The Power of Design Thinking in Creating a Human-Centered Industry: Examining the Intersection of Design Thinking and Systems Engineering in the Ocean Industry

Design as a Holistic Practice 

Design has evolved beyond its initial definition of "thinking made visual." It now encompasses shaping people's perceptions, interactions, and emotions towards products, services, and businesses. As a result, design has become a more profound and holistic practice, considering aesthetic, functional, contextual, cultural, and societal considerations. This article explores the power of design thinking in creating a human-centered industry and its intersection with systems engineering.

Design Thinking: The Four Explorations 

According to Jeanne Liedtka, there are four ways to explore during the design process: what is, what if, what wows, and what works. By understanding these four vantage points, we can better understand how design shapes our environment and the experiences we have within it. We can create meaningful experiences that benefit us through thoughtful and intentional design.

Shift to an Exploratory Mindset in the Ocean Industry 

To face the challenges of industry transformation required for a healthy and safe future, the ocean industry must shift from an engineering mindset to an exploratory one. Developmental clusters provide an excellent opportunity to demo new business models and test innovation in ecosystem development among the many interdependent companies and sectors in today's ocean space. Developing clusters allows for collaboration between interdependent companies and sectors and enables us to create something new and innovative.

The Importance of Empathy in Design 

Design is not just about aesthetics and functionality; it's about the emotions and feelings of the people involved. Systems engineering is a process of problem-solving that focuses on developing and managing systems. While it involves understanding the needs of stakeholders, it leaves out critical success criteria that center around the stakeholders' experiences and emotions. Therefore, empathy is essential in design to take the possible feelings of the operators into account.

Design Maturity and Business Success

Companies with higher levels of design maturity in their business practices have better results for shareholders. Despite this finding, many companies are nowhere near mature in their design practices, with over 40 percent of the companies surveyed still not talking to their end-users during development. In the ocean industry, more than 60 percent are not spending time with their end-users when creating and designing new solutions.

The Importance of Diversity in Teams 

To improve design maturity, it's essential to welcome diverse people, ideas, thoughts, and perspectives from customers, users, colleagues, and acquaintances to create great solutions. When we disagree, we are allowed to learn, change something, and improve the quality of our ideas. A diverse team challenges our ideas and assumptions about how the world works if we are solving the correct problems, asking the right questions, and centering our work on the right stakeholders.

Innovation in the Ocean Industry 

Real innovation changes the course of industries or even society. In the ocean industry, there is an opportunity for business clusters to work together on safe spaces for new models of ocean business innovation. Collaboration between industry players is critical to leveraging our collective knowledge, resources, and skills to find innovative ways to build our future. Such collaborations can create new revenue streams and cost savings, helping businesses become more competitive and sustainable.

Conclusion 

In conclusion, design thinking is a powerful tool for creating a human-centered industry. By shifting to an exploratory mindset and welcoming diversity in teams, we can improve design maturity and in turn, achieve better results for shareholders. The intersection of design thinking and systems engineering can help us create cohesive experiences, products, and entire industries. We can build a sustainable and healthy future for ourselves through innovation and collaboration.

Collaborative Development for Sustainable Ocean Industries: Creating Long-Term Win-Win Scenarios

Introduction

As the world's dependence on ocean industries grows, it's essential to prioritize sustainability in all aspects of the business. Collaborative development offers a way to achieve this while delivering long-term, win-win scenarios for all stakeholders involved. In this article, we will explore the value of collaborative development in the context of sustainable ocean industries.

Moving Away from In-House Development

The ocean industry cannot thrive through in-house development alone. Collaborative development enables companies to achieve better long-term results by pooling their expertise and resources. As the energy transition continues, companies must work together to deliver sustainable solutions.

Benefits of Collaborative Development

Collaborative development offers many advantages for sustainable ocean industries, including improved long-term results, shared expertise and resources, reduced costs, and greater innovation.

Challenges of Collaborative Development

While collaborative development can be complex and difficult to manage, the benefits outweigh the challenges. Companies must be willing to work together and share their expertise and resources to achieve common goals.

The Importance of Stakeholders

To design a complete picture of the industry, it's crucial to consider the needs of all stakeholders. Mapping out the different stakeholders and their interconnections can help identify areas of opportunity for collaboration and innovation.

Conclusion

Collaborative development is crucial for sustainable ocean industries. By considering business objectives as a cluster objective view with trade-offs for developing long-term win-win scenarios, we can achieve better long-term results, share expertise and resources, reduce costs, and drive greater innovation. By utilizing human-centered design and considering the needs of all stakeholders, companies can create more meaningful and impactful products and services that will benefit both the industry and the people who use them.

Building a Sustainable Future: The Vital Role of SDGs and ESGs in Business Operations

The push for businesses to prioritize sustainability has become more critical than ever. There must be more than financial sustainability to ensure a company's long-term success. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Environmental, Social, and Governance Strategies (ESGs) are crucial. Let's explore how embedding sustainability into business operations through SDGs and ESGs can lead to a better future for all.

The Importance of SDGs and ESGs

The SDGs were adopted by the United Nations in 2015 to address global challenges such as poverty, inequality, and climate change. ESGs, on the other hand, are standards that companies use to evaluate their performance in areas such as environmental impact, social responsibility, and corporate governance. By prioritizing SDGs and ESGs, companies can ensure they are creating long-lasting value while prioritizing the environment and society.

The Importance of Climate Stability

Achieving climate stability is critical for creating a sustainable future. It is essential to ensure clean air, usable land, and a sea that can support life, without which none of the work that businesses do will matter. Human activities like industrialization have contributed to environmental degradation, leading to severe health impacts. Prioritizing sustainable development goals is crucial to ensure a sustainable future.

Implementing SDGs and ESGs

Implementing SDGs and ESGs requires a multi-faceted approach. Companies must prioritize gender equality, diverse viewpoints, and human-centered working environments that provide decent work and economic growth. Additionally, investments in infrastructure and innovation are necessary to create affordable and clean energy. Responsible consumption and production must also be a priority while ensuring companies are not polluting land and emitting gases that contribute to global warming. Finally, partnerships between industries are essential for achieving these goals.

Some of the relevant SDGs to discuss going forward in this project are. 

GOAL 5: GENDER EQUALITY

GOAL 7: AFFORDABLE AND CLEAN ENERGY

GOAL 8: DECENT WORK AND ECONOMIC GROWTH

GOAL 9: INDUSTRY, INNOVATION, AND INFRASTRUCTURE

GOAL 11: SUSTAINABLE CITIES AND COMMUNITIES

GOAL 12: RESPONSIBLE CONSUMPTION AND PRODUCTION

GOAL 13: CLIMATE ACTION

GOAL 15: LIFE ON LAND

GOAL 17: PARTNERSHIP FOR THE GOALS

Conclusion

In conclusion, embedding sustainability into business operations is critical for creating a sustainable future. Prioritizing SDGs and ESGs can ensure companies create long-lasting value while prioritizing the environment and society. Achieving climate stability and investing in infrastructure and innovation are essential for creating a sustainable future for all. Let us remember that the SDGs are not perfect and that ESGs are hard to measure. However, considering them as background criteria while looking at the shape of our industry is the first step towards a better future.

Let us prioritize the SDGs that are relevant to our industry, including gender equality, affordable and clean energy, decent work and economic growth, industry, innovation, and infrastructure, sustainable cities, and communities, responsible consumption and production, climate action, life on land, and partnership for the goals. It's time to transform and prioritize sustainability to create a better future for all.

References:

UN SDGs

Charting a Course for Success: The Power of a Clear Value Framework in the Ocean Industries

The ocean industries are complex and vast, and it can be challenging to understand the values and purpose that drive them. In my recent talk, I discussed the importance of a clear value framework in the ocean industries, which is essential for individuals and companies. By having a clear sense of purpose and values, we can work collaboratively towards common goals to achieve a smooth, sustainable, and safe ocean industry.

Start with Why

Simon Sinek's book, "Start with Why," is an excellent reference for understanding the importance of having a clear sense of purpose and values in any industry. Understanding why we do what we do and how we can serve others is crucial. Values like safety, good work-life, and efficient workflows are essential to the ocean industry.

Collaborative Projects

Collaborative projects are key to achieving a smooth, sustainable, and safe ocean industry. Different companies and individuals can pool their resources and knowledge to tackle significant challenges, leading to positive changes. It is essential to understand why we want to work collaboratively and what we hope to achieve. Collaboration can lead to innovation and knowledge sharing, ultimately resulting in a better industry for all.

ESG Reporting and Sustainable Development Goals

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reporting is essential for stakeholders and shareholders. They care about how companies in the ocean industry impact the environment, society, and governance. Sustainable development goals (SDGs) put forth by the UN provide an aim for industries to strive towards. By reporting on our ESG metrics, we can work towards the SDGs and a sustainable ocean industry.

Connective Strategy

The "Connective Strategy" course by Wharton provides an excellent reference for understanding how innovation can change the course of industries by connecting digital value to different consumer products. A clear sense of values and purpose can lead to positive changes in the ocean industry, such as producing energy safely and sustainably.

Conclusion

In conclusion, a clear value framework is crucial for the ocean industries to achieve a smooth, sustainable, and safe industry. By understanding why we do what we do, we can work collaboratively towards common goals and strive for a better industry for all. It is essential to consider ESG reporting and SDGs and implement a connective strategy for innovation.

Reflections:

"When companies or organizations do not have a clear sense of why their customers are their customers, they tend to rely on a disproportionate number of manipulations to get what they need. And for a good reason. Manipulations work." - Simon Sinek.

Innovation is not just about adding novel ideas but about changing the industry's landscape. Vanity metrics can be misleading, and we need to focus on meaningful changes to improve the industry.

Resources:

• Connected Strategy: Building Continuous Customer Relationships for Competitive Advantage, Nicolaj Siggelkow & Christian Terwiesch https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42940474-connected-strategy?ref=nav_sb_ss_1_13 

• Start with Why - Simon Sinek https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7108725-start-with-why.