PROJECT NAME
STARTUP DESIGN
APPROACH
How can we increase the use of design in the Helsinki startup ecosystem? City of Helsinki believes that a more active use of design will increase the number of successful startups in the Helsinki ecosystem. However, they have observed that many startups do not seem to be using design-driven methods. It also seems like designers or design practitioners are not finding their way into startup teams. City of Helsinki has created a hypothesis that startups are either not aware of the added value that design can bring or they are not familiar with the variety of use cases it has
RESEARCH NUMBERS
15 3
OBSERVATIONS
HELSINKI COPENHAGEN SILICON VALLEY PLACES
for startups. City of Helsinki strives to be a leading design city where design lays the foundations of startup culture and is well integrated into the processes of startups. The aim of the IDBM project team was to find out how City of Helsinki could help startups adopt design and how designers and startups could be connected more effectively. The team set out to discover what role the city could play in encouraging the use of design in the startup ecosystem.
44
INTERVIEWS
17 STARTUPS 8 INCUBATORS 2 INVESTORS
11 DESIGNERS 6 OTHER STAKEHOLDERS
During the discovery phase we studied the Helsinki startup ecosystem to deeply understand the problem space regarding design. Our trip in Copenhagen and Silicon Valley allowed us to study how design is integrated into these active startup ecosystems and what types of design initiatives have emerged in them. The ecosystem in Copenhagen proposes a similar but more strategic and
02 We gathered all insights into three main clusters 1. Startup Ecosystems gathers insights about how various actors collaborate in Helsinki and abroad. 2. Startups & Design gathers our
03 How might we raise the awareness of the value of design in early stage startups?
THE TEAM
01
IDBM, Arts in/riikkaiivanainen riikka.iivanainen@aalto.fi
PHUONG ANH TRAN
CLINT WALRAVEN
KARRI KILPELÄINEN
AYUMI HIRASE
IDBM, Arts in/pganhtran/
IDBM, Business in/clintwalraven
IDBM, Business in/karrik/
IDBM, Sciences in/karrik/
phuong.a.tran@aalto.fi
clint.walraven@aalto.fi
karri.kilpelainen@aalto.fi
ayumi.hirase@aalto.fi
collaborative model than Helsinki in terms of spreading the use of design in startups, SMEs and MNCs. The Startup grind conference as well as interviews and observations in San Francisco inspired us about how academia, businesses and the startup ecosystem can collaborate tightly through an active mindset of sharing and helping or as the locals would say, by “paying it forward”.
DEFINE insights on how design is understood and used in startups. 3. Designers in Startups gathers different points of view that designers have regarding the required profiles, expectation of work and salary.
DEVELOP
How might we convince early stage startups to embrace design methods?
Focusing on these three questions, our team organised internal ideation workshops using design methods such as Round Robin Concepting or Brainswarming to generates ideas. RIIKKA IIVANAINEN
DISCOVER
04 In order to deliver concrete concepts we prototyped and tested our ideas. Our final deliverable is a roadmap with several concepts as
How might we support early stage startups to implement design strategically?
All ideas were then gathered on a roadmap to help our client understand when, how and in collaboration with whom to implement each idea.
DELIVER well as recommendations for how to implement them in the next three years.
OUR VISION
OUR AIM
We see Helsinki as the actor which can contribute positively to the startup ecosystem by encouraging more use of design and inspiring and facilitating strategic collaborations regarding design.
AWARENESS
Build a network which raises the awareness of design in the Helsinki startup ecosystem
We created a design vision and roadmap for how City of Helsinki can encourage the use of design in the Helsinki startup ecosystem. The roadmap is divided into the following three steps:
During the three years of the roadmap, City of Helsinki will take on varying roles by either supporting, facilitating or carrying out change in the Helsinki startup ecosystem. The recommended concepts include additional features to existing NewCo Helsinki services, collaborations with other startup ecosystem actors as well as some entirely new service offerings. The concepts range from
AWARENESS
01
6 months - 1 year
easily implementable solutions for the short-term to more complex solutions for the long-term requiring more active involvement or strategic collaborations within the ecosystem. We encourage City of Helsinki to embrace the proposed roadmap and solutions to become a leading design city within the international startup ecosystems as well.
How might we help Newco raise the awareness of the value of design in early stage startups?
6 months - 1 year
INSPIRATION
Encourage startups to embrace design through various initiatives and collaborations
INSPIRATION
02
1- 2 years
How might we help Newco convince early stage startups to embrace design methods?
1- 2 years
ACTION
Support early stage startups in a hands-on manner to implement design strategically
2-3 years
03
ACTION 2-3 years
How might we help Newco to support early stage startups to implement design strategically?