Using product profiles for retrospective case studies in SGE – system generation engineering

Supporting product developers in innovating is an important task of design research. An invention and a valid need situation described through a product profile are necessary elements of innovation. But how can we derive recommendations on how to develop “innovative” products if the success of a product can only be measured retrospectively? Retrospective case studies are one approach to investigate relationships between context factors, variations in systems and product profiles, and innovation success. To investigate these, we use product profiles in case studies across system generations.