An overview on strategic design for socio-technical innovation

Abstract

Nowadays, we are living in an environment of uncertainties and constant transformation. The innovation process is reverted, thereby, from the top-down to the bottom-up logic, where the stakeholders are invited to participate in the process of creating innovation. In that sense, socio-technical innovation implies a process of systemic change, both in the productive structure and in the relations between actors inside the system, with technical and behavioral implications, which affects production, distribution and consumption. A model that may simplify the complexity of such processes is the Multi-Level-Perspective (MLP), which considers the interactions between niches (micro level), socio-technical regimes (meso level), and landscapes (macro level). The MLP shows that, in order to change the landscape effectively, we have to start from the bottom, in other words, the socio-technical regimes open opportunities to receive innovations from the niches, small social groups, and communities. This way, we propose a simple framework of four main steps for the strategic management of the design process to develop Sociotechnical Innovations. A key point is considering that technological development and the relations among the actors involved in innovation is the way to improve the performance of innovation, to increase the possibilities of adoption and to generate the desired impact.

Keywords: sociotechnical innovation, co-design, Multi-Level-Perspective, participatory design.