Listening design: a new methodology for design and innovation processes

The aim of the paper is to describe a design methodology in the area of innovation design highlighting the importance of sharing strategies, methods and listening practices to be implemented at specific stages in the project's development. The ability of creative systems to generate product or process innovation and to integrate creativity and know-how in the products is the necessary condition to promote design activities and the following competitive dynamics able to meet the needs of the ever-changing world of consumption. The presence of universities, defined as “engines of innovation” (Florida et al. 2002), in complex production territories can establish close links between local development and intellectual capital and generate innovation processes. The interaction of and exchange between different competencies (universities, enterprises, institutions, users) makes up the environment where to formulate, share, design and test the demand for research-led innovation. Starting from the Design Thinking approach, the paper puts forward a methodology for the development of activities that may generate innovation, giving a crucial role to the "open listening" stage meant as the experimentation of an open, equal listening model provided with specific tools.