2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Engineering design education frequently focuses on the methods and tools that enable and enhance product creation. These tools range from individual and group ideation techniques to innovation portfolio management for organizations and originate from a diversity of consulting, academic, and industrial sources. The factors that drive the adoption, use, and ongoing success of these tools are not well understood and are likely driven by a complex interaction of human, organizational, and economic factors. This paper investigates innovation method and tool adoption in industry through semi-structured interviews with individuals from a Fortune 500 company. This work explores three resulting themes 1) individual incentives and motivation for adoption, (2) the appropriateness of tool selection for the organizational product domain and compatibility with existing processes, and (3) executive and management support for adoption. The implications for engineering education are also discussed.