Printed electronics (PE) is a disruptive but growing technology that is beginning to integrate its way into viable applications for product design. However, the potential for future impact of the technology on product design and the designer s role and contribution to this has yet to be established. Interest is increasing in the potential for product designers to explore and exploit this technology. Technologies can be seen as being disruptive from both a business, and an adoption point of view. For a business, changing from one technology to another or incorporating a new technology and its production processes can be difficult if they already have their suppliers established and existing relationships in place. Understanding and adopting a new technology can be challenging for a business and individuals working within an established industry as it can cause many questions to be raised around its performance, and direct comparison with the technology they already have in place. However, there have been many technologies that could be seen as disruptive in the past, as they offered an alternative way of working or method of manufacture, such as Bluetooth, 3D printing, and automation (manufacturing/assembly/finishing), etc., and their success has been dictated by individual s perception and adoption of the technology, with their ability to see the worth and potential in the technology. Cost comparison is also an important aspect for a business to consider when choosing whether to change to a new technology or to remain with their existing technology, as changing can disrupt the manufacturing line assembly of a product, and direct cost comparisons of components themselves, such as the cost of buying silicon components in bulk verses printing the components. The new technology needs to offer something different to a product to be worth implementing it in a product, such as its flexible form or lightweight properties of printed electronics being of benefit to the product over what a silicon electronic component/circuit could offer (restricted to rigid circuit boards), the functionality/performance of the components themselves also need to be considered. Performance, availability and maturity of the technology are some of the essential aspects to consider when incorporating a new technology into a product and these can be evaluated using a Technology Readiness Level (TRL) scale. Interest in the stage of development for a technology lies not only with designers; industry and academia also contribute to knowledge by playing a central role in the process of determining a TRL scale that is universally recognised. However, a TRL separation issue occurs between academia (often the technology only reaching an experimental proof of concept stage, a lower number on the TRL scale indicating that the technology is at an early stage of development) and industry (not considering technology for commercialisation until it reaches a stage where there is a demonstration of pre-production capability validated on economic runs, a much higher number on the TRL scale - indicating that the technology is at a much more advanced stage of development). The aim of this doctoral research was to explore the contribution of PE to product design. The researcher experienced the scientific development of the technology first-hand, and undertook a literature review that covered three main topics: 1) printed electronics (the technology itself), 2) impact (approaches to assessing impact and methods of judging new technology) because together they will identify the state of the art of printed electronics technology, and 3) education - educational theories/methods for designers - studying how designers learn, explore different methods in educating them about new technologies, and start to find appropriate methods for educating them about printed electronics technology. A knowledge framework for PE technology was generated and utilised to produce a taxonomy and TRL scale for PE and confirmed by PE expert interview. Existing case studies in which PE technology had been presented to student designers were investigated through interviews with participants from academia and industry to solicit perception and opinions on approaches for the effective communication of PE knowledge to student designers within an educational environment. The findings were interpreted using thematic analysis and, after comparing the data, three main themes identified: technical constraints, designer s perspective, and what a designer is required to do. The findings from the research were combined to create an educational approach for knowledge transfer aimed specifically at meeting the needs of product designers. This resulted in the need for PE technology to be translated into both a visual and written format to create structure and direct links between the technological elements and their form and function in order to facilitate understanding by designers. Conclusions from the research indicate that the translation of this technology into an appropriate design language will equip designers with accessible fundamental knowledge on PE technology (i.e. electrical components: form, function, and area of the technology), which will allow informed decisions to be made about how PE can be used and to utilise its benefits in the design of products. The capabilities and properties of this technology, when paired with product design practice, has the capacity to transform the designs of future products in terms of form/functionality and prevailing/views towards design approaches with electronics. If exposed to a variety of PE elements ranging across different TRLs, designers have the capacity to bridge the TRL separation issue (the gap between academia and industry) through their ability to create design solutions for an end user and provide a commercial application for the technology.

Orientador: Ruy de Quadros Carvalho / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Geociencias / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-11T17:22:22Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Gavira_MurieldeOliveira_D.pdf: 1970343 bytes, checksum: 3b0d6eac67c27ea32fa232ff37a8b8ea (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008 / Resumo: Nas últimas décadas, com o aumento da pressão por inovações, as empresas multinacionais passaram a aumentar a descentralização de suas atividades, a fim de que cada uma de suas afiliadas possa contribuir para a geração de conhecimento e inovações. As subsidiárias, por sua vez, buscam obter mais responsabilidades, principalmente nas atividades de maior conteúdo tecnológico, a fim de garantir sua sobrevivência e competitividade. De forma geral, três conjuntos de determinantes explicam a evolução das responsabilidades de uma subsidiária: relacionados à matriz, à subsidiária e ao ambiente local. Dessa forma, essa pesquisa teve como objetivo estudar a interação entre a amplitude e complexidade das responsabilidades e o grau de inovação tecnológica. Para tanto, propõe-se um estudo de caso exploratório em profundidade de cinco subsidiárias do setor eletroeletrônico dos segmentos de: controle e automação; geração, transmissão e distribuição de energia; informação e comunicação; soluções médicas; e sistemas de transporte ferroviário. Ainda, foram analisados dados de pesquisa documental e pesquisa bibliográfica para contextualizar e entender o estado da arte e as características do ambiente local e para conhecer as subsidiárias e seus processos de gestão da inovação. O referencial teórico escolhido é o que encara a gestão da inovação como um processo e o que adota a perspectiva da subsidiária para explicar sua evolução. Os resultados evidenciam uma relação positiva entre as responsabilidades das subsidiárias e suas práticas de gestão da inovação tecnológica. As subsidiárias com as mais complexas responsabilidades são as que possuem as mais estruturadas, contínuas e complexas práticas e ferramentas de gestão da inovação. Com isso, pretende-se que propostas identificadas neste trabalho sirvam como subsídio para policy markers e administradores melhorarem a posição de subsidiárias brasileiras em termos de inovação / Abstract: With the increasing pressure for innovation in the last decades, multinational companies have started to increase the decentralization of their activities, in order to each affiliate to contribute with the generation of knowledge and innovation. The subsidiaries, on the other hand, seek for more responsibilities, especially in activities with intense technological content, in order to guarantee their survival and competitiveness. In general, three sets of determinants explain the evolution of the responsibilities of a subsidiary: related to the headquarters, to the subsidiary and to the local environment. In this way, this research had as main objective to analyze the relationship between responsibilities of a subsidiary with its innovation management practices. To support that, an exploratory case study of five subsidiaries of the electro-electronic industry is proposed. In addition, documental and bibliographical research data was analyzed in order to contextualize and understand the state-of-the-art and the characteristics of the local environment, and to know the subsidiaries and their innovation management processes. The chosen theoretical referential is that which considers the innovation management as a process, and adopts the subsidiary perspective to explain its evolution. The results make it evident a positive relationship between subsidiaries responsibilities and their practices of technological innovation management. The subsidiaries with the most complex responsibilities are those that have the most structured, continuous and complex practices and tools of innovation management. Hence, it is intended that the proposals identified in this work be useful as subsidies to policy makers and managers to improve the position of Brazilian subsidiaries in terms of innovation / Doutorado / Doutor em Política Científica e Tecnológica