1

VALIDATING PRODUCTS

Maria do Carmo Nunes, PORTUGAL Open Days, October 2008

2

Innovative Products

• new solutions to a problem

• tangible & transferable

3

why validate products?

• upgrade the quality; benchmarking

• give social recognition of a product’s value (as a prerequisite for mainstreaming)

• build a mainstreaming plan and better meet the needs of potential users

4

• authors• peers• experts

• potential users• decision makers • beneficiaries (empowerment)

with whom?key actors of the validation process:

5

1. demonstration: authors present the evidence of the seven quality crieria present in the product

2. debate: authors, peers, experts and potential users debate in subgroups and award points

3. recommendations: each subgroup presents its scores and recommendations

Futher clarification or evidence of quality may be given by the authors

(one validation session may take 2 / 3 hours)

the validation session in 3 steps

6

the seven quality criteria1. Innovation

2. Empowerment

3. Suitability

4. Usefulness

5. Accessibility

6. Equality

7. Transferability

7

Assessing quality criteria

the innovation criteria

• what makes the product distinctive?

• what is the added value?

• does it promote new forms of learning? new skills?

8

Assessing quality criteria

the transferability criteria

• can the product be used in other contexts? is it flexible enough? autonomous?

• is it good enough to influence change?• who recognizes its value?• do the costs/benefits of appropriation make

it worthwhile?

9

Critical success factors:

• LEARNING ATTITUDE!• focus the debate on quality criteria evidence• author’s openness to external critical analysis• a constructive critical analysis from peers&experts• participation of recognised experts• potential users or clients’ point of view

Experimentation

RecognitionMarketing

Transferring

Rebuilding

LEARNING

Integration in work processes

& services

A LIVING PRODUCTVALIDATION AS A PROCESS