Investing in innovation: the relevance of design thinking for portuguese startup incubators

• Autor(a) principal: Sanches, Miguel Ângelo Luís
• Data de Publicação: 2023
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.26/48114
• topic: Design thinking; Startup; Innovation; Strategy; Entrepreneurship

Design thinking is growingly recognized as a powerful methodology for business development and an efficient way to promote processes' continuous improvement. Besides this recognition, it still lacks investment in many entrepreneurial ecosystems. This study aims to understand the relevance of design thinking for the Portuguese startup ecosystem and to perceive how growing investment in its practices can promote a higher chance of success for startups. The investigation involves a mindful triangulation of methods, relating both quantitative and qualitative practices, in order to increase validity and ensure the quality of the results. In the first stage, a literature review focused on The Value Of Design In Business and Startups As a Way Of Entrepreneurship is conducted to perceive better and current circumstances in which these concepts are involved. The data collection stage involves a direct approach to the national ecosystem by evaluating the relevance of design thinking for 37 Portuguese startup incubators through an online survey. The main findings of this process, which ultimately led to the development of the Design Thinking Investment Scale, revealed the need for a closer discussion of these findings, which was accomplished by developing 11 structured interviews with the same startup incubators in order to adequate the perceived potential to their actual needs, goals, and expectations. By promoting a coordinated approach towards innovation and competitiveness, this study reveals the potential of design thinking to become a pivotal player in taking national entrepreneurship to the next level.