01 背景
CONTEXT
文章旨在探讨设计驱动型创业的价值。它提出了设计是如何为创业提供价值的问题。无论是对创意对孵化阶段、发展阶段、管理风险和商业、公共机构、学术项目，还是保障个人生计方面来说。它指出设计实践在促进商业发展和支持创业方面发挥的重要战略作用，同时也指出创业设计领域几乎没有理论基础。其目的是将设计驱动的企业家精神发展作为设计研究中一个有效且专门的方向；为设计在创业中的贡献和价值奠定基础；展示创业实践如何定义设计，以及设计在多大程度上能与这些实践相结合。
设计和创业都在寻求机会，它们都以实践为基础，以行动和过程为导向，是相互影响的，都会产生新知识。将这篇文章联系在一起的线索之一，是对探索创业项目和激发通过设计实现、激活和维持业务增长的方式的兴趣。另一个问题涉及到在创业研究中对设计的有限参考，其中的研究通常与创新和战略文献相关联。尽管设计被应用于商业和企业实践中，但其独特的价值并没有在理论上得到充分的阐述。因此，有必要验证设计在创业活动中的包容性、多样性和应用性。
此外，本文探讨了在将设计嵌入到不同的创业环境中时所面临的挑战和机遇，并验证了设计在各种创新模型、过程和策略中的作用和价值。它提供了一个全球性的视角——来自非洲（博茨瓦纳）、亚洲（香港、菲律宾、韩国）和欧洲（丹麦、爱尔兰、英国）。根据它们所关注的设计的独特方面，本文被分为三个类别——设计思维模式、设计方法以及创业中的设计过程。通过这三个视角，我们深入了解设计是如何促进创业思维、支持社会企业、确定促成因素、克服孵化方案中的障碍、激活当地创业生态系统，并使可持续创业成为可能。并且讨论了在创业实践中嵌入设计的关键，强调了设计在当代创业中的作用和价值。
This special issue is dedicated to exploring the Value of Design-driven Entrepreneurship. It questions how Design can add value to entrepreneurial activity, whether it be starting, developing, managing new ventures and businesses, public sector initiatives, academic programmes or securing one’s own livelihood. It acknowledges the important strategic role Design practice plays in fostering business and supporting entrepreneurship while recognizing there are few theoretical foundations in Design for Entrepreneurship. The aim is to develop Design-driven Entrepreneurship as a valid, dedicated direction for Design research; to set the stage and pinpoint Design’s contribution and value within Entrepreneurship; to present how and where entrepreneurial practices position Design and the extent to which Design is or could be integrated within such practices.
Both Design and Entrepreneurship seek opportunity creation: they are practice-based, action- and process-oriented, with a potential for cross-pollination and new knowledge generation. One of the threads that binds this special issue together is an interest in exploring the ways entrepreneurial projects and provocations are enabled, activated, and sustained through Design. Another concerns the limited reference to Design within Entrepreneurship studies, where research is typically linked to Innovation and Strategy literature. Although Design is used within business and entrepreneurial practice, its unique value has not been fully formulated theoretically. As a result, there is a need to validate the inclusion, diversification and application of Design within entrepreneurial activity.
Furthermore, this special issue questions the challenges and opportunities when embedding Design within different entrepreneurial contexts, and authenticates the role and value of Design in various innovation models, processes, and strategies. It offers a global conversation, with contributions from Africa (Botswana), Asia (Hong Kong, Philippines, South Korea) and Europe (Denmark, Ireland, UK). The articles themselves are categorized into three conceptually constructed and overlapping categories in accordance with the unique facets of Design upon which they focus – Design mindsets, Design approaches, and Design processes for Entrepreneurship. Through these three lenses, we gain insight into how Design can foster entrepreneurial mindsets, support social enterprises, identify enablers and overcome barriers within incubation programmes, activate local entrepreneurial ecosystems, and enable sustainable Entrepreneurship. The key challenges of embedding Design within entrepreneurial practices are discussed, highlighting the role and value of Design in relation to contemporary Entrepreneurship.
02 设计驱动型创业思维模式
Design-driven mindsets for entrepreneurship
在一篇题为《设计思维是否有利于中小企业经理的企业思维和管理思维之间的双手动力》的文章里，Suna Løwe Nielsen、Poul Rind Christensen与Pia Storvang（南丹麦大学）通过共同创造的双向思维探索了设计思维(DT)对小公司的价值。该研究揭示了中小企业(SME)管理者在面对未来导向的创业探索和短期战略采用时的挑战。设计思维(DT)作为第三种互补的管理方法(即双灵活的管理思维)被提出，它提出将企业管理思维的分析、基于规则和实践的一面与设计师的技能、创造性反思和探索性认知思维结合起来。设计思维的五大原则如下:(1)以用户/客户为中心和重点;(2)问题框架和定义;(3)可视化技术;(4)实验与原型设计;(5)多样性和共同创造，最后一个原则被证明是驱动组织双向思维的关键。这些原则使管理者意识到他们隐藏的隐性知识，并潜移默化的在中小企业行动者之间激发了富有成效的对话，产生了新知识。
在第二篇题为《设计师企业家的四种心态》的文章中，Aldo Valencia、 Matthew Lievesley与Trevor Vaugh (Maynooth University)研究了设计师如何将自己转变为企业家，以及他们在用户旅程中的心态转变。这项研究将创业旅程分解为两个子过程——新的风险创造和新的产品开发——并引入了第三个子过程，称为设计师的思维模式过渡(DMT)。该研究探讨了从设计师到企业家的心态是如何从有效逻辑（即手段导向）转变为因果逻辑（即目标导向）的。DMT中确定了四种关键思路，即：工匠者、调节者、机会寻求者以及设计经理。作者质疑了设计师的成功是源于以用户为中心的。然而，结果证明，设计师最初的步骤是基于他们自己专业的优先级、兴趣和信念，而不是以用户为中心。这项研究为理解不同类型的心理需求提供了支持，这些心态指导目前积极活跃的和未来的设计师背景的企业家反思他们作为商业领袖的潜力。
In the first article within this category, entitled Does Design Thinking Benefit Ambidextrous Dynamics between SME Managers’ Entrepreneurial and Administrative Mindsets? Suna Løwe Nielsen, Poul Rind Christensen and Pia Storvang (University of Southern Denmark) explore the value of Design Thinking (DT) for small firms through a co-created ambidextrous mindset. The study sheds light on existing challenges faced by small- and medium-enterprise (SME) managers in ensuring a state of equilibrium between future-oriented entrepreneurial exploration and short-term administrative exploitation. Design Thinking (DT) is presented as a third complementary type of managerial reasoning (i.e. ambidextrous management thinking) that promises to combine an analytical, rule-based and exploitative side of administrative management thinking with the designer’s skills, creative reflection and explorative cognitive thinking. Amongst the five DT principles: (1) user/customer focus and emphasis; (2) problem framing and definition; (3) visualization techniques; (4) experimentation and prototyping; and (5) diversity and co-creation, the last principle proves essential to driving organizational ambidextrous thinking. These principles made managers aware of their hidden tacit knowledge and abductively initiated fruitful conversations between SMEs actors, resulting in radical new knowledge.
In the second article, entitled Four Mindsets of Designer-Entrepreneurs, Aldo Valencia, Matthew Lievesley and Trevor Vaugh (Maynooth University) study how designers transform themselves into entrepreneurs and their mindset transition during their entrepreneurial journey. The study breaks down the entrepreneurial journey into two well-known subprocesses – new venture creation and new product development – and introduces a third subprocess called the Designer’s Mindset Transition (DMT). The study explores how the Designer-entrepreneurs mindset transits from an effectual logic (i.e. means-oriented) towards a causal logic (i.e. goal-oriented). Four key mindsets are identified within the DMT, namely: the Artisan; the Configurator; the Opportunity Seeker; and the Design Leader. The authors question the assumption that designers begin their ventures from a user-centric perspective. However, the results provide evidence that the designers’ initial steps are based on their own priorities, interests and beliefs, not on user-centricity. The study supports the need for understanding the different types of mindsets that guide currently active and future Designer-entrepreneurs to reflect on their capabilities as potential business leaders.
03 设计驱动型创业方法
Design-driven approaches for entrepreneurship
在一篇题为《以设计为驱动的方法使可持续创业成为可能——来自菲律宾和英国的区域纺织社区的两个研究案例》的文章中，Jessica Ouano 与 Francesco Mazzarella (University of the Arts London)探索了以设计为驱动的方法来发展可持续创业的商业模式。他们讨论了在菲律宾维萨亚斯西部和英国英格兰西南部的地区纺织社区中采用设计驱动的方法（设计思维、共同创造、蓝海战略和价值主张设计）。该案例研究了专业设计师（拥有广泛的时尚和纺织行业知识）是如何影响消费者的行为（作为合作者、买家和营销人员），并通过敏感特定社区的文化差异，特别是关于消费者的心态，在促进不同利益相关者之间的共同创造方面发挥的关键作用。提出了一个概念框架，主张需要共同创造新的意义，以触及未开发的市场，并确保消费者对当地社区内企业生产的产品的需求。案例研究的另一个关键见解强调，需要制定营销策略，创造性地传达购买对气候有益的产品的长期价值，或分享制造当地、道德和环境友好纺织品的过程背后的故事。
第二项探索创业生态系统中设计驱动方法的研究来自于一篇题为《共同设计可视化方法的价值:增强对当地创业生态系统的理解》的博士研究，由Badziili Nthubu(兰卡斯特大学)领导。中小企业在新兴经济体中面临着不同的背景挑战，如获得财政资源、技能和技术的机会有限，导致资源和能力的价值差别很大，因此，有必要探索设计如何促进博茨瓦纳的制造业中小企业、评估当地生态系统中的创业机会并采取行动。研究学者提出了基于共同设计的可视化框架可以指导中小企业启动项目、设计、审查、激活和维持创业生态系统：第一步的重点是通过利用人才、基础设施和导师来建立信任，利用当地的机会从而创建高效的生态系统。第二步侧重于可视化利益相关者在生态系统中的角色和位置，以促进共享价值方法。第三步侧重于通过调整相互关联的目标和意图来调整生态系统参与者的策略使保持一致。第四步的重点是通过与生态系统的主导参与者建立联系来激活集体创业潜力。第五步的重点是持续维持生态系统关系的长期生存。通过使用共同设计来可视化生态系统参与者之间复杂的相互依赖关系，这项研究说明了设计如何为创业创造机会，并使制造业中小企业调整他们的集体能力。
In the article entitled Design-driven Approaches to Enable Sustainable Entrepreneurship – Two Case Studies of Regional Textile Communities from the Philippines and the UK, Jessica Ouano and Francesco Mazzarella (University of the Arts London) explore Design-driven approaches to developing business models for sustainable Entrepreneurship. They discuss the adoption of Design-driven approaches (Design Thinking, Co-creation, Blue Ocean Strategy, and Value Proposition Design) within the regional textile communities of Western Visayas, Philippines and South-West England, UK. The case studies examine how professional designers (with extensive fashion and textile industry knowledge) can influence consumer behaviours (as collaborators, buyers, and marketers) and play a crucial role in facilitating co-creation between diverse stakeholders by being sensitive to the cultural differences of specific communities, especially concerning the consumer’s mindset. A conceptual framework is proposed, arguing for a need to co-create new meanings to reach untapped markets and secure consumer demand for products made by enterprises within local communities. Another key insight from the case studies highlights the need to develop marketing strategies that creatively communicate the long-term value of purchasing climate beneficial products or sharing the stories behind the process of making local, ethical, and environmentally-friendly textiles.
The second study exploring Design-driven approaches within entrepreneurial ecosystems comes from a doctoral research, entitled The Value of a Co-Design Visualization Approach: Enhancing the Understanding of Local Entrepreneurial Ecosystems led by Badziili Nthubu (Lancaster University). SMEs face different contextual challenges within an emerging economy such as limited access to financial resources, skills and technologies. As a result, the value of resources and capabilities hugely differ and therefore, there is a need to explore how Design can facilitate manufacturing SMEs in Botswana to assess, evaluate and act upon opportunities in local ecosystems. The proposed co-Design visualization framework guides SMEs to initiate, design, review, activate and sustain entrepreneurial ecosystems. The first step focuses on creating productive ecosystems by utilizing the proximity of talent, infrastructure, and mentors to build trust to leverage local opportunities. The second step focuses on visualizing stakeholders’ roles and positions within the ecosystem to promote a shared value approach. The third step focuses on aligning ecosystem actors’ strategies by aligning interconnected goals and intentions. The fourth step focuses on activating the collective entrepreneurial potential by connecting with the ecosystem’s dominant actors. Finally, the fifth step focuses on continuously sustaining the ecosystem relationships for long-term survival. By using co-Design to visualize complex interdependencies between ecosystem actors, this research illustrates how Design creates opportunities for Entrepreneurship and empowers manufacturing SMEs to align their collective capabilities.
04 设计驱动型创业过程
Design-driven processes for entrepreneurship
接下来，我们将注意力转向设计驱动过程中的一个重要步骤——为企业家制作原型，在Konstantinos Petrakis (University of Strathclyde)的题为《原型驱动的创业：走向基于设计思维原则的原型支持工具文章》中，作为旨在支持创业活动设计思维方法论的关键部分，原型的作用在探索和解决问题的阶段、在企业发展的早期阶段特别有用。原型化有助于将想法塑造成有形的模型，同时使其更快、更准确的评估和持续的改进。在创业活动中制作原型的主要优势在于减少了不确定性，特别是在资源有限的资金不足、时间尺度压力或经验不足的企业中。然而，这些同样的资源限制（创新者缺乏资金和有限的技能），再加上可能持有不同看法和责任的不同利益相关者，往往会导致无效的原型设计。因此，采用设计方法的全部价值尚未实现。本文指出了原型的战略价值——它在指导企业家决策过程中的角色、目的和形式，以及选择合适的原型方法使用。本文介绍了一种新颖的原型支持工具，重点介绍了原型在创业和商业化中的优势、方法和挑战，以及原型如何帮助企业家吸引投资，实现商业成功和发展设计驱动的思维模式。
在一篇题为《社会企业设计：英国和韩国设计支持方案的比较案例研究》中， Hyejin Kwon、Youngok Choi 与Busayawan Lam (Brunel University London)指出社会企业(即创造经济价值和积极社会变革的企业)通常很少有机会从设计咨询服务中获得设计支持，进行设计教育和培训，并与设计从业者联系。这一点很重要，因为设计意识可以为他们提供增长和维持业务的关键知识和技能。通过探索社会企业现有的设计支持，识别战略利益相关者在提供这种支持时遇到的关键驱动因素和障碍，本文提供了一种系统性的方法来看待设计在社会企业中的战略角色、影响。
在《将设计功能引入科技初创企业的障碍:香港科技园孵化计划调查》一文中，香港理工大学的刘曦卉教授进一步阐述了科技初创企业引入或融入设计的短期和长期障碍，探讨了设计与创业组织之间的关系，并建议应用基于过程的观点来研究这一关系。这项研究是在香港的一个孵化计划中进行的，探讨了科技初创企业在设计管理成熟度的不同阶段的设计需求、组织的内部的设计部门，以及在项目和组织层面确定主要障碍的关键利益相关者。结果表明，目前设计的主要观点是设计仍然作为一种风格或作为一个过程，而不是在战略层面中去应用设计。
Next, we turn our attention to an important step within Design-driven processes – prototyping for entrepreneurs, in the article entitled Prototyping-driven Entrepreneurship: Towards a Prototyping Support Tool based on Design Thinking Principles, by Konstantinos Petrakis (University of Strathclyde). As a key part of Design Thinking methodologies, tailored to support entrepreneurial activities, the role of prototyping falls within the exploration and problem-solving stages, particularly useful in the early stages of enterprise development. Prototyping contributes to shaping ideas into tangible models while enabling their faster and more accurate evaluation, and continuous refinements. The main advantage of prototyping during entrepreneurial activities lies in reducing uncertainties, especially within resource-constrained businesses that either have inadequate funding, timescale pressures or insufficient experience. However, these same resource constraints (lack of funding and limited skillset on the part of innovators), in combination with diverse stakeholders who may hold different perceptions and responsibilities, often leads to ineffective prototyping. As a result, the full value of adopting Design approaches is not realised. This article positions the strategic value of prototyping – its roles, purposes, and formats in guiding entrepreneurs in their decision-making processes, as well as selecting appropriate prototyping methods to use. A novel prototyping support tool is presented, focusing on the advantages, approaches and challenges of prototyping in entrepreneurship and commercialization, as well as how prototyping can assist entrepreneurs in attracting investment, achieving business success and developing a Design-driven mindset.
The second article in this category is entitled Design for Social Enterprises: A Comparative Case Study of Design Support Programmes in the United Kingdom and South Korea by Hyejin Kwon, Youngok Choi and Busayawan Lam (Brunel University London). Social enterprises (i.e. businesses that create economic value and positive societal change) generally have fewer opportunities to receive Design support from design consulting services, to undertake design education and training, and to connect with design practitioners. This is important as awareness of Design could provide them with crucial knowledge and skills to grow and sustain their businesses. There are significant similarities and differences, on both operational and strategic levels, in the types of Design support (classified by the authors as Designing; Designing process; Design strategy; and Design for systemic change and culture) offered within Design Support Programmes in the United Kingdom and South Korea. By exploring the existing Design support offered to social enterprises and identifying the key drivers and barriers strategic stakeholders encounter in providing such support, this article provides a systemic approach in viewing the strategic role, influence and impact of Design in social enterprises.
Further expanding on the short-term and long-term barriers to introducing or integrating Design into a tech start-up, in the article Barriers to Bringing Design Function into Technology Start-ups: A Survey on the Incubation Programme of Hong Kong Science Park, Xihui Liu (Hong Kong Polytechnic University) explores the relationship between Design and an entrepreneurial organization and suggests the need for applying a process-based view to studying this relationship. The research, set within an incubation programme in Hong Kong, explores Design demands at different stages of Design Management maturity within tech start-ups, the Design function for or within an organization, as well as key stakeholders responsible for the identified main barriers at both project and organizational level. The results point to a predominant view of Design as styling or as a process rather than applying Design at a strategic level.
05 设计驱动型创业价值
The value of design-driven entrepreneurship
这篇论文的最初目的是作者提供了一系列关于设计引出的机会以及将设计嵌入不同创业实践的挑战的见解。每一种设计类别(即心态、方法和过程)都提供了不同的东西，第一种是关于设计如何促进我们的“思考”方式，第二种是关于设计如何促进实现创业精神和可视化创业机会的“方式”，第三种是关于设计如何在现有框架内促进支持创业精神的“活动”，包括实现这一目标的促成因素和障碍。
例如，在探索设计驱动的思维模式时，将设计嵌入到非设计环境中的挑战突出了中小企业经理对设计的整体缺乏意识和对设计过程的信任。然而，设计驱动的思维模式（基于设计思维原则）通过成功地支持具有组织双向思维的管理者，阐明了设计价值的一个关键属性。另一个例子强调了在创业旅程的不同阶段设计师内在优先级、兴趣和信念的挑战。然而，指导设计企业家的不同类型的心态展示了设计在培养设计师作为企业家领袖的能力方面的潜力。
设计驱动的方法(如设计思维、共同创造、设计驱动创新、共同设计可视化)被认为是可持续创业的推动者和当地创业生态系统的促进因素。在不同的创业环境中嵌入设计方法的一个挑战是，当地企业家缺乏获得设计教育或资源的途径，因此设计师扮演了重要的角色。通过引入设计的特定技能(如创造性地解决问题，促进不同利益相关者之间的共同创造，以及支持企业家与消费者共同创造新的意义)，设计师展示了参与式方法实现社会创新的价值。这种设计态度有助于文化的转变，这与当地社区有关。将设计驱动的方法嵌入创业活动的另一个挑战是，缺乏关于设计如何支持创业生态系统(中小企业及其利益相关者)中参与者的可视化，以设计、激活、审查和维持当地生态系统的知识。
在这个特别的问题中提出的文章也强调，设计通常仍然是一个事后的想法，被视为一个视觉化的过程，并没有在创业过程的早期被纳入，例如，由于原型设计的不足。然而，使用原型来获得创业成功证明了将设计作为吸引资金、在创业开发过程中清晰地交流想法和帮助作为决策过程的绝佳工具的优势。企业经常面临的另一个挑战是缺乏关于如何战略性地使用设计来开发产品、服务和系统以满足客户需求的意识。然而，在社会企业的支持项目中使用设计表明，设计作为可持续增长的战略驱动力的影响。同样，将设计引入科技初创企业的挑战包括，由于短期项目合作和组织层面的设计功能存在障碍，在战略层面不能应用设计。然而，通过识别关键利益相关者并消除障碍，设计有助于将“设计师式”知识和资源带入初创企业，这在发展的早期阶段至关重要。
基于这些思考，我们可以开始定义一种由设计驱动的创业精神。设计驱动的创业精神源于一种共同创造的作为设计师和组织的双向思维方式，它考虑了企业家的优先级、兴趣和信念。这是一种支持企业家共同创造新意义的方法，并共同设想当地生态系统内的关键角色，以行动抓住创业机会。设计驱动的创业依赖于设计能力(如共情、协同设计、可视化、在多学科团队中工作的能力)来驱动基于文化的可持续变革。这是一个由“设计师式”知识驱动的过程，在风险开发过程中帮助沟通和决策，并作为战略驱动力促进可持续增长。
虽然研究中的一些问题已经得到了初步解决，但与诸如设计驱动、以设计为主导、以设计为中心的创业精神之间的差异和重叠有关的问题尚未被探索。科技初创企业的孵化和社会企业的加速已经被注意到了，但还需要进一步验证设计在初创企业和风险投资等过程中的贡献。这次研究的一个关键问题是，通过机会驱动思维（创业精神的一个关键属性）和协作设计思维方式，来定义社会经济危机时期的弹性设计策略。进一步的研究是必要的，以确定设计可以发挥的作用，通过实现敏捷性、包容性和管理颠覆性来培养灵活性的企业家精神。关键的问题仍然是设计如何支持企业，不仅需要对不稳定做出回应，而且要规划如何在未来危机中管理关键点，例如将他们的价值提供、资源、资本获取渠道多样化等。最后，虽然我们已经看到了设计驱动型创业在创业生态系统中的价值，但未来的设计研究需要考虑其在创新生态系统、商业生态系统、知识生态系统和服务生态系统中的作用和价值。本文的目的是提高设计在支持、培养和培育企业家精神方面的作用，并将设计驱动的企业家精神作为设计研究的一个独特的发展领域的理论基础。我们希望这篇论文在构建这一主题的框架时，架起了设计和创业的桥梁，并明确了研究差距，激励其他学者，包括早期职业生涯的研究人员，继续推进这一研究领域。
In responding to the original Call for Papers, the authors have provided an array of insights on the opportunities Design elicits and the challenges of embedding Design within different entrepreneurial practices. Each of the three Design categories (i.e. mindsets, approaches, and processes) offers something different, the first concerning how Design contributes to the way we ‘think’, the second related to how Design contributes to the ‘ways’ of enabling entrepreneurship and visualizing entrepreneurial opportunities, and the third focused on how Design contributes to the ‘activities’ of supporting entrepreneurship within existing frameworks, including both the enablers and barriers to achieving this.
In exploring Design-driven mindset, for example, the challenges of embedding Design within a non-Design environment highlighted the overall lack of awareness of Design and trust in the process among SME managers. However, a Design-driven mindset (grounded on Design Thinking principles) illustrated a key attribute of Design value in intrapreneurship by successfully supporting managers with organizational ambidextrous thinking. Another example highlighted the challenges of not addressing the designer’s intrinsic priorities, interests and beliefs at different stages of their entrepreneurial journeys. However, the different types of mindsets guiding Design-entrepreneurs demonstrated the potential of Design in fostering designers’ capabilities as entrepreneurial leaders.
Design-driven approaches (such as Design Thinking, Co-creation, Design-driven Innovation, co-Design visualizations) have been presented as some of the enablers of sustainable Entrepreneurship and promoters of local entrepreneurial ecosystems. One challenge of embedding Design approaches within different entrepreneurial contexts includes local entrepreneurs lacking access to design education or resources, thus placing an important role on designers. By introducing design specific skills (such as creative problem solving, facilitating the co-creation between diverse stakeholders, and supporting entrepreneurs in co-creating new meanings with consumers), designers demonstrate the value of participatory approaches towards achieving Social Innovation. This design attitude contributes to the transformation of culture that is pertinent for activating and sustaining local communities. Another challenge of embedding Design-driven approaches into entrepreneurial activities includes a lack of knowledge on how Design can support the visualization of actors within entrepreneurial ecosystems (SMEs and their stakeholders) to design, activate, review and sustain local ecosystems.
The articles presented in this special issue also highlighted that Design is often still an afterthought, seen as a styling process and not being incorporated earlier in the process, for example, due to insufficient prototyping. However, using prototyping for entrepreneurial success demonstrates the advantage of using Design as an excellent tool for attracting funding, clearly communicating ideas during the venture development, and aiding decision-making processes. Another challenge often faced by businesses is a lack of awareness regarding how to use Design strategically to develop products, services and systems to meet customers’ needs. However, using Design within support programmes for social enterprises shows the impact of Design as a strategic driver for sustainable growth. Similarly, challenges related to bringing Design into tech start-ups include not applying Design at a strategic level due to barriers to short-term project collaboration and the Design function at an organizational level. However, by identifying the key stakeholders and removing the barriers, Design contributes to bringing ‘designerly’ knowledge and resources into start-ups, crucial in the early stages of development.
Based on these reflections, we can begin to formulate a working definition of Entrepreneurship driven by Design. Design-driven Entrepreneurship stems from a co-created and organizational ambidextrous mindset that considers the entrepreneur’s priorities, interests and beliefs. It is an approach that supports entrepreneurs in co-creating new meanings and co-visualizing the key actors within local ecosystems to act upon entrepreneurial opportunities. Design-driven Entrepreneurship relies on design capabilities (such as empathy, co-design, visualization, ability to work in pluri-disciplinary teams) to drive culturally-based sustainable change. It is a process driven by ‘designerly’ knowledge, aiding communication and decision-making during venture development and contributing to sustainable growth as a strategic driver.
Though some of the original questions from the call have been addressed, questions relating to the differences and overlaps between, for example, Design-driven, Design-led, Design-centred Entrepreneurship have yet to be explored. The incubation of tech start-ups and acceleration of social enterprises have been reviewed but there is a need to further validate the contribution of Design in processes such as scaling start-ups and ventures. A key question of this call was to define Design strategies for resilience in times of socio-economic crisis through opportunity-driven thinking (a key attribute of Entrepreneurship) and a collaborative Design mindset. Further research is necessary for establishing the role Design can play in fostering resilient Entrepreneurship by enabling agility, inclusivity, and managing disruption. The key question remains on how Design could support enterprises by not only reacting to instability but also planning for how to manage critical points during future crises, such as diversifying their value offering, resources, access to capital, etc. Finally, although we have seen the value of Design-driven Entrepreneurship within entrepreneurial ecosystems, future research in Design needs to account for its role and value within innovation ecosystems, business ecosystems, knowledge ecosystems, and service ecosystems. With this special issue, the aim was to raise the profile of the role of Design in supporting, fostering and nurturing Entrepreneurship and begin to develop a theoretical foundation for Design-driven Entrepreneurship as a distinct area of study in Design research. It is hoped that this editorial, in framing significant work undertaken on this topic, bridges Design and Entrepreneurship and acts to articulate research gaps and inspire other scholars, including early-career researchers, to pursue and advance this area of research.
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作者：
Ida Telalbasic
译者：糖醋排菇
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