NPD New Product Development

It is safe to say that NPD World Tour Scandinavia was a great success. The event received a score of 4.7 out of 6, from participants. 50% graded the event 5 out of 6.

Midfield Media and its Product Life Cycle Division would like to thank everyone that contributed to make NPD World Tour an exceptionally successful launch: Chairman Dr. Al-Ashaab for his great knowledge and well controlled time management; all the speakers for their insightful presentations; BellaSky for a very hospitable staff and exceptional venue; all of our partners for their contribution; and most importantly, all the participants present that helped make this launch a success.

Here is a glimpse of what participants thought:

• Paul Isherwood, GSK: “Very well organized. Good diversity of speakers & subject matter.”
• Samantha Kiljonen, Kemira: “Round table discussions and networking were especially good.”
• Anonymous: “All in all very relevant topics and professional speakers. Good selection of companies… So, to conclude – I am pretty satisfied with the event! Thank you.”

If you were not present this time around, we can already confirm that NPD World Tour will be back next year.

If you have any questions, remarks, ideas, or suggestions regarding next year’s event, please contact:

Thomas Igou, Project Manager, NPD New Product Development World Tour Scandinavia
Phone: +46 850 255 239, Email:  Thomas.igou@midfieldmedia.com

NPD New Product Development World Tour Scandinavia is now only two months away!  I have conducted a little survey with our chairman and all of the speakers.  This week, the answers of Chairman Dr. Ahmed Al-Ashaab of Cranfield University and Michel Sabouné, Director Front End Innovation & Design, Tetra Pak:

What is, according to you, the most crucial issue to overcome when it comes to new product development?

Dr. Al-Ashaab: Having right product development process that facilitate innovation by providing the right knowledge to support value creation with a continuous improvement culture.

Michel Sabouné: The most crucial issue to overcome is having the full support from senior management to be able to follow through from Idea to launch and the ability and importance to work in a multi-disciplinary and cross organizational group at the front end of innovation.

What are you looking forward to the most at NPD World Tour Scandinavia?

Dr. Al-Ashaab: Opportunity to share and learn the latest product development good practices to meet the current challenges especially economic uncertainty

Michel Sabouné: Sharing experiences, success and failures from other companies and industries.

Follow us each week, for the answers from all the speakers!

Sincerely,

Thomas Igou, Project Manager, NPD New Product Development World Tour Scandinavia

It’s very interesting to read about the research findings of Booz & Company’s annual Global Innovation 1000 study.  According to their survey, the critical factor to R&D is not how much a company reinvests into their R&D, but rather, how they reinvest it.  Apple was the most obvious example of the survey.  Voted most innovative company of the year by the respondents, the study also showed that Apple only reinvested $1.8 billion, or 2.7% of their turnover.  In contrast, the biggest spender of 2010, Roche Holding, spent around $9.7 billion, or 21.1% of their turnover into their R&D.

Thus comes the question: what is the critical factor that will drive successful innovation?  The survey comes to the conclusion that it is having strategic alignment and creating a culture that supports innovation.

That is precisely what NPD New product Development World Tour Scandinavia is centering around.  Best practice cases from companies like GlaxoSmithKline, Tetra Pak, Philips Healthcare, Danfoss, SKF, and many others will discuss such key topics as:

• • Stronger cross-department collaborations to ensure a full follow through of the process
• • Collaborative NPD – supplier/customer, intra-industrial, and trans-sectorial cooperation to push open innovation and gain the competitive edge
• • Running a successful global product development to optimize the efficient use of company-wide resources and expertise

Looking forward to seeing you at Bellasky Comwell in Copenhagen January 31^st- February 2^nd!

Sincerely,

Thomas Igou, Project Manager, NPD New Product Development World Tour Scandinavia

Link to article: http://www.booz.com/global/home/what_we_think/featured_content/innovation_1000_2011

Product landscape is undergoing a major and fast paced transformation based on ever-changing customer needs. User experience and value-centricity are becoming the two key philosophies driving differentiation for product companies. Products of tomorrow will have to look outside the product for differentiation as products become platforms. The mantra for market leadership is no longer associated with only patents and product features but with ecosystem creation and leveraging the platforms.

Let’s take an example – Cars. Most cars in the same value category are today nearly undifferentiated on standard technical features – engine performance suspensions, powertrain, configuration etc. read more

Never Start Innovation with an Idea!

Never start product or service innovation with an idea. Of course: innovation is initially about ideas. About getting the right ones. And realising these ideas in practice. A shining light bulb has become a global symbol for innovation. Just check Google images and type innovation and then you will see proof of this.

The fuzzy front end of innovation confronts you with a lot of questions. In my new book ‘Creating innovative Products and Services. I try to solve them with the FORTH innovation method.

Link to article: http://www.innovationexcellence.com/blog/2011/10/18/never-start-innovation-with-an-idea/

The article is written by: Gijs van Wulfen

Can Customer Feedback help to create innovative products??

I keep struggling with the definition of what is an innovative blockbuster product (or service), and this is yet another attempt: A truly innovative product is the one that delights its customers by anticipating their needs before they knew they have them. In other words, if you want to develop a blockbuster product, you should stop trying to better serve the existing needs of your customers and instead try to discover needs that customers may not realize they have and address them.

Traditionally, companies use customer feedback to assess satisfaction with existing products and to validate product developer’s ideas for the improvements. One of the most popular methods used for collecting customer feedback are survey and panels, where the questions asked or topics moderated tend to reflect interests of product development team and focus on how customers experience their product.

Link to article: http://blog.amplifiedanalytics.com/2011/10/can-customer-feedback-help-to-create-innovative-products/

The article is written by: Gregory Yankelovich, Amplified Analytics

We live in a time of economic uncertainty, when some EU countries are plunged in debt crisis, stock markets frighteningly fluctuate, and Purchasing Managers’ Index for the manufacture industry is at a two-year low across the globe. Therefore, new product development becomes increasingly yet unsurprisingly essential to businesses’ desire to secure a hold on, and consequently expand their market share.

Yet, as simple as it may seem in theory, New Product Development is no easy tool to manipulate in practice. Out of 180 000 new products launched on the global consumer market in 2006, only 15%, or a mere 27 000, still exist today, with fewer than 5% considered hits. The others are meager dinosauric products collecting dust in the abyss of store shelves.

Because being innovative and designing customer-oriented, valuable products is primarily what we strive for, I am proud to present the location of the next NPD New Product Development World Tour stop; Scandinavia. The forum will take place January 31st – February 2nd 2012 at the ultra-modern BellaSky Comwell in Copenhagen. It will bring together C-level executives from cross-industry global companies, sharing their experience, knowledge and challenges in establishing a company-oriented process designed to bring customer-oriented and innovative products. Our product has been designed specifically to your needs; a 3-day life cycle, a multifunctional facet of case studies, roundtable discussions, panel debates, and plenty of networking!

Some of the key topics addressed on this year’s agenda:

• • Target Costing – How to establish a market-driven price that will become the influencer rather than the result of the product design
• • Running a successful global product development to optimize the efficient use of company-wide resources and expertise
• • Collaborative NPD – supplier/customer, intra-industrial, and trans-sectorial cooperation to push open innovation and gain the competitive edge
• • Stronger cross-departmental collaboration to ensure a full follow through of the process
• • Market Analysis – Step zero of the process to ensure you develop products according to identified opportunities

At NPD New Product Development World Tour in Scandinavia, you will acquire tools to launch new products that fall in the less than 5% bracket. Because everyone knows that purchased inputs account for 50% of production costs, you will also explore paths of different types of collaborative NPD experiences and Target Costing methods to learn how to reduce costs and minimize risks, all the while improving brand image and gaining the competitive edge.

Most importantly, you will gain insights on how to set up an effective cross-functional NPD New Product Development team that will facilitate cross-department and cross-regional communication for a more efficient use of internal resources and consequently, a shortened time to market.

Using best practice case studies from across the globe, NPD New Product Development World Tour Scandinavia will show you how a tightened NPD process has brought similar success stories from different corporations operating in different markets.

Do not miss this unique opportunity to gain insights from and benchmark with the leading organizations across the globe.

I look forward to welcoming you at the BellaSky in Copenhagen, January 31st – February 2nd!

Sincerely,

Thomas Igou, Project Manager, NPD New Product Development World Tour Scandinavia