**2. Literature review**

### **2.1 The strategic stage in an innovation process**

Innovation projects in industry generally move along three major activity domains: The pre-development activities where future products are defined and decided on (the FE), the development activities where these products are actually developed (the New Product Development phase (NPD)), and the launching or commercialization activities where these newly developed products are brought to the market [2].

The strategic stage in the product innovation process is the stage where product strategy formulation, opportunity identification, idea generation, idea selection, and concept development take place and decisions about new product development are taken [2]. According to Kim and Wilemon [5], the FE starts when an opportunity is considered valuable of deeper exploration and ends when a company concludes to invest significant resources to the development of the idea and launch the project. The FE includes product strategy formulation and communication, opportunity identification and assessment, idea generation, product definition, project planning, and early executive reviews, which typically precede detailed design and development of a new product [5].

According to Crawford and Di Benedetto [6], the FE process answers these five essential questions: what, why, who, when, and how.


Similar to Jacoby [7], the FE phase in this chapter is defined as "all initial innovation activities, prior to the phase where real new product development starts".

**61**

*Integrating Sustainability in the Strategic Stage of an Innovation Process: A Design Brief…*

of freedom, and the cost for changes is low. Later in the process more information is disposable, but changes will have a higher price [8, 9]. It is under these uncertain circumstances that decisions are made and the design brief is formulated in the FE.

The root of success of innovations can be found in the activities done in the FE [1]. The first phases in the innovation process have the largest impact on the end result of the project and the highest payback to one's investments [2]. Quality, costs, and timings are mostly set during the FE. Important decisions are made here, and will follow the product through the project [8]. Choices made in the FE influence

The impact decisions can have on the end product diminishes during the project.

FE decisions can have an impact on the whole product, whereas NPD decisions only have an impact on partial aspects as the team has to take into account earlier choices [7]. Koen and Bertels [10] also highlight this path-dependency in an innovation process. The most significant benefits can be achieved through improvements of the FE activities [11]. Also a study by Koen et al. [2] states that the FE presents one of the greatest opportunities for improving the overall innovation process. Verworn [12] concludes that a better understanding of the FE increases the success

The outcome of the FE is usually reflected in the design brief [3] and can be seen as the point of transfer between the FE and the NPD [13, 14]. It is a written description, an agreement or contract of a project that requires some form of design between the parties involved in the project [3]. Often, the design brief serves as a point of transfer between different professionals, where the project is handed over from marketing to design, or from a product manager to an external design agency. The role of a design brief is to foresee the base of the design process in the form of a

A good design brief tries to obtain the knowledge of the design and management team, the expert, and the user and the buyer. Formulating a design brief is a creative, iterative, and interactive process and is best developed in partnership [3]. Successful briefing is about clear and comprehensive communication and how information is structured [16]. It is important that the brief contains all the infor-

A variety of terminologies are used for design assignments in literature and practice. People may refer to the design brief as new product development brief, creative brief, project brief, project sheet, innovation brief, or marketing brief [3, 16, 17]. Design is a broad term, with a variety of design disciplines (e.g. industrial design, package design, and communication design). Each discipline requires different information in a truly useful design brief [3]. The focus of this paper is "Industrial Design Briefs", briefs for the design of a new consumer product or a product-service system.

While in practice the structure of design briefs may vary, Phillips [3] describes

eight elements that he seems essential for a good design brief, as explained in **Table 1**. The table also represents a schematic overview of a good design brief.

practical paper that reflects the final product's attributes [15].

mation and data necessary for every stakeholder [3].

**2.4 Elements of the design brief**

The FE has typical characteristics; less information is known, there is a high degree

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.89604*

**2.2 Importance of the strategic stage**

the success of a product on a great extent [7].

rate of the NPD process.

**2.3 The design brief**

*Integrating Sustainability in the Strategic Stage of an Innovation Process: A Design Brief… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.89604*

The FE has typical characteristics; less information is known, there is a high degree of freedom, and the cost for changes is low. Later in the process more information is disposable, but changes will have a higher price [8, 9]. It is under these uncertain circumstances that decisions are made and the design brief is formulated in the FE.

#### **2.2 Importance of the strategic stage**

*Design and Manufacturing*

**2. Literature review**

the market [2].

development of a new product [5].

• What: project description.

• When: project timing.

essential questions: what, why, who, when, and how.

• Why: the strategy behind the project.

• Who: the necessary human resources.

finding for sustainable innovations are rare [4].

concludes with recommendations for future research.

**2.1 The strategic stage in an innovation process**

Till now, there is limited understanding of how to best bring environmental considerations into the design brief. FEI is a hot research topic, but its relationship with the design briefing process in the FE and design for sustainability has received much less attention in literature and practice. There are a number of tools available to guide designers, engineers, and managers in the design process after the specifications of the product or service are already set, but methods supporting goal

This book chapter describes a first exploratory study to fill this gap. The research aims at gaining understanding on how environmental sustainability is integrated in the strategic stage of an innovation process, the so-called FE, and the design briefing process. The first part is based on a literature review and elaborates the FE and what is meant by a design brief. The second part looks to the current practice of integrating environmental considerations in a design brief and the FE. Different research results are described and discussed in the penultimate section. The chapter

Innovation projects in industry generally move along three major activity domains: The pre-development activities where future products are defined and decided on (the FE), the development activities where these products are actually developed (the New Product Development phase (NPD)), and the launching or commercialization activities where these newly developed products are brought to

The strategic stage in the product innovation process is the stage where product strategy formulation, opportunity identification, idea generation, idea selection, and concept development take place and decisions about new product development are taken [2]. According to Kim and Wilemon [5], the FE starts when an opportunity is considered valuable of deeper exploration and ends when a company concludes to invest significant resources to the development of the idea and launch the project. The FE includes product strategy formulation and communication, opportunity identification and assessment, idea generation, product definition, project planning, and early executive reviews, which typically precede detailed design and

According to Crawford and Di Benedetto [6], the FE process answers these five

• How: describes all the product requirements regarding the new development.

tion activities, prior to the phase where real new product development starts".

Similar to Jacoby [7], the FE phase in this chapter is defined as "all initial innova-

**60**

The root of success of innovations can be found in the activities done in the FE [1]. The first phases in the innovation process have the largest impact on the end result of the project and the highest payback to one's investments [2]. Quality, costs, and timings are mostly set during the FE. Important decisions are made here, and will follow the product through the project [8]. Choices made in the FE influence the success of a product on a great extent [7].

The impact decisions can have on the end product diminishes during the project. FE decisions can have an impact on the whole product, whereas NPD decisions only have an impact on partial aspects as the team has to take into account earlier choices [7]. Koen and Bertels [10] also highlight this path-dependency in an innovation process. The most significant benefits can be achieved through improvements of the FE activities [11]. Also a study by Koen et al. [2] states that the FE presents one of the greatest opportunities for improving the overall innovation process. Verworn [12] concludes that a better understanding of the FE increases the success rate of the NPD process.

#### **2.3 The design brief**

The outcome of the FE is usually reflected in the design brief [3] and can be seen as the point of transfer between the FE and the NPD [13, 14]. It is a written description, an agreement or contract of a project that requires some form of design between the parties involved in the project [3]. Often, the design brief serves as a point of transfer between different professionals, where the project is handed over from marketing to design, or from a product manager to an external design agency. The role of a design brief is to foresee the base of the design process in the form of a practical paper that reflects the final product's attributes [15].

A good design brief tries to obtain the knowledge of the design and management team, the expert, and the user and the buyer. Formulating a design brief is a creative, iterative, and interactive process and is best developed in partnership [3]. Successful briefing is about clear and comprehensive communication and how information is structured [16]. It is important that the brief contains all the information and data necessary for every stakeholder [3].

A variety of terminologies are used for design assignments in literature and practice. People may refer to the design brief as new product development brief, creative brief, project brief, project sheet, innovation brief, or marketing brief [3, 16, 17]. Design is a broad term, with a variety of design disciplines (e.g. industrial design, package design, and communication design). Each discipline requires different information in a truly useful design brief [3]. The focus of this paper is "Industrial Design Briefs", briefs for the design of a new consumer product or a product-service system.

#### **2.4 Elements of the design brief**

While in practice the structure of design briefs may vary, Phillips [3] describes eight elements that he seems essential for a good design brief, as explained in **Table 1**. The table also represents a schematic overview of a good design brief.


**Table 1.**

*Essential elements of a good design brief, according to Phillips (2004).*
