Perspectives on future prototyping—results from an expert discussion

Abstract

The role of prototyping in today’s product development processes has been examined in numerous empirical studies and investigations. In various disciplines, prototyping is understood as a significant methodology for supporting clarification, conception, and design phases. Due to this significance, the question how prototyping will evolve in the future is of high relevance for those who are planning development processes, developing prototyping tools and for design researchers generally. However, quite little is known about possible future evolutions in prototyping and only few authors explicitly address this topic in the literature. This article explores perspectives on future prototyping based on the results of a focus group discussion that was conducted amongst ten prototyping experts from academia and industry. The results suggest that prototyping will maintain and even expand its general importance for product development processes. Moreover, significant changes are expected in the fields of prototyping design methods, prototyping technologies, and societal impacts of prototyping.