Real-life inclusion: How to innovate with low socio-economic status families

Abstract

This chapter tells a story of technology innovation. It reveals how 14 families, including parents and children, in three relatively deprived areas of Leicester in the UK identified innovative digital technology ideas that might impact on homes in future. This was done through drawings and interviews in a collaborative and asynchronous workshop setting. The workshops demonstrated the adoption of a co-creative approach in line with Design Thinking to develop ideas for technologies that might solve a particular real problem the family faced. Furthermore, the workshops reflect important aspects of Responsible Innovation, and offer a unique methodology through which socially disadvantaged persons could be involved in systems or product development responsibly. The research technique provides the business practitioner community with a novel approach to co-creation and Design Thinking activities involving a mainly marginalized group.