Support for innovation through use for companies
Innovation and living space pathway
Our innovation process enables us to develop products and services by putting users at the centre of the design process, by integrating the impact on the environment, and by combining listening, observation, analysis, technical skills, creativity, experimentation and communication in an innovative way.
The innovation path is the result of a user-centred design methodology: a set of tools and skills that are both complementary and dissociable.
Our support is tailored to the needs of your project.
OBSERVATION OF USES
In a product innovation process, we are involved from the very beginning, particularly in understanding the expectations and needs of end users.
This key stage allows us to investigate the current and future behaviour of users, with the aim of appropriating their life issues, and developing a product that meets their needs.
To do this, we have three observation methodologies that allow us to build databases on specific themes (bathroom, kitchen, bedroom, layout, offices, etc.) :
- In-situ observation (the ergonomist visits the user)
- Self-observation, (the user becomes the actor of his observation)
- Observation of uses via social networks
Creative Lab
The FCBA’s Creative Lab offers manufacturers wishing to develop a new product, a space where the emergence of concepts is the key word.
This creativity work results from an appropriation of the life problems formulated by the analysis of the uses of the observatory. The interest lies in a participatory ideation methodology where each concept is imagined by the consensus of a project group.
We have tools that allow us to model the concepts imagined, so that the industrialists have a first draft of what they wish to develop.
ECO-DESIGN
In order to meet the needs of companies in terms of innovation through the creation of products that preserve the environment, our team follows an eco-design approach.
This approach is characterised by the consideration of environmental impacts in the design and development of a product, throughout its life cycle.
By adopting the eco-design approach in their development strategy, companies benefit from a real competitive advantage: assimilation of the notion of the consumer as an actor, creation of innovative products and services resulting from an innovative approach to transforming environmental constraints into development opportunities.
PRODUCT DESIGN
From the marketing analysis of products to the creation of their visual identity, our intervention takes place throughout the product design chain.
Placed at the crossroads of technical, commercial and cultural constraints, our multidisciplinary team is composed of designers, engineers, technicians and ergonomists.
In order to best handle our projects, we use various 2D and 3D drawing tools, technical plans and other visual communication methods. Our objective is to assist companies in the design of innovative and viable products, taking into account technical, economic, ergonomic and aesthetic constraints, as well as respecting industrial and artistic property rights and safety and environmental standards.
INNOVATHEQUE
A genuine platform for dissemination, promotion, advice, networking and support between the creative world and the industrial sector, INNOVATHEQUE® is above all a place for meetings and exchanges between suppliers who want to showcase their innovative materials, processes or systems and creative professionals (designers, architects, stylists, decorators, scenographers, craftsmen, fitters, etc.) who are looking for technical or aesthetic solutions to set themselves apart.
Because the choice of a material or a manufacturing technique is a determining factor in the success of an innovative and responsible project, our team offers you a multitude of services adapted to your needs and accompanies you in the technical development of your ideas.
EXPERIMENTATION
A developed concept should be evaluated by future users. The objective is to identify the differences between the development result and the future use scenario, thus expressing the adequacy of the concept to the users’ expectations and needs.
To achieve this objective, two tools are made available by FCBA:
- Validate the imagined functionalities in a short time with the 3D immersion cube.
- Evaluate a physical prototype by users, to identify improvements to be made.
3D LAB
In October 2015, FCBA set up a workshop dedicated to experimenting with 3D modelling and additive manufacturing techniques, in order to support and raise awareness among companies in acquiring these new technologies as part of the Factory of the Future programme.
The FCBA 3D-Lab is part of a complete design and re-design process, complementing the other technical support provided by the FCBA innovation unit.
This workshop is dedicated exclusively to professionals for confidentiality reasons and therefore offers different equipment from the general public fab-lab which will be located in the Descartes Innovation premises.