Design integration in university-based accelerators – A case study on how to embed design into the service offering of Aalto Startup Center

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master_Vavrinova_Agnesa_2019.pdf (5.62 MB)

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School of Arts, Design and Architecture | Master's thesis
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P1 OPINNÄYTTEET D 2019 Vavrinova
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Date

2019

Department

Department of Design
Muotoilun laitos

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Mcode

Degree programme

Collaborative and Industrial Design

Language

en

Pages

93 + 13

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Abstract

Besides providing higher education and granting academic degrees, universities are institutions that enable research and innovation. It is here that students have favorable conditions to adopt an entrepreneurial mindset, and often make their first steps towards creating new ventures – founding startups. In respect to that, it is the role of university-based incubators and accelerators to support the development of entrepreneurial skills and provide support for early-stage, high-growth businesses originating from university research. Design is increasingly seen as a beneficial method for developing new business ideas as well as novel approaches. Hence, it has been recognized and acknowledged across popular and academic publications as a resource that brings value and competitive advantage to businesses of all sizes - startups included. However, in order for startups to fully benefit from design, investment in design outsourcing alone is not enough. It is crucial to grow the internal competence of a company to use design. An early integration of design with core company functions appears to be critical, as it becomes later on more difficult and the impact lowers. Thus, it is crucial that organizations such as university-based incubators and accelerators provide a structure which is primarily focused on the educational component, and only secondarily on big financial returns. To the author’s best knowledge, little investigation has been done on how business incubators and accelerators support early stage startups in fostering design competence. ‘Design Integration in University-based Accelerators’ thus explores how startups can benefit from design and learn to foster design competence. The objective of this work is to investigate the service offering of an accelerator for design integration opportunities. In addition, this study aims to shed light on effective use of resources available from the networks of university ecosystem to support early stage startups originating from research. To meet the objective of this thesis three sets of empirical data were collected. Action research through workshops with advisors from the university-based accelerator Aalto Startup Center was carried out to inform the background of the case study, and to provide a framework for solution finding within the topic of design integration. Semi-structured, in-depth interviews with the executives of five technology-driven startups comprised the second dataset for this thesis. The goal of the interviews was to gain a detailed understanding of the development process each startup endured up until the point of the interview. Included was a hands-on task which resulted in journeys to pinpoint the most important steps along the path towards successful growth, perceived through the lens of design. The third set of empirical data was collected through in-depth, unstructured interviews with ten design and entrepreneurship experts. The main goal of these interviews was to provide additional support to the primary data set collected through the startup journey mapping. Details of teaching practices and beliefs rooted in their domain expertise were demonstrated, to add the perspective of a crucial expert stakeholder group, educators and serial entrepreneurs from the ecosystem. All interviewees were from the Aalto University ecosystem. Business Generator Model – a visualisation of themes in the studied acceleration program, was utilised as a framework to ensure a point of reference and help structure the findings of this research. The analysis of the collected data resulted in the following findings. Themes traditionally tackled in early stage startup development, such as Team, IPR, Funding or Partnering can be supported by design through the use of methods of collaboration and co-creation. More significantly, design can be beneficial for early stage startup development by offering capabilities for the purpose of User Research, Design Strategy, Concepting, Communication & Marketing, and lastly Product & Service Development. Respectively, the teams can utilize the help of design to humanize technology through needfinding, bridge the gap between design and business, give shape and function to ideas, raise finances and communicate with stakeholders, and lastly develop products and services through iterative prototyping. A user-centric accelerator program for startups is holistic, with an open and flexible system of services. Due to a variety of customer needs, the program works best when tailored to specific needs determined through an in-depth examination upon acceptance into the program. Unless a startup team has a designer integrated on the core team early on, the goal is to first educate the startups on the role and value of design. According to the stage of each given startup team, trainings, mentors and design outsourcing options should be suggested in order to enable the growth of design competency. This can ideally be achieved with a design manager in the role of an advisor, or executive leader. A design manager can determine the level of design competency, and set the strategy for design integration and design implementation, while utilizing the intangible resources such as know-how available from the university ecosystem. Implications for design practitioners could be drawn in that the practitioners should be encouraged to find opportunities within the accelerator environment, to introduce Design Thinking to early stage startups. Such opportunities may take the form of mentorship or hosted lectures and workshops. In this way, the practitioner would expand his or her professional network while strengthening the business ecosystem. In turn, this should create an expanded demand for Design related skills and services, nurturing the symbiotic relationship between design and business. Lastly, students possessing the advertised design capabilities should be made available for outsourcing to the Business Accelerator and Startup community. This way design needs can be successfully connected with talents.

Description

Supervisor

Person, Oscar

Thesis advisor

Sarvas, Risto

Keywords

startups, business accelerator, service design, design capabilities, design management, case study

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https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:aalto-202001121490

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[master] Taiteiden ja suunnittelun korkeakoulu / ARTS