Desenvolvimento de protótipo de cadeira de banho para indivíduos com paralisia cerebral tetraparética espástica

This study proposes to develop an equipment that attends the demands of tetraplegic people due to cerebral palsy and that promotes an adequate caregivers postural biomechanics during the shower activity of daily living. First, a bibliographic review was performed to define the terms refering to cerebral palsy, activity of daily living (specifically shower), and assistive technology, besides listing the wheelchairs made on the mainly national assistive technology companies. Therefore, this is a descriptive-exploratory study based on a literature review and on a based-field exploration research. On the field research a survey was adopted as a methodological procedure as it is related to a direct investigation related to a phenomenon, on the case, represented by the current shower situation of the people investigated in this study. Data were collected with the application of a form to the caregivers and consumers of the medical-therapeutic treatment and place used by the participants. Such form, which was made up of open and close questions, tried to identify, besides the personal data of evaluated users and consumers, the characteristics of the current shower activity, such as the place where it takes place in the house, the used equipmentS, in the case there is any, and how often it occurs. The form also was used to identify the caregivers and consumers desires and perceptions in relation to the present characteristics of the new dispositive besides the users and consumers anthropometric data. The evaluation of the results obtained through the form, together with the practice and clinical experience of the researchers and engineers involved in this study, made it possible to develop and make up a real shower chair prototype with the specific adjusts destined to adequate the equipment to be used according to the needs of each user and consumer

Inovação em design: planejamento e estratégias para um parque tecnológico na região de Bauru - SP

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

The new cloud computing paradigm: the way to IT seen as a utility

In the present competitive environment, companies are wondering how to reduce their IT costs while increasing their efficiency and agility to react when changes in the business processes are required. Cloud Computing is the latest paradigm to optimize the use of IT resources considering ?everything as a service? and receiving these services from the Cloud (Internet) instead of owning and managing hardware and software assets. The benefits from the model are clear. However, there are also concerns and issues to be solved before Cloud Computing spreads across the different industries. This model will allow a pay-per-use model for the IT services and many benefits like cost savings, agility to react when business demands changes and simplicity because there will not be any infrastructure to operate and administrate. It will be comparable to the well known utilities like electricity, water or gas companies. However, this paper underlines several risk factors of the model. Leading technology companies should research on solutions to minimize the risks described in this article. Keywords - Cloud Computing, Utility Computing, Elastic Computing, Enterprise Agility

Modelos de métrica para sistemas electrónicos de adquisición de datos y de procesamiento para investigación clínica con dispositivos cardiacos implantables

RESUMEN Las enfermedades cardiovasculares constituyen en la actualidad la principal causa de mortalidad en el mundo y se prevé que sigan siéndolo en un futuro, generando además elevados costes para los sistemas de salud. Los dispositivos cardiacos implantables constituyen una de las opciones para el diagnóstico y el tratamiento de las alteraciones del ritmo cardiaco. La investigación clínica con estos dispositivos alcanza gran relevancia para combatir estas enfermedades que tanto afectan a nuestra sociedad. Tanto la industria farmacéutica y de tecnología médica, como los propios investigadores, cada día se ven involucrados en un mayor número de proyectos de investigación clínica. No sólo el incremento en su volumen, sino el aumento de la complejidad, están generando mayores gastos en las actividades asociadas a la investigación médica. Esto está conduciendo a las compañías del sector sanitario a estudiar nuevas soluciones que les permitan reducir los costes de los estudios clínicos. Las Tecnologías de la Información y las Comunicaciones han facilitado la investigación clínica, especialmente en la última década. Los sistemas y aplicaciones electrónicos han proporcionado nuevas posibilidades en la adquisición, procesamiento y análisis de los datos. Por otro lado, la tecnología web propició la aparición de los primeros sistemas electrónicos de adquisición de datos, que han ido evolucionando a lo largo de los últimos años. Sin embargo, la mejora y perfeccionamiento de estos sistemas sigue siendo crucial para el progreso de la investigación clínica. En otro orden de cosas, la forma tradicional de realizar los estudios clínicos con dispositivos cardiacos implantables precisaba mejorar el tratamiento de los datos almacenados por estos dispositivos, así como para su fusión con los datos clínicos recopilados por investigadores y pacientes. La justificación de este trabajo de investigación se basa en la necesidad de mejorar la eficiencia en la investigación clínica con dispositivos cardiacos implantables, mediante la reducción de costes y tiempos de desarrollo de los proyectos, y el incremento de la calidad de los datos recopilados y el diseño de soluciones que permitan obtener un mayor rendimiento de los datos mediante la fusión de datos de distintas fuentes o estudios. Con este fin se proponen como objetivos específicos de este proyecto de investigación dos nuevos modelos: - Un modelo de recuperación y procesamiento de datos para los estudios clínicos con dispositivos cardiacos implantables, que permita estructurar y estandarizar estos procedimientos, con el fin de reducir tiempos de desarrollo Modelos de Métrica para Sistemas Electrónicos de Adquisición de Datos y de Procesamiento para Investigación Clínica con Dispositivos Cardiacos Implantables de estas tareas, mejorar la calidad del resultado obtenido, disminuyendo en consecuencia los costes. - Un modelo de métrica integrado en un Sistema Electrónico de Adquisición de Datos (EDC) que permita analizar los resultados del proyecto de investigación y, particularmente del rendimiento obtenido del EDC, con el fin de perfeccionar estos sistemas y reducir tiempos y costes de desarrollo del proyecto y mejorar la calidad de los datos clínicos recopilados. Como resultado de esta investigación, el modelo de procesamiento propuesto ha permitido reducir el tiempo medio de procesamiento de los datos en más de un 90%, los costes derivados del mismo en más de un 85% y todo ello, gracias a la automatización de la extracción y almacenamiento de los datos, consiguiendo una mejora de la calidad de los mismos. Por otro lado, el modelo de métrica posibilita el análisis descriptivo detallado de distintos indicadores que caracterizan el rendimiento del proyecto de investigación clínica, haciendo factible además la comparación entre distintos estudios. La conclusión de esta tesis doctoral es que los resultados obtenidos han demostrado que la utilización en estudios clínicos reales de los dos modelos desarrollados ha conducido a una mejora en la eficiencia de los proyectos, reduciendo los costes globales de los mismos, disminuyendo los tiempos de ejecución, e incrementando la calidad de los datos recopilados. Las principales aportaciones de este trabajo de investigación al conocimiento científico son la implementación de un sistema de procesamiento inteligente de los datos almacenados por los dispositivos cardiacos implantables, la integración en el mismo de una base de datos global y optimizada para todos los modelos de dispositivos, la generación automatizada de un repositorio unificado de datos clínicos y datos de dispositivos cardiacos implantables, y el diseño de una métrica aplicada e integrable en los sistemas electrónicos de adquisición de datos para el análisis de resultados de rendimiento de los proyectos de investigación clínica. ABSTRACT Cardiovascular diseases are the main cause of death worldwide and it is expected to continue in the future, generating high costs for health care systems. Implantable cardiac devices have become one of the options for diagnosis and treatment of cardiac rhythm disorders. Clinical research with these devices has acquired great importance to fight against these diseases that affect so many people in our society. Both pharmaceutical and medical technology companies, and also investigators, are involved in an increasingly number of clinical research projects. The growth in volume and the increase in medical research complexity are contributing to raise the expenditure level associated with clinical investigation. This situation is driving health care sector companies to explore new solutions to reduce clinical trial costs. Information and Communication Technologies have facilitated clinical research, mainly in the last decade. Electronic systems and software applications have provided new possibilities in the acquisition, processing and analysis of clinical studies data. On the other hand, web technology contributed to the appearance of the first electronic data capture systems that have evolved during the last years. Nevertheless, improvement of these systems is still a key aspect for the progress of clinical research. On a different matter, the traditional way to develop clinical studies with implantable cardiac devices needed an improvement in the processing of the data stored by these devices, and also in the merging of these data with the data collected by investigators and patients. The rationale of this research is based on the need to improve the efficiency in clinical investigation with implantable cardiac devices, by means of reduction in costs and time of projects development, as well as improvement in the quality of information obtained from the studies and to obtain better performance of data through the merging of data from different sources or trials. The objective of this research project is to develop the next two models: • A model for the retrieval and processing of data for clinical studies with implantable cardiac devices, enabling structure and standardization of these procedures, in order to reduce the time of development of these tasks, to improve the quality of the results, diminish therefore costs. • A model of metric integrated in an Electronic Data Capture system (EDC) that allow to analyze the results of the research project, and particularly the EDC performance, in order to improve those systems and to reduce time and costs of the project, and to get a better quality of the collected clinical data. As a result of this work, the proposed processing model has led to a reduction of the average time for data processing by more than 90 per cent, of related costs by more than 85 per cent, and all of this, through automatic data retrieval and storage, achieving an improvement of quality of data. On the other hand, the model of metrics makes possible a detailed descriptive analysis of a set of indicators that characterize the performance of each research project, allowing inter‐studies comparison. This doctoral thesis results have demonstrated that the application of the two developed models in real clinical trials has led to an improvement in projects efficiency, reducing global costs, diminishing time in execution, and increasing quality of data collected. The main contributions to scientific knowledge of this research work are the implementation of an intelligent processing system for data stored by implantable cardiac devices, the integration in this system of a global and optimized database for all models of devices, the automatic creation of an unified repository of clinical data and data stored by medical devices, and the design of a metric to be applied and integrated in electronic data capture systems to analyze the performance results of clinical research projects.

Luz industrial e imagen tecnificada: de Moholy Nagy al C.A.V.S. (Center for Advanced Visual Studies)

El desarrollo de la tecnología de la luz implicará la transformación de la vida social, cultural y económica. Tanto las consideraciones espaciales del Movimiento Moderno, como los efectos producidos por la segunda Guerra Mundial, tendrán efectos visibles en las nuevas configuraciones espaciales y en la relación simbiótica y recíproca que se dará entre ideología y tecnología. La transformación en la comprensión de la articulación espacial, asociada al desarrollo tecnológico, afectará al modo en que este espacio es experimentado y percibido. El espacio expositivo y el espacio escénico se convertirán en laboratorio práctico donde desarrollar y hacer comprensible todo el potencial ilusorio de la luz, la proyección y la imagen, como parámetros modificadores y dinamizadores del espacio arquitectónico. Esta experimentación espacial estará precedida por la investigación y creación conceptual en el mundo plástico, donde los nuevos medios mecánicos serán responsables de la construcción de una nueva mirada moderna mediatizada por los elementos técnicos. La experimentación óptica, a través de la fotografía, el cine, o el movimiento de la luz y su percepción, vinculada a nuevos modos de representación y comunicación, se convertirá en elemento fundamental en la configuración espacial. Este ámbito de experimentación se hará patente en la Escuela de la Bauhaus, de la mano de Gropius, Schlemmer o Moholy Nagy entre otros; tanto en reflexiones teóricas como en el desarrollo de proyectos expositivos, arquitectónicos o teatrales, que evolucionarán en base a la tecnología y la modificación de la relación con el espectador. El espacio expositivo y el espacio escénico se tomarán como oportunidad de investigación espacial y de análisis de los modos de percepción, convirtiéndose en lugares de experimentación básicos para el aprendizaje. El teatro se postula como punto de encuentro entre el arte y la técnica, cobrando especial importancia la intersección con otras disciplinas en la definición espacial. Las múltiples innovaciones técnicas ligadas a los nuevos fundamentos teatrales en la modificación de la relación con la escena, que se producen a principios del siglo XX, tendrán como consecuencia la transformación del espacio en un espacio dinámico, tanto física como perceptivamente, que dará lugar a nuevas concepciones espaciales, muchas de ellas utópicas. La luz, la proyección y la creación de ilusión en base a estímulos visuales y sonoros, aparecen como elementos proyectuales efímeros e inmateriales, que tendrán una gran incidencia en el espacio y su modo de ser experimentado. La implicación de la tecnología en el arte conllevará modificaciones en la visualización, así como en la configuración espacial de los espacios destinados a esta. Destacaremos como propuesta el Teatro Total de Walter Gropius, en cuyo desarrollo se recogen de algún modo las experiencias espaciales y las investigaciones desarrolladas sobre la estructura formal de la percepción realizadas por Moholy Nagy, además de los conceptos acerca del espacio escénico desarrollados en el taller de Teatro de la Bauhaus por Oskar Schlemmer. En el Teatro Total, Gropius incorporará su propia visión de cuestiones que pertenecen a la tradición de la arquitectura teatral y las innovaciones conceptuales que estaban teniendo lugar desde finales del s.XIX, tales como la participación activa del público o la superación entre escena y auditorio, estableciendo en el proyecto una nueva relación perceptual entre sala, espectáculo y espectador; aumentando la sensación de inmersión, a través del uso de la física, la óptica, y la acústica, creando una energía concéntrica capaz de extenderse en todas direcciones. El Teatro Total será uno de los primeros ejemplos en los que desde el punto de partida del proyecto, se conjuga la imagen como elemento comunicativo con la configuración espacial. Las nuevas configuraciones escénicas tendrán como premisa de desarrollo la capacidad de transformación tanto perceptiva, como física. En la segunda mitad del s.XX, la creación de centros de investigación como el CAVS (The Center for Advanced Visual Studies,1967), o el EAT (Experiments in Art and Technology, 1966), favorecerán la colaboración interdisciplinar entre arte y ciencia, implicando a empresas de carácter tecnológico, como Siemens, HP, IBM o Philips, facilitando soporte técnico y económico para el desarrollo de nuevos sistemas. Esta colaboración interdisciplinar dará lugar a una serie de intervenciones espaciales que tendrán su mayor visibilidad en algunas Exposiciones Universales. El resultado será, en la mayoría de los casos, la creación de espacios de carácter inmersivo, donde se establecerá una relación simbiótica entre espacio, imagen, sonido, y espectador. La colocación del espectador en el centro de la escena y la disposición dinámica de imagen y sonido, crearán una particular narrativa espacial no lineal, concebida para la experiencia. Desde las primeras proyecciones de cine a la pantalla múltiple de los Eames, las técnicas espaciales de difusión del sonido en Stockhausen, o los experimentos con el movimiento físico interactivo, la imagen, la luz en movimiento y el sonido, quedan inevitablemente convertidos en material arquitectónico. ABSTRACT. Light technology development would lead to a social, cultural and economic transformation. Both spatial consideration of “Modern Movement” and Second World War effects on technology, would have a visible aftereffect on spatial configuration and on the symbiotic and mutual relationship between ideology & technology. Comprehension adjustment on the articulation of space together with technology development, would impact on how space is perceived and felt. Exhibition space and scenic space would turn into a laboratory where developing and making comprehensive all illusory potential of light, projection and image. These new parameters would modify and revitalize the architectonic space. as modifying and revitalizing parameters of architectonic space. Spatial experimentation would be preceded by conceptual creation and investigation on the sculptural field, where new mechanic media would be responsible for a fresh and modern look influenced by technical elements. Optical experimentation, through photography, cinema or light movement and its perception, would turn into essential components for spatial arrangement linked to new ways of performance and communication. This experimentation sphere would be clear at The Bauhaus School, by the hand of Gropius, Schlemmer or Moholy Nag among others; in theoretical, theatrical or architectural performance’s projects, that would evolve based on technology and also based on the transformation of the relationship with the observer. Exhibition and perfor-mance areas would be taken as opportunities of spatial investigation and for the analysis of the different ways of perception, thus becoming key places for learning. Theater is postulated as a meeting point between art and technique, taking on a new significance at its intersection with other disciplines working with spatial definition too. The multiple innovation techniques linked to the new foundations for the theater regarding stage relation, would have as a consequence the regeneration of the space. Space would turn dynamic, both physically and perceptibly, bringing innovative spatial conceptions, many of them unrealistic. Light, projection and illusory creation based on sound and visual stimulus would appear as intangible and momentary design components, which would have a great impact on the space and on the way it is experienced. Implication of technology in art would bring changes on the observer as well as on the spatial configuration of the art spaces2. It would stand out as a proposal Walter Groupis Total Theater, whose development would include somehow the spatial experiments and studies about formal structure of perception accomplished by Moholy Nagy besides the concepts regarding stage space enhanced at the Bauhaus Theater Studio by Oskar Schlemmer. Within Total Theater, Groupis would incorporate his own view about traditional theatric architecture and conceptual innovations that were taking place since the end of the nineteenth century, such as active audience participation or the diffusing limits between scene and audience, establishing a new perception relationship between auditorium, performance and audience, improving the feeling of immersion through the use of physics, optics and acoustics, creating a concentric energy capable of spreading in all directions. Total Theater would be one of the first example in which, from the beginning of the Project, image is combined as a communicating element with the spatial configuration. As a premise of development, new stage arrangement would have the capacity of transformation, both perceptive and physically. During the second half or the twentieth century, the creation of investigation centers such as CAVS (Center for Advanced Visual Studies, 1967) or EAT (Experiments in Art and Technology, 1966), would help to the interdisciplinary collaboration between art and science, involving technology companies like Siemens, HP, IBM or Philips, providing technical and economic support to the development of new systems. This interdisciplinary collaboration would give room to a series of spatial interventions which would have visibility in some Universal Exhibitions. The result would be, in most cases, the creation of immersive character spaces, where a symbiotic relationship would be stablished between space, image, sound and audience. The new location of the audience in the middle of the display, together with the dynamic arrangement of sound and image would create a particular, no lineal narrative conceived to be experienced. Since the first cinema projections, the multiple screen of Eames, the spatial techniques for sound dissemination at Stockhausen or the interactive physical movement experimentation, image, motion light and sound would turn inevitably into architectural material.

Gender, computing and the organisation of working time: public/private comparisons in the Australian context

Professional computing employment in Australia, as in most advanced economies, is highly sex segregated, reflecting well-rehearsed ideas about the masculinity of technology and computing culture. In this paper we are concerned with the processes of work organisation that sustain and reproduce this gendered occupational distribution, focusing in particular on differences and similarities in working-time arrangements between public and private sectors in the Australian context. While information technology companies are often highly competitive workplaces with individualised working arrangements, computing professionals work in a wide range of organisations with different regulatory histories and practices. Our goal is to investigate the implications of these variations for gender equity outcomes, using the public/private divide as indicative of different regulatory frameworks. We draw on Australian census data and a series of organisational case studies to compare working-time arrangements in professional computing employment across sectors, and to examine the various ways employees adapt and respond. Our analysis identifies a stronger ‘long hours culture’ in the private sector, but also underlines the rarity of part-time work in both sectors, and suggests that men and women tend to respond in different ways to these constraints. Although the findings highlight the importance of regulatory frameworks, the organisation of working time across sectors appears to be sustaining rather than challenging gender inequalities in computing employment.

INFLUÊNCIA DA APRENDIZAGEM ORGANIZACIONAL NA INOVAÇÃO DE PRODUTOS: ESTUDO EM EMPRESAS DE BASE TECNOLÓGICA DO VALE DA ELETRÔNICA, EM MINAS GERAIS

Esse estudo investiga como a aprendizagem organizacional pode influenciar a inovação em produtos nas empresas de base tecnológica. As empresas estudadas estão localizadas no Arranjo Produtivo Local Eletroeletrônico, conhecido informalmente como Vale da Eletrônica, na cidade de Santa Rita do Sapucaí, Minas Gerais. O arcabouço teórico envolve a exploração dos temas principais: aprendizagem organizacional e inovação. A decisão em estudar algumas empresas localizadas nessa cidade se deu por este ambiente ser composto de uma estrutura voltada à produção de conhecimentos tecnológicos dotados de inovações. Como objetivos específicos, esta pesquisa busca identificar as formas, fontes e o processo de aprendizagem organizacional que influenciaram as inovações apresentadas pelas empresas. Trata-se de uma pesquisa qualitativa, de caráter exploratório e descritivo. Os dados empíricos foram coletados por meio de entrevistas semiestruturadas a proprietários e gestores das empresas. O resultado evidenciou que formas e fontes internas e externas de aprendizagem e a proximidade da academia como coadjuvante no desenvolvimento das inovações contribuíram e influenciaram a inovação de produtos responsáveis pelo aumento de vantagem competitiva nas empresas. Esse estudo também permitiu apontar a relevância e a contribuição da aprendizagem organizacional na inovação de produtos e abre caminhos para estudos em outras empresas de base tecnológica.

Design and implementation of production systems for high variety electronics assembly

Information technology companies are having to broaden their overall strategic view in deference to the premise that it is better to be market-driven than technology-led. Cost and technical performance are no longer the only considerations, as quality and service now demand equal recognition. The production of a high volume single item has given way to that of low volume multiple items, which in turn requires some modification of production systems and brings flexible manufacturing, Just-in-Time production and total quality control into sharper focus for the achievement of corporate objectives.

A gestão de materiais numa empresa de telecomunicações

O mercado das telecomunicações e das tecnologias da informação é caraterizado por uma elevada instabilidade e competitividade. Deste modo, a aposta na diferenciação, no estabelecimento de vantagens competitivas e na melhoria contínua são pontos fulcrais para o sucesso das empresas tecnológicas. A empresa tecnológica PT Inovação e Sistemas, S.A. apresenta a necessidade de melhorar a gestão económica e física de materiais. Neste sentido, o presente Projeto propõe a introdução de melhorias ao nível da gestão de stocks e do armazém da referida empresa, segundo a realização de análises ABC, da determinação de stocks de segurança adequados e da redefinição do layout atual. Definem-se também critérios de alocação dos materiais no espaço de armazenagem e propõe-se a introdução de um sistema de controlo e rastreabilidade de materiais. Como fruto do presente trabalho, os resultados obtidos tiveram um impacto positivo, possibilitando um aumento da produtividade e da eficiência nos processos associados à gestão de materiais da organização.

Tulevaisuuden energiatehokas teollisuuspuisto

Tutkimuksessa selvitetään uusiutuvien energiateknologioiden soveltumista valmistavan teknologiateollisuuden toimintaan ja teollisuuspuistossa toimimisen tuottamia mahdollisia etuja yritysten energiankäytön osalta. Toimimalla teollisuuspuistossa yritykset voivat hyötyä alueen vahvasta infrastruktuurista ja vastata tulevaisuuden kiristyviin tehokkuus- tai vähähiilisyysvaatimuksiin. Teollisuuspuistot mahdollistavat teollisten symbioosien syntymisen sekä energianhankinnan ja -käytön huomattavat mittakaavahyödyt. Useissa teknologiayrityksissä energian kustannukset ovat olleet vähällä huomiolla, sillä ne eivät ole yritysten ydinliiketoimintaa tai vaikuta merkittävästi tuotantoprosessiin. Oikein mitoitettuna paikalliset energian tuotantotavat ja energiatehokkuustoimet voivat olla kannattavia investointeja jo tänään. Tulevaisuudessa teollisuuspuistot voivat osoittautua kiinnostaviksi sijaintikohteiksi energiavarastoille. Tuloksissa esitetään näkemys erilaisten paikallisten uusiutuvien energiantuotantomuotojen ja synteettisten polttoaineiden tuotannon soveltumisesta valmistavan teollisuuden keskittymään. Teollisuuspuiston yritykset voivat hyödyntää monia synteettisten polttoaineiden tuotannon sivuvirtoja vähentäen samalla nykyisiä kustannuksia sekä päästöjä. Uuden teollisuuspuiston ratkaisuja suunniteltaessa tulee ottaa huomioon tulevaisuuden vaatimukset ja uudenlaisten ratkaisujen kuten teollisuuden ylijäämälämpöjen hyödyntämisen mahdollisuudet.

Banca Digital

Em plena quarta revolução industrial, todas as industrias se estão a transformar para se ajustar aos novos paradigmas de relação com os clientes, altamente influenciados pelos pioneiros digitais como a Uber, Netflix ou Amazon, porém no setor financeiro há desafios acrescidos, pois os clientes esperam juntar essas expectativas digitais com a manutenção da iteração humana, enquanto, do lados bancos, em simultâneo, necessitam de recuperar da crise da dívida soberana que impôs necessidades de ajustamento dos balanços. O momento de desenvolvimento tecnológico potenciado pelo forte crescimento do acesso à internet em mobilidade traz novos hábitos e expectativas na relação com as entidades, com dispositivos cada vez mais potentes a cada vez menor custo, o que criou a oportunidade perfeita para o surgimento de startups tecnológicas dispostas a transformar os modelos de negócio de intermediação clássica, dando origem, no setor financeiro, às fintechs – empresas de base tecnológica dedicadas à prestação de serviços financeiros - impondo uma disrupção na industria financeira, com destaque para mercados como os EUA e Reino Unido. Olhando aos últimos cinco anos do setor financeiro, será muito difícil antecipar como estará o setor financeiro dentro de cinco anos, mas sabemos que estará seguramente muito diferente do que conhecemos hoje, por esse fato este trabalho é assente essencialmente em referências bibliográficas dos últimos 5 anos, tendo sido feito utilizados estudos de investigação de empresas e documentos académicos para a caracterização do setor neste contexto de inovação permanente e em que medida este processo de “digitalização” do setor financeiro influencia a propensão dos clientes na contratação de mais produtos e serviços, sendo esse um fator central para os bancos em Portugal recuperarem economicamente. É também analisada a dimensão seguida pelas instituições de regulação e supervisão do setor financeiro com vista a potenciar a concorrência e inovação do setor financeiro, enquanto mantém a garantia de segurança, confiança e controlo de risco sistémico. É bastante escassa a literatura disponível para caracterizar a banca em Portugal numa ótica de inovação e transformação, porém este trabalho procura caracterizar o sistema financeiro português face à forma como está a responder aos desafios de transformação tecnológica e digital. Procurou-se estabelecer uma metodologia de investigação que permita caracterizar a perceção de valor acrescentado para os clientes da utilização de serviços digitais e em que medida estes se podem substituir aos balcões e à intervenção humana dos profissionais dos bancos, tendo-se concluído que estes dois elementos são ainda fatores centrais para os clientes.

Design intersection: The growth of community-led technology enabled companies

The sharing economy or collaborative consumption based firms have the potential to disrupt long-standing traditional industries. However, little is known on the topic, specifically the role of design in these successful community-led, technology enable firms. It is the proposition of this research that the intrinsic innovation of collaborative consumption firms is not merely a technological one. With successful firms being identified by being able to marry both technological advancement and human insight on product meaning. Therefore, the authors suggest the use of design as an effective way to capitalise and build on product meaning, not only technological advancements in order to foster the growth of a community. To explore this further, the research team decided to investigate two fast growing examples of industry disrupting, sharing economy businesses; Airbnb and Uber. Of the two cases, the use of design was found to be more evident within, Airbnb, due to wide profession of using design techniques. Each case study has been mapped on Guenther’s (2012) framework of techno-economic innovation to help illustrate this marriage of innovation agendas. This paper explored the role of design in community-led companies by presenting an argument for why they have succeeded due to an understanding of human need and key market trends, instead of only technological innovation alone. Findings and implication of these case studies suggest the future role of design as a method to achieve this success. Built on the core tenants of design thinking, these techniques rationalise technology, human needs and business viability to product innovative solutions. Upon these findings, the research team has created a new framework for understanding community-led technology enabled companies, one that builds upon the work of Guenther’s (2012) model of enterprise design innovation. This paper is the first step in a new research agenda.

Customizing the technology roadmapping technique for software companies

Software importance keeps growing fast and consistently for many organizations. The growth of software functionality in manufactured products and the emergence of digital media, convergent spaces including digital content, software, and multi-channels to the market, are recent examples of organizational changes where software assumed a central position for the corporate strategy. This paper analyzes the alignment between strategic objectives and software development processes at software companies and proposes a methodology to ensure that development processes are aligned with the corporate capabilities required to exploit future market opportunities. The methodology includes the categorization of different software companies according to their core capabilities and the customization of the technology roadmapping technique for software companies. The research process included the realization of case studies and a survey. (c) 2006 PICMET.