Academic tools for sustainable product development often fail to achieve widespread use in industry. Based on a case study of a consultancy firm, this study explores factors that enable consultants to adopt and adapt such tools and act as intermediaries that translate and integrate academic findings into practice. Interviews and a survey revealed that a solid conceptual foundation, clear client value, result visualization, adaptability, and integration with existing workflows are most important, and the study proposes nine lessons learned to guide future tool development and collaboration.

Delving into a case company, this paper provides a practitioner perspective on implementing sustainable product development (SPD). Strategic implementation is achieved when i) tools are integrated at critical stages of product development, ii) awareness and responsibility are spread across the organization and iii) there is cohesiveness between tools sustainability approach and metrics used. While SPD tools are systematically used and help the company in capability building, the current process does not guarantee systematic sustainability improvements, calling for further research.

Mixed reality assistance guide posture and hand positioning, and familiarize material behaviour within craft prototyping. The development of the resulting framework focuses on non-intrusive assistance. Barriers include reduced immersion, observing precise hand movements, limited spatial interpretation, and understanding material behaviour. A 3D animation prototype, with roots in embodied knowledge, intends to improve spatial comprehension and enhance process and material understanding. The eventual framework should aid virtual assistance for design skill transfer.

While top-down System Engineering supports the definition of system boundaries and interfaces, practical implementation often proceeds in a bottom-up manner, resulting in the need for model integration of SysML models. This is currently hindered by inconsistent naming, different abstraction levels, and unclear interfaces. In this work, a novel approach to integration is proposed, utilizing RDF knowledge graphs and LLM-driven entity alignment with similarity thresholds to perform semantic fusion. A practical use case shows correct consolidation based on cosine similarity thresholds.

To bridge capability gaps between designers and artisans that hinder fashion and textile business collaboration and social innovation effects, this study explores how capability-based co-design fosters sustainable partnerships. Based on 20 case studies in China’s textile sector, it connects craft values, product features, and capability-based interactions. The model links this approach to make co-design practical amid skill gaps and enhance social innovation. It offers actionable strategies for balancing co-design methods in skill asymmetric partnerships in cultural and creative industries.

Additively manufactured particle-damped (AMPD) beam structures produced by PBF-LB/M are tested in the Einstein-Elevator under microgravity conditions. The first bending mode is evaluated by laser Doppler vibrometry and compared with results from microgravity experiments, using power spectral density inputs resynthesised from those runs and replayed on a shaker. Frequency-domain transmissibility with confidence intervals shows stable mode-specific damping behaviour and supports a validated workflow for future space structures.

The early stages of NewSpace missions can be in the fuzzy front end because of unclear requirements. This paper explores clearing this design phase through low-fidelity prototyping, using a case study of 23 prototypes organized into five concepts. The goal is to enable post-launch deployment and focus of a modified commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) telescope for an Earth observation hyperspectral imaging satellite mission. A final payload design is developed, and the lessons learned inform the design methodology for the early phases of NewSpace projects.

This study identifies the challenges design educators face in understanding, using, and teaching design methods and derives features from these challenges for an enhanced methods repository to support design practice and pedagogy. Interviews with 21 educators yielded 14 distinct themes of challenges, based on which the following features are proposed: (a) detailed method information with context-based recommendations and teaching resources, (b) a platform to learn and practice with guidance, and (c) step-by-step walkthroughs with cross-disciplinary examples.

Here we propose seven meta-theoretical parameters of change (7MTPC)—Plannability, Manageability, Stability, Trajectory, Origin, Motor, and Scale—to provide a shared coordinate system for comparing organizational change approaches. Derived from classic and contemporary theories, the 7MTPC make explicit the assumptions about predictability, agency, and causality that underlie them. The framework offers scholars and practitioners a common language to map, contrast, and combine models, towards a systematic and evolutionary understanding of organizational change.

Engineers often treat margins as buffers or excesses which are added to parameters, appearing much later in the product development process. However, many key lifecycle properties e.g., reliability stem from early architectural decisions which either need margins for their enablement or create margins in the process. These buffers are rarely treated explicitly as margins. This paper argues that there is a clear relationship between architectural objectives and margins and explores four examples of ilities providing a new perspective for reasoning about ilities in early system design.

Engineering software is evolving through the integration of artificial intelligence, creating new opportunities for enhanced assistance within product development. This paper proposes a use context model to systematically align and classify the functionalities of Generative Engineering and Design software with respect to the combination of product development phase, the nature of the task, and the level of support provided. Based on this model, a methodological guideline is proposed, offering a structured framework for the development and application of these tools in product development.

This paper shows the implementation of the Global Sensitivity Analysis (GSA) as a Life Cycle Assessment simplification (LCA) method to identify the most influential design parameters for the design of packaging reuse loops. The practical execution of GSA relies on Monte Carlo simulations to propagate the input parameter effects in the LCA model and Sobol indexes to quantify the variance contribution of each parameter. This methodology was applied to a case study in the French region of Île-de-France. This method allows identify the key design parameters to prioritize the design key decisions.

This paper examines how spatial arrangements affect digitally supported individual and group decision-making. In a controlled within-subjects study, 24 participants completed the NASA Moon Survival Task across three spatial conditions: standing at an interactive table, sitting at the same table with personal zones, and using laptops. By analysing decision quality, speed, and perceived collaboration, the study shows that spatial design meaningfully shapes decision performance, interaction dynamics, and user experience.

Compliant mechanisms achieve motion through elastic deformation, yet their core ideas are rarely taught before digital tools. This paper presents a foundation-first, hands-on method using lattice structures to introduce compliant mechanism design. In a pilot workshop, students analysed how rigid-body mechanisms move and redesigned them as compliant via tactile exploration and paper-based sketches, producing clear conceptual outputs and reporting improved understanding and confidence. The results show the value of early experiential learning before progression to digital and automated tools.

Residual stress is inherent in Additive Manufacturing process due to the heat cycling of the material being deposited on the build plate. The manufacturing toolpath can have a considerable effect on the development of residual stress distribution within a component. This paper examines the impact of the shell feature to generate some design heuristics on whether to include it when residual stress is of concern. The stress feature did increase the residual stressed observed during printing but was mitigated by the cooling regime after the process was complete.

We present a geometry-based complexity factor for additive manufacturing that estimates relative printing effort of fused filament fabricated parts from STL geometry alone. A reference effort is derived by slicing thousands of parts and volume-equivalent cubes. Eight interpretable geometric metrics feed a constrained, regularised index with monotonic calibration, achieving robust test accuracy and revealing which shape features dominate structural complexity.

Increasing e-waste demands design approaches beyond repair and recycling. This study explores adaptability, upgradability, and flexibility, as proposed to mitigate product obsolescence. Processes and guidelines are examined from legislative, academic, and industrial perspectives, complemented by a workshop (n=16). Applications show potential yet remain scarce and uncover rebound effects. A common framework for adaptable design is suggested. Future research is recommended to evaluate it, expand guidelines empirically and address barriers like consumer perceptions and business model challenges.

Knowledge management (KM) is crucial for efficient cross-sectoral R&D. Our study, performed with academic and industry experts (n=17), reveals a deep distrust in formal KM platforms and a high reliance on personal networks. Based on the findings of how the personal networks serve for knowledge management and exchange, we propose a concept and basic design requirements for an AI-powered ‘knowledge orchestrator’. Accounting the promise and the capabilities of the modern AI, this AI-powered ‘knowledge orchestrator’ may serve as a new generation of KM system for modern cross-sectoral R&D.