-does-not-yet-exist, to make it appear in concrete form as a new, purposeful addition to the real world (The Design Way)” whereas others prefer Tim Brown’s version: ”Design thinking is a discipline…

  • Service Design meets Futures Thinking #2

    A research based series of posts discussing the statement “Futures Research supports the Service Design process in multiple ways and throughout the whole process” by Minna Koskelo and Anu K. Nousiainen. Part #2: Synergistic Principles of Service Design and Futures Research We start our second blog post with where we left you in the first…

  • Service Design meets Futures Thinking – IN ACTION

    Before our 2nd blog post for the series of Service Design meets Futures Thinking, we have a special news for you ! The first test environment for combining Futures Thinking with Design Thinking takes place in Helsinki in two weeks ! This is an invitation to all design thinkers, futures thinkers, strategic minds and innovative…