No abstract

No abstract

Because of fundamental changes in the competitive environment, the amount of resources and knowledge needed in research and development (R&D) activities has become overwhelming for a single organisation. Moreover, new technologies create lucrative new possibilities for new service development, which are out of reach for a single organisation. Thus, there is a strong need to perform R&D activities in networks. This study increases the understanding of R&D networks by presenting an empirically grounded process model of the formation of such networks. The model has three main elements: the initial conditions, the role of network webber and the sub-processes through which the formation progresses. The process model highlights the importance of the network webber both in triggering the formation process and in managing the process. Moreover, the model suggests a view of the process that is overlapping and iterative, i.e., the sub-processes of enabling the network, acquiring actors, assuring continuity, formal structuring, learning and developing commitment do not follow each other in a certain order.

Virtual reality prototyping is a promising technology that combines the virtual reality approach to advanced modeling, simitlation and user interface techniques. The technology adjoins development models of different engineering disciplines to an executable simulation model of a product. A designer, or a customer, can see, touch, hear and operate a future product before its physical implementation with lower cost and effort than earlier. In this paper, the virtual reality prototyping research in the field of consumer electronics and telecommunications is described. The possibilities and benefits of the technology are presented, and a process and research environment for the development of virtual prototypes is introduced.The environment is demonstrated with a public pilot case -a pen-like wireless cellular phone interface device. Finally, the possibilities of virtual reality prototyping as a comprehensive design framework, including software and hardware simulation features, are considered and the future work is described.

No abstract