<p> Design and Information Technologies: tools for innovation’s processes in Mexico.</p><p>Meza Aguilar, Jorge. Head of Design Department Universidad Iberoamericana Ciudad de México. Prolongación Paseo de la Reforma 880, Lomas de Santa Fe. México, C.P. 01210, Distrito Federal. E-mail: [email protected]</p><p>Abstract</p><p>Design is a “young” profession all over the world. Its social purpose has experienced a series of radical changes due to globalization, the use of new technologies and the redefinition of its role in the local and international companies and economies. Many countries are focusing on collaborative innovation by designers and industry.</p><p>Emerging countries are living a confused or misunderstood Design’s demand, caused by an inappropriate perception of the designers’ abilities and capacities, and the possible benefits that they could contribute to private and public organizations.</p><p>Design is a multidisciplinary profession that linked with information technologies could allow small companies to be more competitive and to expand its market’s share and commercialization. </p><p>It is important to communicate, to all micro and small companies, that design is a core discipline in the innovation process. Designers are strategic and innovative professionals, capable to develop concepts, products, services and messages. </p><p>The contemporary designer knows and applies a series of methods and information processes, from other disciplines, in order to determine the technologies, products and services that are demanded in society, considering certain aspects connected with user – market and strategy - businesses. </p><p>Companies need to get the benefits that Design and Information technologies may bring them in the analysis, development, implementation and communication of solutions and prospective ideas on new concepts (of products, services, environments, messages or systems); extremely necessary to compete successfully in global and local economies. </p><p>Our Design school has established a Consulting Center for Design and Innovation (CCDI) that promotes and develops activities of design, use of technologies, investigation, strategy and innovation.</p><p>Keywords</p><p>Strategy, Innovation, Product Development, Globalization, Management and Design Introduction</p><p>The main purpose of this work is to evaluate the impact of innovative and strategic use of Information Technologies and Design in the micro, small and medium companies of Mexico, through the different actions performed by the Consulting Center for Design and Innovation of the Design Department of University Iberoamericana, where students, graduates, professors and investigators of the institution collaborate. </p><p>Design is a young profession. In the last years its fields of action have experienced a series of radical changes due to the globalization, the use of new technologies and the redefinition of its role in the national and international economic gear. </p><p>It is necessary that Mexican companies take advantage of the benefits that Design and I.T.' s can bring them in the analysis, implementation and communication of business solutions and in the development of new products or services.</p><p>Problem</p><p>According to the International Institute of Administration for Development IMD, Mexico descended drastically its level of competitiveness in the last six years1. In Mexico there are 2,844,000 enterprises registered (Source: National Institute of Geography and Statistics, INEGI) and classified in four categories: micro, small, medium and large businesses; the three firsts, as a group, conform the sector of MPyME´s, and represent 99.7% of the total businesses registered in the country. </p><p>The small companies are the greater source for jobs generation in Mexico and are the ones that have suffered more in the loss of competitiveness. Unfortunately many Mexican micro-businesses still support their competitiveness strategy in low costs of operation models.</p><p>Many small and medium companies are not connected to Internet yet and therefore, they have not exploited its benefits. There are not any statistics on the number of PC connected to Internet in Mexican companies. Nevertheless there is information that indicates that Mexico has invested a small percentage of its PIB in technology.2 In 2003 the Federal expense in Science and Technology (GFCYT) was 28,113 million pesos.</p><p>According to the Mexican Association of Internet (AMIPCI) there are around 20 million Internet users in Mexico, and in 2005 the total base of computers was of 10.8 million, of which 58% had an Internet connection.</p><p>Those MPyME´s that do not conceive Internet as an essential tool to improve the competitiveness of their organizations are losing many business opportunities and the possibility to explore global potential markets. </p><p>The economic globalization has modified the rules of marketing, generating new needs and demanding the constant design and redesign of new products. The local markets demand differentiated products, adapted to the ways of life of the consumers of each region. New technologies, globalization and dominant ideologies influence, through design, the markets3. </p><p>1 Instituto Internacional para la Administración del Desarrollo IMD, World Competitiveness Year Book 2006. http://www01.imd.ch/documents/wcc/content/overallgraph.pdf</p><p>2 CONACYT, Informe General del Estado de la Ciencia y la Tecnología en México. Octubre 2004. p.11</p><p>3 The future of the industrial design. http: //www.microsoft.com/spain/empresas/ tecnologia/ futuro_industrial.mspx Competitiveness, Innovation and Design </p><p>The term competitiveness applies currently to a business, an economic sector and even to a country. Geraldo Müller, defines competitiveness as: "the possibility to conquer, maintain and expand the participation in markets"4 and affirms that this is the result of a mixture in the vision of the contemporary world, submerged in social values, that accepts diverse combinations of organizations and markets; of concepts from different theoretical sides. </p><p>With the economic globalization not only businesses compete for international markets, but also productive systems confront themselves. Osvaldo Rosebushes, already in 1990, undertook this phenomenon and notified: "In the present world products represent the competence of educational, technological, and productive systems"5. </p><p>Armand Mattelart affirms that: "Globalization consists, in first place, in a model of business management that, in response to the growing complexity of the actual competitive environment, carries out the creation and promotion of global competences, in order to maximize its benefits and consolidate its market share".6 </p><p>The International Monetary Fund (IMF) arguments that "globalization" is a historical process, resulted from human innovation and technological progress that implies the integration of the economies, of the entire world, through commerce and financial flows. Economic globalization has been a recognized force for at least thirty years. Academic journals, media, and social and political discourses are dominated by globalization events. </p><p>Nevertheless markets do not necessarily guarantee that the greater efficiency will benefit all. The gap between the rich and the poor countries, and between the poor and wealthy sectors inside each country, has increased in the last century (graphic 1). </p><p>International Monetary Fund (IMF)</p><p>For rich countries and wealthy enterprises globalization represents a good force, but for poor sectors and not competitive companies it appears to be a negative</p><p>4 Geraldo Müller. El caleidoscopio de la competitividad. p .137</p><p>5 Osvaldo Rosales. Competitividad, productividad e inserción externa de América Latina. pp. 711-723</p><p>6 Armand Mattelart. La mundialización de la comunicación. p.82 force; the link between financial development, economic growth and the international integration of financial markets is an inevitable reality. </p><p>It is important to recognize that proper process technologies, differentiation of products, brand positioning, efficient relations and services with clients are critical factors for success in the actual global environment. These factors imply necessarily a systematic investment of capital in companies (use in equipment, installations, plants, and information systems as well as in specialized research and development). With this reality, small and medium companies, with limited resources, are in great disadvantage and have reduce opportunities to survive in a globalize world. </p><p>It is necessary to generate the local conditions and capacities for the integration, innovation and transference of technology and knowledge, on behalf of the social and economic development of the country. A viable alternative for the Mexican MPyME´s is to incorporate strategies of design and innovation in its processes, products and services, finding a way to improve its competitiveness, generating jobs and contributing to the regeneration of regional economies. </p><p>Unfortunately many Mexican companies still support their competitiveness in strategies centered in low cost operation and production. Dr. Luis Arnal, graduated from IIT, explains that: "Innovation is a priority theme nowadays: almost all businesses compete in the international scene based in their own capacities to innovate. This does not it implies to be the “most creative” company, but to offer new goods, introducing adequate strategies of differentiation, that represent clear benefits to the potential consumers ". </p><p>Organizations are the primary agent for innovation, but only a small number of them have the conditions to carry it out. Innovation has been one of the most undertaken themes in the contemporary management literature. In the history of Economy, several authors have approximated the phenomenon of innovation, recognizing it as a transcendental part of the economic development process, generating added value for goods. </p><p>Product innovation represents today a viable way in which small companies can compete locally and internationally. For big companies, creating new products is a central path by which they adapt and sometimes even transform themselves in changing environments. </p><p>When globalization, rapid technology evolution, and customers' maturing expectations appeared, product innovation became the primary way in which firms could develop and Design was the tool to succeed. Nowadays, adaptation to the local markets has become a strategic competence for small organizations. </p><p>Innovation is considered, in this work, as a creative process through which organizations generate new products, services and strategies in order to adapt to the global environment, seeking to generate sustainable competitive advantages. </p><p>Mexican business men can develop, through innovation, new bases to compete, redefining obsolete or traditional management strategies. Design, understood as a creative process that seeks to solve problems concerned with product development, services and visual communications, considering a series of esthetic, economic, and technological requirements, can successfully contribute to the adoption of innovation processes in small and medium companies.</p><p>From applied investigation, centered in the specific needs of clients and businesses, Design can contribute to define and develop new products and services (based on formal, functional or symbolic necessities) for the global and local consumers that can become commercial hits. Design is an intellectual, technical and creative activity concerned not simply with the production of objects or images but with the analysis, organization and generation of solutions to different problems. </p><p>“Information and communication are the basis of world-wide interdependent living, whether in trade, cultural or social spheres. The designer's task is to provide the right answer to problems, of every kind, in every sector of society"7. </p><p>Design implies numerous phases of investigation, analysis, synthesis, viewing and prior evaluation to the production and final implementation of an object (in the case of the industrial design) or to the diffusion of a visual message (in the case of the graphic design). </p><p>Globalization has modified the guidelines of consumption, creating new needs and demanding the constant design and redesign of products. Local markets demand differentiated products, adapted to the regional ways of life. "A consumer, when buying a good, seeks to affirm its personality annulled by the urban conglomerations. Design personalizes products, transmitting the image of the company and even the country of origin." 8</p><p>Ron Sanchez, professor of management at the Copenhagen Business School, affirms that: “designers can move beyond marketing surveys to garner special insights on consumer needs and preferences. They can then translate these insights into concepts for goods and services that result in valued experiences— including the appropriate “image” for a product, as well as the highest-value personal interactions with customers”9.</p><p>Strategic designers can implement innovation strategies in which multiple business aspects can be developed, through the definition of new goals and means. Designers can be partners in defining the corporate strategy and building synergies that make the most of brand and product assets across different business units.</p><p>Centers for Design and Innovation </p><p>There has been an increasing development of Centers for Design and Innovation in the last 50 years. Design has evolved and is consider now an added value for products and an essential factor for business success. Applied Research, Management and Design are key factors in development, production and distribution of new products. </p><p>These Centers for Design and Innovation constitute a new platform of knowledge, discussion and information for businessmen, producers and retailers, as well as for professors, students, researchers and professional designers, performing the following activities:</p><p> Diagnosis of innovative capacities and innovation’s management.  Define strategies of Design, Innovation and Management Systems.  Implementation of design and innovation projects or processes.  Training in Design Management.  Design promotion. </p><p>7 El Papel del Diseñador Gráfico. http://www.iEcograda.org/web/about-es/about.shtml</p><p>8 El futuro del diseño industrial. http://www.microsoft.com/spain/empresas/tecnologia/futuro_industrial.mspx</p><p>9 Design Management Review, Fall 2006. p. 6 These organizations develop design and innovation projects for small and medium companies, and their proposals had been used as an example for all the firms located in the same geographical zone. </p><p>The consolidation of some of these Centers (i.e. NDC Norwegian Design, Council, DDC Danish Design Center, CIC Canadian Innovation Centre, CR&I The Center for at Taylor University or BCD Barcelona Design Center), has guaranteed competitive advantage and market expansion for many companies, as well as the adoption of design and applied research to their businesses. These Design Centers increment their countries’ competitiveness, generating better financial gains through the transformation of businesses with the mart use of "Design". </p><p>Linking Academy, Design and Information Technologies</p><p>The Design Department at University Iberoamericana is related to several productive sectors: visual applied communications, creative interactive media, and multimedia, strategic thinking, society and culture, product innovation strategies, fashion and textiles and product design. </p><p>Our bachelor in Interactive Design integrates information technology strategies, visual communication, programming, data analysis, networks and multimedia concepts. It prepares students to work with design for digital media, the World Wide Web, computer interactive media, animation, and project management. </p><p>An interactive designer from the University Iberoamericana is a strategist who can analyse, diagnose and solve complex problems of visual communication, audio, video, computer systems, networks, human-computer interaction and database concepts. This new designer works in an interdisciplinary manner understanding the importance of new communication media within information society and has a clear commitment with Mexico and Latin America.</p><p>At our University we believe Design is an important factor of social development and should become an integral part of the multicultural Mexico of today. Students must comprehend the importance of the design profession in the sustainable development of the country; it is necessary to broaden perspectives in order to visualize alternative forms of work that will allow designers to participate in the construction of a fairer Mexico. </p><p>Four years ago a web design course began at our school; its goal was to link Internet with social or commercial needs. Its emphasis was in generating appropriate solutions, through the visual codification of messages and the appropriate use of Information technologies, to specific interactive communication problems from different organizations.</p><p>Students know that information technologies do not warrantee to improve the standard of living of people. The reality is more complicated and, although Internet represents a “technological revolution”10, nevertheless its “penetrating effects” will be perceived long-term in Latin American companies. </p><p>The hypothesis that we have raised at the Design Department, is that if we wanted to educate professional designers that would be capable to prospect solutions for Mexico’s competitive problems, we should gave our students the opportunity to locate and understand themselves in the reality of a country of enormous context complexity, immerse in a society of great economic contrasts part of a globalize world.</p><p>With the support of our Consulting Center for Design and Innovation, we have developed a “teaching” strategy that joins the professional education (at</p><p>10 Himanen, Peca. “The hacker ethic”. Epilogue by Manuel Castells. New York: Random House, 2001. p.156 classrooms) with society through a series of participative experiences called “design linkage projects” which give the students the opportunity to interact with organizations through the resolution of real specific problems, giving them a clearer conscience of the national and global context.</p><p>Case of Study http://www.vibosamayab.com.mx/ http://www.newyorkdelibagel.com.mx/ http://www.bonhaus.com/</p><p>References</p><p> Castells, Manuel. La era de la información: Economía, Sociedad y Cultura. Fin de Milenio. Vol. III. México: Siglo XXI editores, S.A. de C.V. 2001.  Cerezo, J. María. Diseñadores en la nebulosa. Madrid: Biblioteca Nueva, 1997.  Chaves, Norberto. El oficio de diseñar. Barcelona: Editorial Gustavo Gili, 2001.  Design Strategy and Research de México S.A de C.V. http://www.dsr-group.com  Drucker Peter. Innovation and entrepreneurship. Oxford, UK: Butterworth & Heinemann, 2001.  Escobar, Arturo. Welcome to Cyberia. 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