Increased innovation capability through efficient development of integrated solutions

Research Project, 2017 – 2020

This project aims to improve companies' ability to organize and manage for efficient
development of solutions that integrates products and services. Developing such solutions will strengthen companies' long-term competitiveness. These integrated solutions will increase companies' innovation capability. More and more of our traditional manufacturing companies transforms from developing and manufacturing only physical products towards offering and developing integrated solutions, that is a combination of a physical product and different services. But, this transformation leads to problems and challenges that the companies need to manage. It is about establishing organizational structures and processes, for example innovation and product development process, that is adapted to deal with the new requirements facing companies that will not only offer products and services separated, but as an integrated offer. This project first aims to identify the challenges, and then developing ways to deal with these challenges so that the companies' become more efficient in developing the integrated solutions. The project will be accomplished in close cooperation between Chalmers University of Technology, Karlstad University, Volvo Trucks and Ascom. During the project a number of workshops will be arranged, to which also other companies will be invited to participate. This will contribute to spread the project results to many companies. In the end of the project also a PhD thesis will be finished, based on activities accomplished in this project.