While innovation has always been the lifeblood of any economic system, the forms this notion takes today may seem confusing. These new design regimes require to collectively support creative reasoning which strongly destabilize the traditional representations we have of known objects and organizations.

C-K theory was born in Management Science Lab of Mines ParisTech in a modeling effort the activities undertaken in innovative design processes. The prospect of a better understanding of the characteristics of design led to the development of formal and practical aspects of C-K theory. If the theory is now established in the academic world and applied in a variety of industrial contexts, it had not yet been presented to a wider audience.

This book presents briefly some elements of theory illustrated by examples as well as tools and methods that have been developed jointly by researchers and their industrial partners.

Marine Agogué, Sophie Hooge, Frédéric Arnoux and Ingi Brown did their PhD at the Chair "Design Theory and Methods for Innovation" from Mines ParisTech on different aspects of the management of innovative design. Having developed tools, methods and teaching material on design theory, they still contribute to the Chair's research program as researchers or practioners.

"This book abstracts away from the mathematical foundation of C-K to provide a broader audience with a map to the world of innovation, competitiveness and their management afforded by C-K theory and its derived tools and methods. For the first time in English, readers have in one place a comprehensive concise summary of the basic ideas of C-K theory, situated in the history of other theories and perspectives, and the diverse interpretations of C-K ideas for supporting and managing innovation."
Prof. Yoram Reich - Tel Aviv University President, Israel Institute for Empowering Ingenuity

Foreword by Prof. Armand Hatchuel and Prof. Benoit Weil, Mines ParisTech
Afterword by Georges Amar, Researcher in Prospective, former director of the Prospective and Innovative Design department of RATP
Afterword by Carl Trémoureux, French General Council for Armaments