Advanced Design to Enhance New Product Development at COTECMAR

Advanced Design, as a discipline focused on exploring future opportunities, has the potential to significantly enhance New Product Development, understood as the process of designing and introducing new products to the market. However, organizations such as COTECMAR -the Science and Technology Corporation for the Development of the Naval, Maritime, and Riverine Industry, a mixed public and private organization- despite their extensive experience and capabilities in New Product Development, have traditionally concentrated their design efforts on addressing immediate and operational challenges. While the automotive industry has long employed concept cars to anticipate future scenarios, this practice has not been widely adopted within the shipbuilding sector, and even less so in Colombia. Within this context, an opportunity emerged to develop vision concepts - analogous to concept cars but applicable across industries -to explore potential future pathways for COTECMAR in Colombia’s Pacific Region. Through the application of DIVE, an Advanced Design technique, this research project explored and articulated ten diverse vision concepts. These range from an amphibious boat operating in conjunction with a health center built on stilts to improve access to quality visual healthcare services, to integrated tourism mobility systems composed of small yacht cruises, floating stations, and collectible tickets that connect travelers and local communities with the region’s natural and cultural assets. Across these explorations, it became evident that Advanced Design holds substantial potential to strengthen COTECMAR’s New Product Development processes. It can unlock new creative opportunities by expanding the Corporation’s product portfolio, fostering the adoption of a product–service systems approach, and enabling engagement with a broader and more diverse set of target markets.