Five years of research the industry can pick up and use
- 5 years' research from the EU project PROTEUS, made usable
- Before the choice the consequence of each combination is shown
- To industry research became decision support
- Your knowledge is strong, but it sits in reports nobody reads to the end.
- Complex relationships cannot be explained on a slide.
- Decisions are made on gut feeling, because the alternative takes too long.
That is what it looks like in many knowledge-heavy environments. These are some of the challenges we have worked on with DTU Management.
What was DTU Management facing?
Five years of research into product-service systems had produced a deep understanding of how products and services interact, and what the combinations mean for sustainability. But research does not turn into practice on its own.
The maritime industry needed to see the consequences of its choices, not read about the method. And the tool had to work in two places at once: in teaching at DTU and out in the companies.
The research can be used by the people it is about.
Knowledge in reports and models that required a researcher to turn it into a decision.
A configurator where companies assemble product and service combinations themselves and see the consequences immediately.
The research is used in teaching and by the industry, instead of only being published.
The consequence is shown while you choose
- Try a combination
The user assembles products and services and sees the consequences in real time, instead of requesting a calculation.
- See the whole cycle
The tool shows how services are distributed across the three phases of the user's activity cycle, making gaps and overlaps visible.
- Take it further
Configurations can be saved, shared and printed as a report, so the result can be used as a basis for decisions inside the company.
The interactivity turns sustainability into something you can calculate with along the way, rather than something assessed at the end. It is also why the tool works in both teaching and companies without being two different things.
The researchers wanted the model used, not just communicated
The research could have been communicated better: a report with good graphics, perhaps a spreadsheet. That would make the results easier to read, but not easier to use in a decision.
Better communication of the results
- Faster to produce and easier to approve
- But the user still only sees the researcher's examples
- Their own scenarios still require a researcher
A configurator the user controls
- The company calculates on its own situation
- The relationships are learned by trying them
- The same tool works in teaching and in the industry
Three moves that turned research into a tool
DTU Management had the model, the data and five years of work behind them. Our contribution was organising it into a tool where advanced analysis becomes simple and actionable.
- 01
Research data in a structure
Data from the research database is organised so the calculations can run behind an interface that requires no knowledge of the method.
- 02
Activity-cycle analysis
Services are held up against the three phases of the user's cycle, making it clear where an offering is strong and where it falls short.
- 03
Sharing and reports
Configurations can be saved and shared, and the reports can be taken into the company's own decisions.
Built together with the researchers
The process was close and iterative. We worked directly with the researchers to make sure the tool actually reflected their results, and did not become a simplification they could not stand behind.
Workshops and testing with PhD students and professors shaped both the look and the function. It is a balance: the tool has to be simple enough to use and precise enough to be right.
Research that keeps working
Maritime companies have adopted the tool and highlight its ability to support sustainable decisions. At the same time it strengthens DTU's teaching programmes, because students can work with real relationships instead of examples.
Five years of work therefore did not end with a publication. It is being used, and it can be built on.
- Industry
- Research and maritime industry
- Platform
- Web
- Our role
- Development partner with operational responsibility under a service agreement
- Capabilities
- UX and service design , Web development , System development
- Technologies
- Angular, Java/Scala, Postgres
- The collaboration
- An iterative process with the researchers
Do you have knowledge that others need to be able to use?
- A reply from one of us by the next business day.
- A no-obligation review of your situation.
- Clarity on which options are relevant to you.
- A concrete plan, if you choose to go ahead.