Science is a form of systematic innovation, right? A particular way of learning more about the world. The design firm IDEO has a systematic way of coming up with new designs, illustrated in this hospital visit. My guess is that IDEO and science don’t have much in common in spite of the surface similarity. The product design done by IDEO is a form of engineering. Science and engineering are like two phases in the lives of ants: random search (science) and path following (engineering).
When I co-taught a course about office design, we visited IDEO (in Palo Alto). Most of their work was contract (design a new X for Client Y) but they also had a small group of toy designers who came up with new toys on spec. Their mail room was lush, with magazines, food, and a TV. Its purpose, said the CEO, was to cause people to interact. It was the big shady tree of an African village.