Young researcher from DTU Management awarded best paper of 2015 by The Journal of Engineering Design

Philip Cash from the Technology and Innovation Management division, at DTU Management Engineering has been awarded the “Best paper of the year” in a prestigious engineering journal. He shares the honor with his coauthor Mario Štorga from the University of Zagreb.

The paper “Multifaceted assessment of ideation: using networks to link ideation and design activity” Originates from an on-going collaboration with the University of Zagreb and from Philip being a visiting researcher there.

It explores a new approach to the analysis of human behavior using network analysis to link multiple streams of activity together.

Closer to explaining ideation
Ideation is core to the innovation process, and has been the subject of study across a range of fields, from psychology to engineering. However, despite substantial progress in outcome-based descriptions of idea generation, research has often resulted in more questions than answers. The awarded paper seeks answers through network analysis.

“This paper discusses a major new approach for elucidating ideation and its related design processes through direct observation. A novel network visualisation approach is demonstrated in practice for the first time. This uses network analysis to link ideas dynamically to both the engineering context and the wider design process”, Explains Philip Cash.

New insight
This linking provides a substantial new insight into what drives ideation and how previously inscrutable results can potentially be explained by linking ideation into other design processes.

“In particular we explore how ideas are linked to other behaviours and how network analysis allowed us to identify patterns of idea generation and wider behaviour not previously possible,” Concludes Philip Cash.