Questions and Answers

Week 10
1.How does the type of risk being analysed affect the risk evaluation criteria used? You need to
identify the different types of risk evaluation criteria first.
Two types of Risk assessment come to mind:
a. Consequence/Likelihood Risk Matrix which is used to evaluate likelihood
b. Bow Tie Diagram: is used to evaluate probability

2. What are the key aspects of a product’s context that need to be understood? Why: i.e., how do
each of these (pick at least 3 of the main ones) influence risk and how it is assessed and treated
(mitigated)?
There are four main types of project risks: technical, external, organisational, and project management.
Within these types are more examples of risks.

1. Technical risks
Technical risks refer to anything that could go wrong with your technical aspect including software &
hardware , drawing , technical process , etc
2. External risks
External risks are things that could impact your project that are outside of your organisation’s direct
control.
3. Organizational risks:
Organizational risks refer to aspects of your company’s overall resources and culture which could impact
your project’s implementation.

4. Project management risks

Project management risks involve how the team directly working on your project operates and what
internal aspects of your team could impact your project’s success.

3. List at least 3 types of risk that are relevant to the management of product development and
innovation. For each of theseestablish specific objectives and appropriate risk evaluation criteria and
levels of acceptability.

market risk, credit risk, operational risk.

Operational risk: is the risk that is not inherent in financial, systematic or market-wide risk. It is the risk
remaining after determining financing and systematic risk, and includes risks resulting from breakdowns
in internal procedures, people and systems or external events.

Credit risk: is the possibility of a loss resulting from a borrower's failure to repay a loan or meet
contractual obligations. Traditionally, it refers to the risk that a lender may not receive the owed
principal and interest, which results in an interruption of cash flows and increased costs for collection.
Market risk: is the risk of losses on financial investments caused by adverse price movements. Examples
of market risk are: changes in equity prices or commodity prices, interest rate moves or foreign
exchange fluctuations.

4. How can organisations ensure risk management is present during the process of planning,
implementation, and control of the product development lifecycle?
By ensuring that risk management is an essential part in every stage of the product life cycle.

Week 9
1. What are some of the metrics utilised to quantify the viability of a project or product? How does
this impact on your commercialization strategy?
Following are some of the metrics utilised to quantify the viability of a project or product
Productivity
Gross Profit Margin
Return on Investment (ROI)
Earned Value
Customer Satisfaction
Employee Satisfaction Score
Actual Cost
Cost Variance.

These metrics have great impact on commercialization strategy, and without keeping close eye on these
metrics company's commercial success is doubtful

2. Discuss the relevance of the following statement in terms of your product “Ideas with short-term
life cycles (i.e. less than 6–10 years) may have difficulty attracting investment capital”..

We need to demonstrate the wide range of market applications for our product or service, or the ability
to update or make design iterations that will ensure its longevity. The potential to offer multiple units or
designs at varying prices can aid successful marketing and this can attract investments

3.Why should your commercial feasibility analysis assess how long your product or invention can
expect to be in the market before it is superseded?
Commercial feasibility analysis helps decide whether idea should be developed further or not. We
should consider the factors and elements commonly required for a business to profitably sell the
innovation to a group of customers over a reasonable time frame to justify the venture. If a business
can’t achieve sustainable profit from the new idea, or from selling the innovation to customers, then it is
generally unlikely to be commercially feasible and therefore it is more likely to be superseded

4. Why is it important to address the required rate of return (RRR) in your financial research? What is
the difference between RRR and internal rate of return (IRR)? Where should you apply IRR and why?

(RRR) tells whether an investment is profitable or not. Also, the amount of risks that a project entails is
projected through the RRR, the higher the RRR, the higher the risk.

IRR is the internal rate of return. RRR is the required rate of return. The IRR is simply the discount rate,
which, when applied to a series of cashflows, gives a net present value (NPV) of zero

IRR is generally most ideal for use in analysing capital budgeting projects. It can be misconstrued or
misinterpreted if used outside of appropriate scenarios. In the case of positive cash flows followed by
negative ones and then by positive ones, the IRR may have multiple values.

Week 6

1. Why is the consideration of a product lifecycles important in engineering design?

It gives guidance for designer to develop specific stages for individual product life cycles which is critical
to the success of the product

2. What is the triple bottom line and why is it important that all three targets are considered for
sustainability?
The triple bottom line stands for three P’s Profit; People and the Planet, it is a concept that emphasis
that companies should also measure environmental and Social impact instead of just focusing on Profit

3. Outline some approaches to green design which can be included in a design boundary.
There can be several approaches to green design any approach that helps in designing environmentally
friendly solution for example : Geothermal systems t, energy efficient systems , solar powered solutions
etc
 4. Outline how the concept of a product lifecycle can be used by management and by designers as a factor
in deciding when it is appropriate to enter product extension or decide that a product is obsolete.
To extend product life cycle, the main aim of management would be to keep customers interested in
the product so that sales can be increased.
To achieve this an extension strategy can be used between maturity and saturation stages of the
product life cycle. This can be done in a number of ways depending on the product like introducing a
new flavour or changing colours etc.

Developing new products is expensive and takes time, so businesses will usually try to extend the life
cycle of a product and prevent it from going into decline. To do this, they need to find ways of keeping
people interested in the product for longer, thereby increasing the number of sales.

An extension strategy is usually introduced between the maturity and saturation stages of the product
life cycle, before a real decline takes place. The aim is to continue to maintain a steady rate of revenue
from a product.

Week 5

5. What type of protection is provided for a patent? Is there a time period for a patent protection?
A patent protection means that the invention is restricted to be commercially made, used, distributed,
imported or sold by others without the patent owner's consent.
A patent is generally granted for 20 years from the date the patent application is filed

6. When would you utilise a trademark rather than a patent?

I will use a trademark instead of a patent when I want to distinguish myself from competitors and prevent
others from using my mark or logo.

7. Outline some approaches to protection of IP which can be included in a design boundary. What is the
difference between a patent and an innovation design from an intellectual property perspective?
An intellectual property can be protected by registering for standard Patents, Trademarks or Copyright.

For Standard patent your invention must be different (i.e. novel) to what is already known and those
differences must make a contribution to the working of an invention. However if your invention is a
relatively small improvement upon the working of an invention that already exists then you should apply
for innovation patent

8. Outline some of the key characteristics of trademarks and outline possible approaches to linking a
trademark to a logo.
The types of trademark you can have is as follow
● Sound trademark
● Non-English trade mark
● Movement trademark
 ● Shape trade mark
● Colour trade mark
● Scent trademark
● Trade marks for wine
● Trade marks for plants
● Figurative marks
Depending on the type there can be various characteristics of a trademark, in general a good trade mark
should be easy to grasp so that people can recognise it easily

What does “function to form” mean in the context of thinking about possible solutions?

Week 4

9. What does “function to form” mean in the context of thinking about possible solutions?
In order to build a solution rather than just a product , the form should clearly express the function of the
product…but to be a success the function needs to be a solution to a relevant end user problem

10. What are some of the tools you might use in the convergence stage of a design process?
1. Pugh's Controlled Convergence
2. Green Design
3. QFD

11. Outline some approaches where user requirements and constraints can be included in a design
boundary. How do QFD and priority decision matrices assist in the convergence process?
Some of the approaches which can be included in design boundaries are patents, shelf life, quality,
packing, and competition.
QFD approach helps to evaluate product features which also help in convergence process

12. Outline some of the key characteristics of convergent thinking.

Some of the characteristics of convergent thinking are Logic, speed, accuracy and focuses on recognizing
the demand, applying techniques, and combining stored information

Week 3

13. What are the key aspects of a process tree?

A process tree provides representation in hierarchical order, the key aspects are as follows
i) Structure key aspects in sequence which leads to a decision
 ii) Analysis of Identifying what is causing a certain problems and analysis of repercussions of that problem

14. What are some of the tools you might use in a Divergence stage of a design process?
Brainstorming
Brainwriting
SCAMPER :(Substitute; Combine; Adapt; Magnify; Minify; Put to other uses; Eliminate; Reverse or
Rearrange )
Forced connections
Are some of the tools that can be used in a Divergence stage of a design process

15. Outline the four phases of QFD. How does QFD assist in organising of customer needs?
i. Product planning
Ii. Product Design
Iii. Process Design
iv. Process Control (Quality)
In QDF Methodology customer requirements are carefully listened throughout the development process
to address customer needs and delivery final product to customers that actually fulfils their need

16. Outline some of the key characteristics of divergent thinking?

Divergent thinking or creative thinking leads to innovative solutions, divergent thinking is especially
useful if a unique solution is to be provided to a complex problem. To solve a unique problem is it
important to have characteristics of divergent thinking such as flexibility, fluency, originality & ability to
think out of the box.

Week 2

17. From your perspective, discuss “Why is it important not to dive straight into design?” What are some
key attributes that should be considered during problem definition?
The prerequisites for designing is “Business Case” or “Problem statement” ; without it a design will serve
no purpose.

A problem Statement should be concise & specific it should be measurable and should clearly specific who
or what it is intended for
18. Discuss why it is important to approach the problem from different perspectives.
Approaching to solve a problem only from one angle will always give you the same result however if other
angles are explored it will broaden the horizon and will provide solutions that are different and effective.

19. Consider the Types of Design (e.g. selection, configuration, parametric, redesign and original), pick two
of the types and compare them. What are each type’s pros and cons?
Parametric Design vs Original Design: In a parametric design changes are made on the fly in Real-Time
which gives opportunities to enhance product features and also helps in expediting the process compared
to traditional original method which follows a strict plan.
 20. What is the purpose of performing a QFD? Who does it benefit?
Quality function deployment (QFD) is used to define important features of a final product based on
customer suggestion, its purpose is to take inputs from customers through the planning and design phase
of the product. Companies benefit from QFD, by deploying QFD companies make sure that they bring
products to the market that are actually wanted by customers.

Week 1

21. From your perspective, discuss “What are the four types of innovation?” What are
key attributes that make up innovation?

The Four types of innovations are :

a. organisational innovation: A new organisational method in the firm's business
practices is called organisational Innovation
b. Process Innovation: Process innovation is the application or introduction of a
new technology or method for doing something that helps an organisation
remain competitive and meet customer demands.
c. Market innovation: Any new marketing method that helps in reaching out to
customers and helps in increasing sales.
d. Product Innovation: the development and market introduction of a new,
redesigned, or substantially improved good or service
According to Rogers' Diffusion of Innovation,there are five attributes of an innovation that
affect adoption: (1) relative advantage, (2) compatibility, (3) complexity, (4) trialability,
and (5), observability

22. From your perspective, what value does innovation provide to the organisation
and/or the community?
Innovation creates a Win-Win situation for buyers and organisations by increasing value
and reducing costs at times. In today's world its ever more important because it
stimulates sustainable growth in a highly competitive market

23. From slide 26 of the lecture slides week 1, discuss the idea of ‘How’ and ‘application
knowledge’ approaches’ for a system that you are familiar with. Identify key aspects of the
innovation and design processes that would fit into each of the approaches.

Virtual Drug Store A Smart way to Connect and Adhere to your Healthcare needs
Three easy steps with Virtual Drug Store to solve your Healthcare problems.
 Get real time alerts on your health status, automatic predictions on a chronic disease
progression and recommended measures to avoid it based on prescriptions and behaviour.

The How:

Step One: hassle-free purchase of prescriptions from 100's of Pharmacies, connection with
local pharmacist directly for advice, delivery of prescription at your door steps and even
approval of insurance in no time.
Step Two: Virtual connection with Virtual Drug Store where live caregivers can provide
services like scheduling an appointment with Dr. 's, Insurance and wellbeing services of your
choice. Personalise follow up on your medicine daily intakes by capturing live images of the
patient taking medication, sending medication alarms, clinic visit reminders and treatment
progress bars, telling relatives or friends on progress in real-time.

Application of Knowledge:
With machine learning, step 1 and step 2 data can be analysed to provide predictive
analytics, real time alerts on your health status.

Prevention Is Better Than Cure; with Virtual Drug Store, automatic predictions on a chronic
disease progression and recommended measures to avoid it based on prescriptions and
behaviour..
Virtual Drug Store users enjoy comfort and avoid delays that saves their time, money &
energy. Turn the Medication adherence frustrations into a pleasant experience with Virtual
Drug Store.

24. Select one of the engineering design phases shown in slide 28 of week 1 lecture slides.
Discuss what parts of the product design process, you believe would be applicable to the
engineering design phase
The engineering design process is a series of steps that engineers follow to find a solution to
a problem. The steps include problem solving processes such as, for example, determining
your objectives and constraints, prototyping, testing and evaluation.
Week 2

Pitch:

Problem:

What if you can’t find a medicine you are looking for from your local drug store.
Especially if you live in a remote area ?

How many calls you’ll have to make before you find your medicine ? even if you find it
… who’s going to get it ?.... . We live in a world where a Pizza arrives much faster than
an ambulance.

So we have a problem

….but even before getting a medicine what if you were warned that you might get sick in
future because Prevention Is Better Than Cure

So with this solution you will be able to

Virtual Drug Store is A Smart way to Connect and Adhere to your Healthcare needs
Three easy steps with Virtual Drug Store to solve your Healthcare problems.
Step One: hassle-free purchase of prescriptions from 100's of Pharmacies, connection with
local pharmacist directly for advice, delivery of prescription at your door steps and even
approval of insurance in no time.
Step Two: Virtual connection with Virtual Drug Store where live caregivers can provide services
like scheduling an appointment with Dr. 's, Insurance and wellbeing services of your choice.
Personalise follow up on your medicine daily intakes by capturing live images of the patient
taking medication, sending medication alarms, clinic visit reminders and treatment progress
bars, telling relatives or friends on progress in real-time.
Step Three: Prevention Is Better Than Cure; with Virtual Drug Store predictive analytics, get real
time alerts on your health status, automatic predictions on a chronic disease progression and
recommended measures to avoid it based on prescriptions and behaviour.
Virtual Drug Store users enjoy comfort and avoid delays that saves their time, money & energy.
Turn the Medication adherence frustrations into a pleasant experience with Virtual Drug Store.