Prototyping is an important part of any development activity since it supports communication and knowledge creation among the members of the developing organization. Although prototyping is well established in the development of physical products, less is known about its use and effect on digital service innovation and development. Since digital technologies today are embedded in almost every level of an organization, from its processes to its offerings, it can be argued that it is crucial for an organization to be able to handle not only digital aspects of prototyping, but also physical and digital aspects simultaneously. This study addresses this need by exploring the impact of digital technology on prototyping, answering the research question “How does digital technology affect the different elements of prototyping?” By taking a comprehensive view on prototypes, implications for development are analyzed and developed based on the complex nature and ontology of digital technology. The result encompasses a set of nine different propositions for digital prototyping which contributes to both academia and the work of practitioners.

Ingenjörens kompetenser beskrivs traditionellt som tekniskt orienterade. Eftersom industrin i dag är i en omvandling, mycket pga. klimatkrisen, men även pga. digitaliseringen, blir samverkan och innovation i kombination med tekniska baskunskaper ett uttryckt behov att tillgodose i ingenjörsutbildningar. Sådan mellanmänsklig och mer abstrakt kompetens blir central för arbete i tvärfunktionella utvecklingsteam, men även för utveckling av allt mer tjänsteinriktade produkter. Studenters olika preferenser för hur de tar sig an öppna problem är en utmaning för varje lärare i campusundervisningen, men blir allt mer utmanande att hantera i distansutbildningen. I det här bidraget reflekterar vi över våra erfarenheter från utbildning av ingenjörer inom innovativ produktdesign, tillsammans med erfarenheter från utveckling och genomförande av distans- och hybridkurser. Syftet är att dela med oss av våra erfarenheter hur studenter tar sig an en öppen frågeställning, dvs. verklighetsbaserade problem. Med bidraget vill vi inspirera till samtal om distansundervisningens hinder och möjligheter specifikt för moment som kräver att studenten reflekterar på ett annorlunda sätt.

An innovative design process which has been conducted under the restrictions during the covid-19 pandemic is in focus in this study. Visits were banned so user-centred design activities were particularly challenged by the necessity to meet and work online. The purpose of the study is to present and reflect on how user-centred design was done under those conditions. The potential users, the reindeer herders, were merely contacted online, the user investigation were supported by for example using videos and storytelling. Also, the final concept is presented.

Digital technology is embedded in most of organizations’ offerings and processes. With this trend comes also a need of being able to collect the opportunities that emerge during the development of these products, services and processes. For this reason, it has been identified that in early phases of development, methodologies that support communication and knowledge creation (i.e. prototyping) is key. Though prototyping is a natural part of development of physical products, it is less common in digital innovation and development. This study addresses this by developing a conceptual framework for prototyping for digital innovation. By taking a comprehensive view on prototypes, implications for development are analysed and developed based on the complex nature and ontology of digital  technology.

This paper problematizes and discuss a change towards new business models in order to highlight some basic challenges of digital transformation needed for Industry 4.0. A particular effort is to discuss if SMEs may have sufficient means to capitalize on such a new paradigm. As an approach to enable problematization and discussion, the paper presents concepts and standpoints that are related to the fourth industrial revolution. For example, the idea of new business models is a concept taken for granted, and is not sufficiently contextualized into digital transformation and Industry 4.0. The discussion sheds some light on the benefit of SMEs' flexibility, while simultaneously it finds mindsets challenges related to change and transformation as critical.

Business models focused on the design and development of value propositions consisting of a mix of products and services have in recent years become more common among companies. Problems related to trust issues have although led to that companies have difficulties to fully implement these new business models. This paper demonstrates and discuss how distributed ledgers, for example blockchains, can support trust and collaboration among decentralized actors in a value chain network. A demonstrator has been developed and show that decentralization of value chains is possible within certain frames.

Small and medium sized firms’ businesses in rural regions typically address a home market and the delivery of niched products. This makes them exposed to business downturns, innovation is thus one way to survive and prosper. Small-scale product development is typically very hands-on, a sort of trial and error process. This experimental way is in favour for the implementation of innovation processes, but one challenge is the limited resources that firms can, or are willing to, spend on innovative work. A challenge is that procedures for organisational learning are lacking in the straightforward approach. The article describes the background and rationale for supporting small-scale manufacturing by introducing a support toolbox for early product development work. The support toolbox’s rationale is built upon learning cycles and communicative prototyping which may enhance innovation process capabilities.

This paper presents the rationale for the design of a card deck game sustaining information security training. The efforts have followed design thinking, been inspired by an approach for problem-based learning, and used gamification. The card deck game primarily aims to support entrepreneurs in small and medium-sized manufacturing companies, heading towards the introduction of digital services, yet is also useful for anyone to practice risk awareness. Information security, here in short representing the efforts to protect information and mitigate risks to uphold confidentiality, integrity and availability, is by SMEs often seen as a technical problem, but is depending on human behaviour. Literature on security training, emphasises the relevance of interpersonal dialogues and reflection, such reflection is not supported by traditional education, as for instance reading theory and answering questions. The application of gamification has shown to increase awareness, where the play becomes an eye-opener to progress focused dialogues and learning.

The Innovations and Industrial Internet project was formed with partners from Luleå University of Technology, Sweden, Centria University of Applied Sciences, Finland, and University of Tromsø, campus Narvik, Norway. The work has addressed an increase in small and medium sized enterprises’ competences of applying modern digital technology to benefit product- and service development in the region. Almost 40 companies have been keenly involved in the project’s activities, which have included, for example, case studies, demonstrations, workshops and seminars. The close academia and company collaborations has resulted in SMEs’ test and evaluation of new technologies, in turn leading to the implementation of new methods that were new to 16 of those companies.

The project collaborations have resulted in 9 products and services that were new to the companies. A number of cross-border collaborations among companies and universities across the program region have been finalized, for example a case on 3D printing and boat production which involved all partners competences. The cross-border added value does not only encompass the open accessible milieu bringing all partners expertise together to benefit SMEs in the region, but it also identified and mitigated barriers between knowledge domains, like the ones occurring in value chain collaborations where digital solutions often dissolve some aspects of a problem while simultaneously cause new ones.

The project has had a fairly good representation of females in leading positions since the project leader and one country’s leader are females, but also the female representation in activities has been good.

The project has been nominated to the Regio Stars Award 2017.

Digitalization is a source for Industrial Internet, which solutions influence businesses and everyday life in many different ways. The digital transformation calls for understanding, not only about your customers, but also your whole organization. A digital business world opens up for seamless and borderless collaborations in product, service and production development, yet such a visionary future need both systematic and systemic changes in companies. As such open innovation approaches including participatory research studies could support regional growth and increase competitiveness among SMEs. This article describes how these issues have been managed in a transnational project for the Northern Nordics.