How to Innovate July 1, 2009, 9:45AM EST

How to Turn Research into Innovation Gold

(page 2 of 2)

Sonata's designers focused on details, such as giving patients individual televisions, convenient storage, and access to power outlets.

Story Tools

For example, the researchers noticed patients mentioning or complaining about seemingly small things: access to power outlets or a place to store personal items. The Steelcase researchers added them up to understand that as cancer patients face what is both physically and emotionally draining treatment, such small details matter greatly, and that hospitals need to pay attention.

Key Takeaways

Ultimately, the team identified 12 core insights that could guide the design and development phases to come. One, for instance, was the importance of spaces that could transition to respond to the varying needs of chemo patients who sometimes seek the companionship of other patients and sometimes want a private space to speak with a spouse or doctor.

Nurture launched its Sonata line in 2008 at the industry trade show Neocon, where it won a Gold best-of award in the health-care furniture category.

What can executives learn from the way Steelcase analyzes its research?

Let it steep. Whether the team members start reviewing research on their own first or immediately come together as a group, spend at least a couple of days going back through notes, sifting through photos, watching videos, etc. Sit with the material and the patterns will start to emerge.

Look for patterns. Did a certain phrase come up in interview after interview? Do dozens of photos capture the same workaround? Such patterns reflect the user behaviors and/or latent needs that lead to successful innovation.

Pay attention to contradictions or discrepancies. When the cancer patients in the Sonata study made collages representing their current and ideal hospital experiences, the discrepancies suggested great opportunities for innovation. Similarly, when a research subject says one thing and does another, it may be the sign of an unrecognized need.

Be inclusive. Though the heavy lifting of the synthesis process is typically done by the core research team, it's important to include other stakeholders in some way, both because they bring valuable perspectives to the conversation and because it gives them some ownership of the research, making the transition to product development and later marketing go more smoothly.

Jessie Scanlon is the senior writer for Innovation & Design at BusinessWeek, where she covers the intersection of design and business.