Outsource it. To students, says Entreprenuer Magazine.
It's not a new idea for corporations and universities to work together on ideas. What's changing is how the country's design and engineering schools are creating integrated product design programs that bring together engineering, business and design students to facilitate the innovation process. Student teams research markets, build prototypes and work out design flaws--effectively creating one-stop R&D capacity for small companies.
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Ideas in early stages without tight deadlines tend to be the best fit for both sides.Working with students was a good alternative for Spring Lake, Michigan-based Bold Furniture. "Many designers require retainer fees, and that can be anywhere from a few thousand dollars a month to $10,000 a month. In addition, they'll look for royalties between 1 percent and 5 percent of sales," says co-owner Todd Folkert, 27. "Working with the students, there's really not that significant of an upfront cost. It's pretty much all variable, tied to the success of the product." The $2 million company is in the second phase of the design process and hopes to have a marketable furniture line by summer 2006.
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The ideas students brainstorm, however, might not always be instantly marketable. BodyMedia, a 35-employee Pittsburgh company that makes continuous body-monitoring devices, has worked with student design programs, including Carnegie Mellon's program. "They may not necessarily give you the next idea," says Chris Kasabach, 36, co-founder and vice president of product design for BodyMedia. "But they can help corroborate ideas you may have already been gravitating [toward], or help prove certain ideas aren't useful." Ideas in early stages without tight deadlines tend to be the best fit for both sides. The website of the Industrial Designers Society of America lists university design programs by region.
Professional designers might not like this trend, as their profession struggles in a global, outsourced marketplace. "Parts of the design process can be commoditized," Belletire says. "The professional community might look at this and say, 'They're kids; they're not professionals yet. They're taking business off our table.'"
But turning the tables could pay off big for Bold Furniture's bottom line. The goal "is not just to have a story to tell, but for it to actually turn into increased business and increased profitability," Folkert says. "At this time next year, I'll certainly be able to comment on that."
KU just finshed two projects in this category. One with worldwide food packaging company Huhtamaki and another with a smaller upstart company that is designing a marketable flying car. This added money to the school and gave the students real world experience with clients and deadlines.
I know KU did this on a regular basis. Companies like Cardinal Brands would come in a have students do semester long brainstorming sessions and then they would make a "donation" to the program. I'm sure this has been expanded to other companies, and if it hasn't it will.
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