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When I started this thesis, I first talked to designers and scientists about how they currently look for applications of a new technology. One of the people I spoke to is Pascal Gemmer. He is one of the founders of the Dark Horse Innovation, a Berlin-based innovation agency, and has a background in product development processes such as design thinking. (1)

During our interview, we talked about one of their projects that failed because their user-based approach was not the right fit. Here is what he had to say about the limits of user-based design:

„The bottom line is that it is just a matching problem. On one side, you need a problem; on the other, you need a technical solution. The whole process we work with is built around first defining the problem and then matching it with the company‘s technology. From my perspective, that is the biggest crux of these projects. By the time you search for the [appropriate] technology, it fails with most companies. They then say, „That is not a technology we own at all.“ So this idea does not get us anywhere. This user-centered approach definitely has its weakness. We do not have a methodology for how to proceed when we approach the matching process from another angle and say: There already is a given technology; what could be its potential application? How do you find the matching problem with a matching user base to that solution? We do not have anything like that.“ (2)

Pascal Gemmer says that if we have a task that requires us to use the technology-based process (Figure 4) but use a user-based process (Figure 3), we can not match the problem/solution we are looking at with the technology we have.(3) While some of the tools we use in a user-based process will also work in a technology-based process, it is the way we approach the task, the process, that is critical.

1, 2 & 3 Gemmer, P., 2.2.2022, Interview, Translation by Emrich M.