13. March 2010 by Aidan.

For some time now Ireland has been marketing herself as an “innovation island”. In particular, the government and Industrial Development Authority (IDA) have highlighted this around the world as they have sought foreign direct investment in Ireland.

This week in particular Government ministers from Ireland have travelled around the world to spend St. Patrick’s Day in countries as diverse as Korea, New Zealand and USA and to take the opportunity to highlight Ireland’s position as a country with an innovative workforce.

So does the Irish government believe this themselves?

Well apparently they do. As the economy in Ireland has suffered the effects of the global recession worst than most, the Irish government has sought the wisdom and thoughts of her citizens and relations to help move Ireland forward. It is a form of National Crowd-sourcing.

Some examples of this include the Global Economic Forum that the Irish government held in Dublin in September 2009 and the Innovation Taskforce that the government established to provide direction into building a smart economy in Ireland, whose report was issued this week. Both were cases where individuals from many different sectors of the Irish community were brought together to discuss Ireland’s future.In addition, there are other ongoing efforts  to harness the brainpower of the innovative among us, including the Your Country, Your Call competition, which is a competition to “ignite your imagination and reward your thinking”.

So maybe all of the promotion of Ireland as an “innovation island” is not just marketing speak. It seems that the Irish Government at least believes that there is something worth tapping into.

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22. January 2010 by Aidan.

While I was in San Francisco last week I had the opportunity to attend one of the AIGA’s D.Talks events. The theme of last weeks event was “Crowdsourcing“. The event was well run with Josh Levine of Great-Monday as moderator and a panel consisting of Jason Aiken (99designs.com), Jody Turner (Cultureoffuture.com) and Christopher Simmons (MINE).

The mood in the room (full of graphic designers) was predominantly of gloom over the threat from crowdsourcing websites, such as 99designs.com where you can get a logo designed for about $300. The concern was that this was undermining what these professional designers were offering for 10 times the price. The argument for the crowdsourcing side was that the low price attracts many businesses that would have never paid a designer for a logo and it also allows designers to build a portfolio of work based on the submissions.

It went around in circles for a while but what it ultimately comes down to, as I said on the night, is that when you are buying a logo on a website for $300 you are buying a product. When you work with a designer to develop a logo for your business you are purchasing a service and you are paying a premium to develop a relationship with the designer, work through a design process with them and ultimately end up with a logo that is more meaningful to you and your business. (Of course it may or may not look better than the $300 logo - that’s a matter of taste!).

Posted in Service Desig, international, General | No Comments »

8. January 2010 by Aidan.

After lots of input the venue has moved to Lime restaurant and bar on Market St, San Francisco. Here are the details :

Where: Lime, Market St, SF

When: Fri. 15th Jan 2010

What time: starting 6:00-6:30pm

Any questions? contact details below…..

Aidan

Original Post: 

As I am in San Francisco next week I thought it woud be a good idea to try to get some service designers together for a few drinks and a chat. The Service Design Drinks idea follows on from other successful events in locations are diverse as England, Australia and Brazil.

This is just an informal gathering of people interested in service design and design thinking. Why not come along?

As I have no idea how many people will turn up, and with a nod to my home country, I have decided to simply meet up in the one pub (bar) that I usually end up in while I am in the city, Johnny Foleys on O’Farrell Street. If anyone has a better suggestion then please let me know.

So here are the details and all are welcome:

San Francisco (informal) Service Design Drinks

Friday Jan 15th   from 6:30pm

Johnny Foley’s Pub, 243 O’Farrell Street, San Francisco

Lime Bar, Market Street, SF

See you there, I’ll be the Irish guy in the corner! (or you can call me on +353 87 233 44 51 / email: aidan@servitize.com )

Posted in Service Desig, international, General | 3 Comments »

4. October 2009 by Aidan.

Here is a collection of some of the Service design related conferences that are scheduled to take place. The problem is deciding which ones to go to. Please add a comment with any others you are aware of, thanks, Aidan.    

• SDN - Service Design Network Conference 2009 
  • Madiera, Portugal.  
  • October 26th, 27th 2009
  • Details    

• First Nordic Service Design & Innovation Conference
  • Oslo, Norway.  
  • November 24th to 26th 2009
  • Details  

•  Service Experience Engineering Forum 2009
  • Taipei, Taiwan
  • October 14th, 15th 2009 
  • Details    

• 2010 International Conference on Service Science
  • Hangzhou, China
  • May 13th, 14th 2010 
  • Details   

• 18th Annual Frontiers in Service Conference
  • Honolulu, Hawaii
  • October 29th to November 1st 2009
  • Details  

• International Association of Societies of Design Research (IASDR)
  • Seoul, Korea
  • October 18th to 22nd
  • Details  

• 11th International Design Conference
  • Dubrovnik, Croatia
  • May 17th to 20th 2010
  • Details

• Design Research Society Conference 2010
  • Montreal, Canada
  • July 7th to 9th 2010
  • Details

• SOLI10 - IEEE International Conference on Service Operations 2010
  • Qingdao, China
  • July 15th to 17th 2010
  • Details

Posted in Service Design in Ireland, Service Desig, international, General | No Comments »

24. September 2009 by Aidan.

I have set up a “Service Design & Innovation - Ireland” group on Linkedin.

Here is the overview from the Linkedin page:

There is a growing international reliance on design in the race to develop radically new, innovative, service offerings.
The demands for Service Innovation are highlighting the need for the practical application of Service Design and Product Servitization techniques.
Ireland is well positioned to play a leading role in the world in these areas however there is no cohesive approach being taken in Ireland to ensure that the experts in these fields are working together towards a common goal.
This group offers practitioners and other interested parties the opportunity to connect and start the discussion about how to move this forward and tap into the opportunities that exist today.

I am looking forward to having interested people join this forum with a view to improving Ireland’s overall standing in the areas of service design and innovation, before it’s too late!

Here is a link to the group page. 

Aidan

Posted in Servitize, Service Desig, Service Design in Ireland, Selling "Services", innovation, consultants, international, General | No Comments »

21. August 2009 by Aidan.

Despite the fact that services are the main contributor to the Irish economy, the field of service design in Ireland is particularly under developed. There are a few companies practicing in this area but there is certainly room for major improvement in the profile of this sector.

If you are involved in Service Design in Ireland then let me know as I would like to build a network of companies working is this area with a view to raising the profile within Ireland and highlighting the capabilities and experience that exists here to a wider audience.  

Aidan

Posted in Service Design in Ireland, Service Desig, international, consultants, General | No Comments »

15. April 2009 by Aidan.

The first European SME Week, taking place from 6 to 14 May 2009, is a campaign to promote entrepreneurship across Europe and to inform entrepreneurs about support available for them at European, national and local level. It allows SMEs to discover an array of information, advice, support and ideas to help them develop their activities.

Check here for what it’s all about and what events are planned near you.

Posted in international, General | No Comments »

15. April 2009 by Aidan.

The European Commission has launched a public consultation process to get insights on how to best improve the effectiveness of public innovation support mechanisms in the EU.

“The public consultation consists of two online questionnaires : The one asks the beneficiaries of innovation support measures, namely companies , to provide their views on the direction of future innovation support policies and instruments in the EU, while the other invites institutional stakeholders active in the design, funding, implementation, and evaluation of innovation support measures at regional, national and European level to give their opinion on the key issues of better innovation support in Europe. ”

The E.C. hopes to identify which types of support would have most impact on companies’ capacities to innovate. The Commission also seeks to advise member states on how to better focus their innovation support measures.  

The results of the consultation will be summarised in a Commission Staff Working Document scheduled for publication in June 2009.

More details are available on the Commission website.

Submissions must be in by midday on 4th May 2009.

Posted in innovation, international, General | No Comments »

26. March 2009 by Aidan.

Company Case Studies and Research Insights into World Class Service Business and Best Practices

The most recent views in service business will be presented by leading international companies and research scientists at the 6th Industrial Service Business Day by BestServ Forum. This year the presentations will emphasize in the following themes in particular:

• Service Design and Design for Services
• Service Organisation and Management
• Service Business during Recession

The event takes place on April 21st in Finland.

Here is the programme for the day.ISBD Programme

More information can be found here.

Posted in Servitize, Selling "Services", Customer Service, international, General | No Comments »

14. March 2008 by Aidan.

While in Israel this week, I was again amazed at the contrasts in that country. Everywhere you look there are contrasts. There are contrasts between buildings that date back thousands of years standing next to new modern high tech office space. Contrasts between the old rules and ways and the very technically savvy nation that is Israel today. (Some of the worlds most important software and hardware designs come from Israel).  

There are contrasts within the people too. In business the Israelis are extremely blunt and open. It comes across as being agressive. However when you talk to them outside of work, they are very friendly and are really proud of their country, so they want you to enjoy it.

It’s always a pleasure visiting there and seeing these contrasts first hand.

Posted in international, General | No Comments »