Abstract
Despite the growing interest in Design Thinking (DT) in Taiwan, its practical application in industrial contexts remains constrained by conceptual misunderstandings, operational challenges, and insufficient cross-functional collaboration. Motivated by the need to support junior innovators in addressing these barriers, this study aims to identify and validate a set of fundamental know-how items that provide conceptual guidance for the effective implementation of DT in Taiwanese industries. To this end, in-depth interviews were conducted with seven experienced professionals from the fields of industry, academia, and the nonprofit sector to extract insights from real-world practice. These insights were subsequently refined and validated through a two-round Delphi study involving 24 experts across sectors. The outcome is a validated framework comprising 16 know-how items, classified into five categories: (1) Creative Design Solutions, (2) Sprint Experimentation and Iteration, (3) Interdisciplinary Collaboration and Communication, (4) Organizational Transformation, and (5) Strategic Development Innovation. The findings emphasize that successful DT implementation extends beyond tool application, requiring innovators to sustain iterative collaboration, foster internal alignment, and integrate long-term strategic thinking. These three capabilities—corresponding to interdisciplinary collaboration, organizational transformation, and strategic development—have proven to be especially critical when DT is applied in industrial contexts. In conclusion, this study presents a validated conceptual framework to support junior innovators in better understanding and applying Design Thinking across diverse industrial settings, highlighting how close collaboration, value co-creation, and design policy support enable Taiwanese industries to transition from process-level adoption to strategy-level integration.
Keywords
Design Thinking; Taiwanese Industry; Industry Innovator; Industrial Innovation
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2025.536
Citation
Hsueh, Y.T.,and Ma, M.(2025) Implementing Design Thinking in Taiwan's Industrial Innovation: Fundamental Know-how for Junior Innovators, in Chang, C.-Y., and Hsu, Y. (eds.), IASDR 2025: Design Next, 02-05 December, Taiwan. https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2025.536
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Conference Track
Track 5 - Design Thinking
Implementing Design Thinking in Taiwan's Industrial Innovation: Fundamental Know-how for Junior Innovators
Despite the growing interest in Design Thinking (DT) in Taiwan, its practical application in industrial contexts remains constrained by conceptual misunderstandings, operational challenges, and insufficient cross-functional collaboration. Motivated by the need to support junior innovators in addressing these barriers, this study aims to identify and validate a set of fundamental know-how items that provide conceptual guidance for the effective implementation of DT in Taiwanese industries. To this end, in-depth interviews were conducted with seven experienced professionals from the fields of industry, academia, and the nonprofit sector to extract insights from real-world practice. These insights were subsequently refined and validated through a two-round Delphi study involving 24 experts across sectors. The outcome is a validated framework comprising 16 know-how items, classified into five categories: (1) Creative Design Solutions, (2) Sprint Experimentation and Iteration, (3) Interdisciplinary Collaboration and Communication, (4) Organizational Transformation, and (5) Strategic Development Innovation. The findings emphasize that successful DT implementation extends beyond tool application, requiring innovators to sustain iterative collaboration, foster internal alignment, and integrate long-term strategic thinking. These three capabilities—corresponding to interdisciplinary collaboration, organizational transformation, and strategic development—have proven to be especially critical when DT is applied in industrial contexts. In conclusion, this study presents a validated conceptual framework to support junior innovators in better understanding and applying Design Thinking across diverse industrial settings, highlighting how close collaboration, value co-creation, and design policy support enable Taiwanese industries to transition from process-level adoption to strategy-level integration.