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Introduction
Current institution
Additional affiliations
January 1971 - present
Education
September 1964 - June 1970
Publications
Publications (68)
T his article summarizes some of the content and conclusions of the author's recent book, Consumer Product Innovation and Sustainable Design, which discusses the innovation, design and evolution of six consumer products-bicycles, washing machines, vacuum cleaners, electric lamps, television and mobile (cell) phones-from their original inventions to...
This paper summarises some of the content and conclusions of a new book which discusses the innovation, design and evolution of six consumer products – bicycles, washing machines, vacuum cleaners, electric lamps, television and mobile (cell) phones – from their original inventions to the present. It discusses common patterns of innovation, how envi...
'Consumer Product Innovation and Sustainable Design' follows the innovation and evolution of six consumer products - bicycles, washing machines, vacuum cleaners, electric lamps, television and mobile (cell) phones from their original inventions to the present day. It discusses how environmental concerns and legislation have influenced their design...
Open University (OU), one of the world's leading distance teaching universities, which has over 200,000 students. This book builds on his over 40 years of research and teaching product design and innovation management at the OU and was inspired by his archive of the (UK) Consumers' Association magazine, Which? This publication, and the more recent...
This paper summarises some findings of a book titled Consumer Product Innovation and Sustainable Design (Roy, 2016). The book is based on the author’s previous research (e.g. Roy 1994, Roy 1997, Roy 2006, Roy and Tovey 2012) and was inspired by his archive of the (UK) Consumers’ Association publication, Which? that provides a unique written and pic...
Purpose
– This research aims to examine the main findings of the SusTEACH study of the carbon-based environmental impacts of 30 higher education (HE) courses in 15 UK institutions, based on an analysis of the likely energy consumption and carbon emissions of a range of face-to-face, distance, online and information and communication technology (ICT...
Consumer adoption of microgeneration technologies is part of the UK strategy to reduce carbon emissions from buildings. Domestic heat pumps are viewed as a potentially important carbon saving technology, given the ongoing decarbonisation of the electricity supply system. To address the lack of independent evaluation of heat pump performance, the En...
THE BRITISH DESIGN INNOVATION GROUP is a leader in design-management research. In gathering information from a broad cross-section of companies, one of its goals has been to distill objective data on the benefits and strategic role of design in business. Robin Roy reviews two major studies he and his colleagues have completed, and proposes an agend...
The development and rapid household adoption of smallscale, low and zero carbon microgeneration technologies are key elements of UK and EU strategies to meet the challenge of climate change. Microgeneration heat technologies, including solar thermal hot water, heat pumps and biomass heating systems, have an especially important role in reducing the...
How do demographic factors influence the environmental impacts of households? A major two year study used the ecological footprint technique to measure the environmental impacts of over 1000 UK households. Energy and transport were the biggest contributors to the 'footprint' of households. Rural, and adult households and households with few members...
The development and rapid consumer adoption of low and zero carbon (LZC) technologies are key elements of UK and EU carbon reduction strategies to meet the challenge of climate change. Many LZC technologies are available, ranging from established energy efficiency products such as home insulation and energy-efficient lighting to more innovative ren...
The development and rapid consumer adoption of energy efficiency products and renewable energy systems are key elements of the UK and the EU carbon reduction strategies to meet the challenge of climate change. Many such technologies are available for domestic use, but despite government incentives to meet carbon reduction targets consumer adoption...
This paper reports on some of the significant findings of the MADRID project - "Market Demands that Reward Investment in Design". The origin of the project wasas a follow up, and development of, the earlier CID - "Commercial Impacts of Design" study (Roy & Potter, 1993). CID was undertaken by the Design Innovation Group, from 1987-90, as a study of...
This paper presents results from a UK Open University project which surveyed consumers’ reasons for adoption, and non-adoption, of energy efficiency measures and renewable energy systems—collectively called low- and zero-carbon technologies—and their experiences of using these technologies. Data were gathered during 2006 via an online questionnaire...
Purpose
This paper aims to summarise the methods and main findings of a study of the environmental impacts of providing higher education (HE) courses by campus‐based and distance/open‐learning methods.
Design/methodology/approach
The approach takes the form of an environmental audit, with data from surveys of 20 UK courses – 13 campus‐based, seven...
This report summarises the responses to a survey of over 900 households (the largest such UK study to date) who were considering or buying microgeneration heat technologies. It reveals what makes people buy or reject them and provides insight into their experience of microgeneration. It covers four technologies, all of which were eligible for grant...
i). This paper summarises some results of research by the Open University of the key influences on the adoption – and non-adoption – by mainly environmentally-concerned UK citizens of low and zero carbon (LZC) technologies. These include energy efficiency measures (such as loft insulation, condensing boilers and compact fluorescent lamps covered by...
In recent years there has been a growing belief that materials constitute a generic technology of revolutionary significance, ranking alongside information techno- logy and biotechnology. Our main aim is to examine the plausibility of this claim. In so doing we indicate what is distinctive about changes i n materials science and technology, and rep...
Does technological innovation to improve the efficiency of energy-using products and systems lead to lower energy consumption and hence reduced environmental impacts? The answer given by economists since the mid-19th century is ‘no’. This is because there are direct ‘rebound’ or ‘take-back’ effects caused by energy efficiency improvements that lowe...
Literature review, research model and findings of exploratory empirical research on consumer adoption and effective use of low and zero carbon technologies ranging from a hybrid car to solar water heating systems.
This paper summarises the aims, methods and some results of a study of the influences on consumer adoption – and non-adoption – of established energy efficient and innovative renewable energy products and systems; the problems and benefits experienced by users of these low and zero carbon (LZC) technologies; and improvement ideas to make the produc...
The development and rapid consumer adoption of low and zero carbon (LZC) technologies are key elements of UK and EU carbon reduction strategies to meet the challenge of climate change. Many LZC technologies are available, ranging from established energy efficiency products such as home insulation and energy-efficient lighting to more innovative ren...
This paper presents results from a UK Open University research project which surveyed consumers’ reasons for adoption – and non-adoption – of domestic energy efficiency measures and renewable energy systems – collectively called low and zero carbon (LZC) technologies. Data was gathered during 2006 via an on-line questionnaire with nearly 400 respon...
How do demographic factors influence the environmental impacts of households? A major two year study used the ecological footprint technique to measure the environmental impacts of over 1000 UK households. Energy and transport were the biggest contributors to the 'footprint' of households. Rural, and adult households and households with few members...
A series of studies of top European and other firms has revealed patterns of design management associated with commercial success. Firms that invest resources and professional expertise in product and industrial design in traditional and new industries have been commercially more successful than firms that pay less attention to these aspects of des...
Abstract
Purpose
This paper summarises the methods and main findings of a study of the environmental
impacts of providing higher education (HE) courses by campus-based and
distance/open learning methods.
Methodology
An environmental audit, with data from surveys of 20 UK courses – 13 campusbased,
7 print-based and online distance learning courses –...
This chapter summarises the methods and main findings of a study of the environmental impacts of providing HE courses by campus-based and distance/open learning methods. Methodology Surveys of 20 UK courses – 13 campus-based, 7 print-based and on-line distance learning courses – covering travel, paper and print consumption, computing, accommodation...
This paper introduces a new distance learning course, “Working with our environment: technology for a sustainable future”. An inter-disciplinary team within the Technology Faculty of the Open University developed this undergraduate course, which enrols over 1,500 students per year. One of the overall course aims is to help students understand how t...
This paper challenges the belief that improving the efficiency of resource use will necessarily lead to lower consumption. Findings are presented of a study by the UK Open University of the environmental impacts of three higher education (HE) delivery systems. Initial analysis indicates that the distance-taught courses involve 90% less energy and C...
This paper summarises the findings of the first phase of a major study of the environmental impacts of an important service system - higher education (HE). The study assessed three methods of providing HE: conventional campus-based courses and distance/open learning courses using print-based and electronic delivery, with the following key findings....
What are the main environmental impacts of UK households, and how sustainable are they? This paper reports on a major study, based on the ecological footprint technique, of the environmental impacts of nearly 700 representative British households.
This paper presents the ideas of UK householders on how to reduce their Ecological Footprint (EF) after applying a tool called ‘EcoCal’, which assesses the environmental impacts of households by measuring footprints arising from Transport, Energy, Shopping, House and Garden, Water and Waste. Analysis of the EcoCal results of nearly 700 adult Open U...
This paper introduces a new distance learning course, 'Working with our Environment: Technology for a Sustainable Future'. An inter-disciplinary team within the Technology Faculty of the Open University developed this undergraduate course, which enrols over 1500 students per year. One of the overall aiims is to help students understand how the use...
In the face of increasing uncertainty in market, technology and political/social trends, scenarios have come to be used to explore how an organisation could plan for a range of possible futures.
This paper outlines four scenarios for the future of UK rail transport up to 2010, developed in the run-up to the privatisation of British Rail in the late...
The concept of sustainable product-service systems has emerged recently, and is distinct from the ideas of cleaner production, eco-design and design for the environment. The concept goes beyond the environmental optimisation of products and processes and requires radical and creative thinking to reduce environmental impacts by a factor of between f...
This paper concerns a study which aimed to identify: (a) how returns from investments in design and product development vary with the types of market in which a firm operates; (b) the longterm benefits of investment in product design and innovation. The study built upon an earlier research project, which involved a survey of design and product deve...
This paper presents results from a project entitled ‘MArket Demands that Reward Investment in Design’ (MADRID). Among other aims, MADRID seeks to identify the contribution of design and innovation to product competitiveness in different markets.The paper provides a conceptual analysis of the role of design and innovation in product competition. The...
International competitiveness, accelerated by the impact of new technologies, has pressurised industry to meet the challenges for higher productivity, faster product cycles, higher levels of quality and lower costs in increasingly internationalised markets. Multi-functional teams have been heralded as a management solution and an innovative organis...
The trend towards organising design, development and manufacture via supply chains, rather than predominantly in-house, poses major challenges for design management. Procurement methods based on adversarial competitive tendering are generally unsuited to complex engineering products requiring strong design and development coordination. Literature o...
Cutbacks in design investment are often made in a time of recession because managers, when faced with competing demands, are unaware of the commercial value of such investment The research reported in this paper investigated the risks and rewards of investing in professional design expertise at a project or product level and found that such investm...
This paper aims to assess the extent to which materials R&D and materials innovation are being taken into account in a strategic sense by companies involved in new and improved materials production and use in the UK. The paper maps changes in materials technology that affect such companies, and looks at how twelve UK-based large materials-innovatin...
Product designs evolve and change over long periods of time, through phases of experimentation, consolidation and maturity, followed by further innovation or by decline. The examples used to illustrate this process of evolution are innovations in environmentally responsible ‘green’ products (or ecodesigns) in the area of bicycles, automobiles, hous...
The environment industry has grown rapidly over the last decade. An increasing number of business organizations are developing innovative products and processes which have been generated by environmental concerns, increasing legislation for environmental protection and the regulation of industry's environmental impacts. There has been some research...
A survey of 221 small and medium-sized UK manufacturers which received a government subsidy to employ a professional design consultant to help develop new or improved products or graphics showed that 60% of all projects and 90% of the implemented ones were commercially successful. Other benefits included the firms gaining design management skills a...
Every organisation invests in design to create and develop
distinctive products and services. The development of a coherent design
and marketing philosophy is essential to the achievement of a
longer-term competitive edge. However the marketing literature hardly
refers to design and where it does so there is a great deal of confusion
as to what des...
This paper presents initial results of a major study of the benejits and costs of investment in design i n small and medium-sized manufacturers. It shows that UK manufacturers which received a government subsidy to employ a professional design consultant for product, engineering, packaging and graphic design projects recovered their total investmen...
This paper is concerned with the role of design in the competitiveness of manufacturing companies and reports on design management in commercially successful firms. The findings are based on a survey of design policies and practices in over one hundred British and foreign companies from several industries, ranging from furniture to electronics. The...
For the past three years the Design Innovation Group at the Open University in collaboration with Vivien Walsh at UMIST has been examining the processes, practices and management of product design, development and innovation in several sectors of manufacturing industry.This paper presents some of the findings, in particular from the survey of the p...
Examines the material composition of generic technology of revolutionary significance. Changes in materials science and technology; Corporate and public policy on material innovation; Factors attributing to the impact of material technology on industrial operation.
