Printoo – from here to the Internet of Things

• Autor(a) principal: Duarte, José Carlos Reis
• Data de Publicação: 2015
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10362/18893
• topic: Domínio/Área Científica::Ciências Sociais

This thesis is a pedagogical case study on Strategy applied to Innovation, using Printoo – a product by Ynvisible – as a setting. Hence, the focus of this case is to describe and analyze the challenge of this company and its managers to define a fit strategy for its new, innovative product. Printoo’s concept is highly innovative and it is inserted in an area of technological development with great potential – Printed Electronics. Several tools and trends influence this area, such as the Makers culture, Crowdfunding, Open-Source and the increasing use of Technology in Education. Furthermore, there is a debate on implementing the concept of the Internet of Things – in which Printed Electronics may have a role. From the interviews and analysis performed, this paper has two key conclusions. The first one is that Ynvisible should focus on both Printoo – a series of kits of Printed Electronics technologies components – and on the company’s own proprietary Electrochromic displays – that are included in Printoo – in order to maximize the power it has over the potential profits that will derive from this innovation, because Printoo is highly imitable and the displays are not. Nevertheless, Printoo is an important marketing tool to promote Ynvisible’s displays and other components from suppliers. The second conclusion is that Education is an important market that Printoo should address, and that the approach should combine continuous improvement – of the technologies that the kits contain and of the experiences they allow to perform – and service improvement – as courses and workshops – which actually Ynvisible is starting to do. Other markets are also important, such as the Makers, Open Source market and the Prototyping market.