Fostering innovation in service design through network research

14.5.2018

 

In 2017 FhP-AICOS joined the Service Design for Innovation Network (SDIN) as Associated Partner, aiming to pursue the strategic need to foster service design for innovation processes in organizations. In April, Ana Kustrak Korper, an international PhD student, started her secondment - a temporary assignment – in cooperation with FhP-AICOS. This is the 2^nd PhD student that performs a secondment in cooperation with FhP-AICOS in the scope of the SDIN network.

 

Ana Kustrak Korper is an early stage researcher at the Service Design for Innovation Network (SDIN), a European Training Network for Early Stage Researchers that aims to systematise a research training framework. It integrates service design and service innovation in a multidisciplinary approach to fully leverage the creative power of service design to foster innovation.

Ana has received her BA and an MBA degree in marketing from the Zagreb School of Economics and Management, and a BSc and an MSc degree in musicology from the Academy of Music, University of Zagreb, both in Croatia. She is currently pursuing a PhD doctorate in the area of service design for innovation in technology, at FEUP (Faculty of Engineering of University of Porto) and Linköping University, in Sweden.

The PhD candidate chose FhP-AICOS as the research institution to foster her secondment – a temporary collaboration to one of the SDIN’s partners –, for its focus on technological solutions pertaining to healthcare and AAL (Ambient Assisted Living). The fact that FhP-AICOS integrates different design methods in the process of technology development was also a motive.

Through her research, Ana aims to understand the importance of these methods and approaches for innovation processes within FhP-AICOS, as well as how they affect the competitiveness of the organization.

FhP-AICOS was invited, by prof. Lia Patrício, of FEUP, to join the Service Design for Innovation Network in 2017.