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Design innovation: a tool for value-adding to the Papua New Guinea balsa wood industry
Citation
Kotlarewski, N and Kuys, B and Thong, C, Design innovation: a tool for value-adding to the Papua New Guinea balsa wood industry, Proceedings of the Design for Business: Research Conference, 12-13 May 2015, Melbourne, Australia, pp. 1-9. (2015) [Refereed Conference Paper]
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Abstract
In recent times the Papua New Guinea (PNG) balsa wood industry has increased in global
volume and value, offering employment to a significant number of individuals in East New
Britain (ENB) province. The PNG balsa industry previously relied on China’s renewable
wind energy industry for rotor blade manufacturing, which was claimed to be the largest
consumer of processed balsa from PNG. Since the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) the Chinese
demand for PNG balsa has significantly reduced resulting in a mass over-supply and under-demand
for the PNG resource. A lack of design innovation has added to the current market
conundrum and left many smallholders unable to sell their balsa, leading to widespread
financial hardship. It has come to the attention of the Australian Centre for International
Agricultural Research (ACIAR) and many stakeholders, if there are no new applications for
balsa there is no point continuing to grow the resource for a market that is not consuming it.
Design innovation generated through research-led industrial design practice is argued as a
key element to value-adding to the PNG balsa industry and smallholder businesses, which
rely on balsa production for financial gain to support their family and community. A case
study of the Swinburne University of Technology, Innovation Cup competition is used as a
method to demonstrate how research informs design innovation to add value to the PNG
balsa industry.
Item Details
| Item Type: | Refereed Conference Paper |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | balsa, design innovation, research-led industrial design practice, smallholders, Papua New Guinea, value-adding |
| Research Division: | Built Environment and Design |
| Research Group: | Design |
| Research Field: | Interaction and experience design |
| Objective Division: | Economic Framework |
| Objective Group: | Management and productivity |
| Objective Field: | Technological and organisational innovation |
| UTAS Author: | Kotlarewski, N (Dr Nathan Kotlarewski) |
| ID Code: | 109620 |
| Year Published: | 2015 |
| Deposited By: | Architecture and Design |
| Deposited On: | 2016-06-23 |
| Last Modified: | 2019-09-05 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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