Tobias C. Larsson | PhD

An article in the additive manufacturing site 3dp.se.

More information:

• http://3dp.se/2013/05/10/han-starker-svensk-innovationskraft/

April 16 the KK Foundation research profile “Model Driven Development and Decision Support” had its kick-off at BTH. All research partners took part and around this several press items were released too.

• “Jättesatsning på forskning till länet“. Radio P4 Blekinge
• “110 milj/kr till industriforskning på BTH“. TV4.
  
• “Startskott för ny innovativ forskningsmiljö“. BTH news.
• “Startskott för ny innovativ forskningsmiljö“. BTH press.
• “Blekingeföretag i forskningssamarbete”. Affärsliv 20130417.

• “Nu ska länet växa”. BLT 20130417.

In a directed effort towards younger kids to get them interested in technology and innovation, Tobias Larsson hosted a class of 10 year olds during a day of creativity and innovation.

By using a concept; “Innovation toolbox for kids” he hosted the team of 30 through drills that improve efficiency (Lean), problemsolving (building bridge using glue, tape, and wooden sticks), and creative exercise (ice cream development).

More information:

• See the BTH blog post on the day: http://www.bth.se/bloggar/maskinteknik/2013/03/16/kreativ-workshop-for-okat-teknikintresse/

Region Blekinge, County Council of Blekinge and BTH are starting a new project with the focus to create a cluster for innovation and development within the health sector. BTH will coordinated the project that is hosted at BTH. The project has been developed by Tobias Larsson and Mats Löfdahl in close collaboration with the upcoming cluster partners.

More information:

• Region Blekinge: http://www.regionblekinge.se/region-blekinge-(svenska)/press-och-nyheter/nyheter/region-blekinge-satsar-paa-unga,-affaersdrivna-tjejer.aspx

Tony Thompson (PhD candidate with Tobias Larsson) presented and defended his PhD thesis in Mechanical Engineering. The title is: “Integrating a Strategic Sustainable Development Perspective in Product-Service System Innovation“.

Prof. Tim McAloone of DTU in Denmark was faculty opponent, and the grading committee was composed of Prof. Bo Helgeson, BTH, Prof. Annika Olsson, Lund University, and Prof. Tomohiko Sakao of Linköping University.

Tony has conducted his research within several project at BTH in collaboration with industry, and his focus have been to tie the links between sustainability and industrial product development via the concept of product-service systems. In his defense he had to show the width of skills needed to perform research and the scientific dialogue with the opponent was of high value for the audience to listen in to. The session was live web-casted and followed via an online audience.

Find the PhD thesis here: http://www.bth.se/fou/Forskinfo.nsf/Sok/653381fb3537ba80c1257abf0033c5fa!OpenDocument

We congratulate Tony and wish him good luck!

Tony with grading committee and supervisors Tobias Larsson and Göran Broman

A Chinese delegation in elderly housing (Yincheng Real Estate Group YCDC) visited BTH. Tobias Larsson presented on product innovation research and applications in Design for Wellbeing projects.

At a press conference at BTH local newspaper Sydöstran covered the news.

Nov 28, NyTeknik (chief editor Mats Engström) followed up a site visit at BTH and the research project SåNätt – Light Weight Vehicles (Tobias Larsson, Massimo Panarotto, Vice-chancellor Ursula Hass, and Henric Johnson participated from BTH and Jonas Adolfsson of Ruuki) with an introductory piece in NyTeknik entitled “Lös klimatproblemen med teknikutveckling“.

Professor Tobias C. Larsson is chaired professor in Product Development at School of Engineering, BTH.

During a press conference at BTH the receivers of the Sparbanksstiftelsen Kronan thesis awards for 2012 was disclosed. 2 50.000 SEK awards and 3 25.000 SEK awards ended up in BTH students hands.

Blekinge Läns Tidning covered the event and followed up with an article about the awards. (Download PDF)

BLT news article

The DIM – Digital Integrated Manufacturing project was created in order to demonstrate use of advanced technology from research into practical use. Tobias Larsson initiated the project together with Centria and Högskolan Narvik.

It is now nice to see the deployment of the project results via PhD Henrik Nergård in the latest news article from Product Innovation research unit “Digitized reindeer antler creates justice” (See image below).

Henrik Nergård with reindeer antlers

Centek also did an article on the project (in swedish).

1. Prototype by Henrik Nergård
2. 3D scanning to digital prototype

Here is a YouTube video on the work:

Related links

• DIM project at LTU

Research paper published in  The International Innovation and Technology Conference, ICTI2012 in Venice, Italy.

Abstract

Farnaz presenting paper in Italy.

Market competition and a desire to gain advantages on globalized market, drives companies towards innovation efforts. Project overload is an unpleasant phenomenon, which is happening for employees inside those organizations trying to make the most efficient use of their resources to be innovative. But what are the impacts of project overload on organization’s innovation capabilities? Advanced engineering teams (AE) inside a major heavy equipment manufacturer are suffering from project overload in their quest for innovation. In this paper, Agent-based modeling (ABM) is used to examine the current reality of the company context, and of the AE team, where the opportunities and challenges for reducing the risk of project overload and moving towards innovation were identified. Project overload is more likely to stifle innovation and creativity inside teams. On the other hand, motivation on proper challenging goals are more likely to help individual to alleviate the negative aspects of low level of project overload.

Keywords

• Innovation, Creativity, Project overload, Agent-based modeling

Reference

• Motamediyan, F., A. Thompson, T.C. Larsson (2012). Impacts of project-overload on innovation inside organizations: Agent-based modeling. ICTI 2012 : International Conference on Technology and Innovation, Venice, Italy, November 14-16, 2012.
• Web page: https://www.waset.org/conferences/2012/venice/icti/index.php

Download paper

• Impacts of project-overload on innovation inside organizations: Agent-based modeling

Tag cloud of paper