Science and technology generated by Universities has many challenges in reaching commercial product applications, as has been explored in a range of literature. Product design has been identified to add value through various types of contributions in addressing these challenges; however, there remains a gap in literature to explore how and when product development activities can practically be applied to technology development.This paper furthers the idea that the product development process can help bridge the gap between the laboratory and commercial applications by proposing a framework for how Ulrich and Eppinger's product development process can integrate with the STAM technology development model. This is a significant step towards understanding how in practice these disciplines can work together to bring science and technology from the laboratory to products in the marketplace.

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Materials Science typically engages research expertise from fields such as engineering, chemistry and physics. This paper will examine how industrial design successfully contributed to timber materials science in the initial phases of basic research. Research from two PhD studies, completed in conjunction with the Australian Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) for Wood Innovations, will be used as case studies. These case studies discuss examples from research projects investigating new Microwave Modified Timber (MMT) materials development along with surface modified timber. Findings concur that industrial design research was beneficial to early scientific experiments.

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