These di iculties can be o di erent orders

In the current economic en ironment, where the li e cycle o products is more and more short and where the consumer demand is simultaneously di use and changing, a Western company subject to competition rom low-cost production originating rom emerging countries is aced the need to renew its o er o products and ser ices continuously. Inno ation is one o the primordial sources o business per ormance. Both business new products inancial success enables the strengthening o the competiti e positions, the de elopment o new markets, the creation o new skills and thus ensures the sustainability o the organization.

I it is essential to its sur i al, the de elopment o an inno ation is also one o the processes with the highest risk or the company. Beyond the production-related or inancial risks, the most important risks stem technology and the market. On the one hand, can the company de elop and/or use the technologies needed or the new product On the other hand, the new o er will it correspond to the needs and current and uture potential consumer expectations, and they will they be interested

To manage these risks and take ad antage o all o the skills and resources o an organization, inno ation is necessarily a collaborati e process between the di erent unctions o a business. One o the problems traditionally encountered in the design o inno ati e products is, as noted by both pro essional as academic literature, a di iculty o communication and collaboration between marketing and technical design. These di iculties result primarily rom the "clash" between two cultures and two di ergent iews.

or research and de elopment (R & D), the uture will see the emergence o new technologies and new designs, and the major uncertainty inherent in any process o inno ation is linked to the de elopment o the components o the new o er and the mastery o "objecti e", i.e. measured per ormance rationally the single point o iew o the company. or marketing, the uture is characterized by the emergence o new needs and expectations o consumers or by the needs and existing expectations. In this context, the major uncertainty relates to the acceptance o the new o er by consumers and the adjustment o this o er to current and uture customers needs and expectations. This di erent ision o the uture will lead to an appreciation o the critical aspects o the de elopment o an inno ation to each o these two unctions.

R & d, the essence o success is based on the correct de inition and speci ication o the uture product and its uses. or marketing, the success o the inno ation process is based on a permanent adjustment o the product requirements and consumer expectations, needs and expectations which are either scalable or emerging, and there ore di icult to understand at the outset o the process. Marketing departments are interested also in the incenti es or the purchase o customers and seek to de elop a product which, the response to the needs and expectations beyond consumers (to which the current o erings meet already in most cases), will actually cause the purchase. inally, R & d, inno ation process is based on the construction o "physical" an o er where the product is a (r) e olution, because it pro ides a new eature or a per ormance le el increased, while marketing the inno ation process is based on relationships with consumers and permanent adaptation to the e olution or the understanding o their needsexpectations and purchasing beha iour. The product or new ser ice is a response to the men o marketing and R & D progress.

These two isions and approaches are complementary and contribute also to the success o inno ation. Marketing represents the " oice o the consumer", while R & D must translate this oice product, while minimizing the gap between the marketing speci ications and the inished product. It is there ore necessary to work together and "legitimized" marketing and R & D in the process o de elopment o new o erings.

In the absence o a "cooperation among equal", the process will be dominated by one o these two unctions and the company cannot a oid the two pit alls o the technology blindness and the marketing myopia. A natural tendency o R & D ser ices may want to pro ide the best technological per ormance, without necessarily realizing that it is not rele ant to potential consumers. This di ergence o appreciation between R & D and consumers can be explained by the act that the consumer does not recei e the per ormance impro ement, because it does not ha e the skills necessary to apprehend him or take ad antage, or does not wish to de ote a signi icantly higher price. or marketing, the concept o per ormance or objecti e quality there is, there ore, step, only include the perceptions o consumers. Con ersely, one o the most important marketing paradoxes is that by tirelessly seeking to better satis y consumers, it may miss major inno ations. Indeed, consumers are most o ten ery little aware o possible technological de elopments and is di icult to project themsel es into new uses. Traditional market research techniques are there ore o ten did imagine that incremental inno ations. Marketing can thus su er rom myopia, and Miss more radical inno ations to meet latent needs.

The major inno ations to create new markets are thus born o the encounter between a technological disco ery, a need not met and o ten not identi ied, and their consistency with the company strategy and expertise. Inno ation is the result o an ongoing dialogue between the technical potential and not wishes o consumers.

or all these reasons, and to a oid the two pit alls re erred to abo e, the most inno ati e companies implement multidisciplinary teams responsible or the whole o the de elopment o an inno ation and grouping rom the outset, all the resources and skills and that they come rom R & d, marketing or other business unctions. These multidisciplinary teams represent a real ad ance o er sequential processes used pre iously.

irst o all, creati ity arises rom the di ersity o iews, knowledge and isions. Original solutions are generally groups o heterogeneous pro iles.

On the other hand, the sequential process, in ol ing successi ely the di erent unctions, generating work and consistent with the ision o a gi en unction, but inconsistent decisions or other unctions o the company. Each unction successi ely in ol ed can thus question, o ten rightly, the choices made pre iously, contributing to the lengthening o the inno ation process. Or the shortening o the o erall time

de elopment o inno ations is a current business priority, regardless o their industrial sector o membership.

or consideration at the outset o the process o inno ation o all the isions and the skills, ensuring permanent sharing o the in ormation collected by parallelizing work, multidisciplinary teams enhance the bene icial e ects o a collaboration between the di erent unctions o the company.

This mode o management o the inno ation process is not as a panacea. I it allows the creation o an en ironment where unctions can cooperate and exchange more easily and more reely, it does not resol e to immediately the di iculties o communication between the di erent unctions combined in a single team. These di iculties can be o di erent orders.

Communication between R & D and marketing problems o ten emerge and come rom the act that each unction has a ocabulary, a ision and a culture o work which are speci ic. In addition, each unction reasoning o ten in di erent temporal terms and seeks to optimize unctions or arious objecti es. Ne ertheless the problems o planning and management o the tasks in the management o the inno ation process, the work o each unction depending on the progress o the work o others and the in ormation that they can communicate. In this context, the R & D can request speci ic in ormation on potential consumers to determine its technical speci ications, while marketing may not speci ically study the needs, expectations and consumers > o both existing consumers as potential i it is not speci ic-use opportunities, o the price and the unctional and ergonomic uture product eaturesall this in ormation directly rom the technical speci ications.

To o ercome these di iculties, it is there ore necessary that each unction, and mainly R & D and marketing, appropriates the ision, language and culture o the other to de elop the best and as soon as possible an o er that meets the better opportunities related to taking simultaneous and balanced technological and competiti e business en ironment.

The ICC ("inno ati e product design") program, that de elop the Central School o Paris (ECP) and the higher school o economic and commercial sciences (Essec), was created to meet this ambi alence and this misunderstanding between marketers and technologists.

An initial obser ation, shared by the two schools quickly emerged: the chronic lack o links, integration and joint work between the engineers and the commercial at the le el o their respecti e studies leads to a priori, misunderstandings and a lack o e ecti eness in the workplace o the uture graduates and penalises the de elopment o inno ation.

ollowing the model o a course de eloped at Stan ord Uni ersity ("Integrated Design or Marketability and Manu acturing", module jointly organized by the Business School and the School o Engineering), the idea was thus born to bring together the strengths and skills o the PCE and the ESSEC business school, to create a joint program marketing and the de elopment o inno ation-based, the di erence o the Stan ord programon real projects proposed by companies.

The aculty consists o Eléonore Mounoud, Pro essor at the ECP, Arthur Mo akhami, responsible o the (Central) Create, Emmanuelle Le Nagard and Jean-Marc Xuereb, pro essors in the Department marketing rom Essec and Jean-Claude Charlet, Essec graduate, also a graduate o Stan ord, Coordinator o program. Ele en mixed teams o our to six students (centraliens, ESSEC business school) ha e been assigned a project by a company or an organization public ( aurecia, Schneider Electric, Opac de Paris, Pierre and holidays, Mayor o Paris, Cesta, mixed Union o the alrasse, Leroy Merlin, Philips) sharing a concern or sustainable de elopment in October. These ele en teams had to proceed with an analysis o the market (competitors, product substitutes, needs and expectations o consumers...), analyze potential technologies, write a technical speci ications and marketing and de eloping a prototype. They were accompanied by a group o experts rom Capgemini Consulting, a irm o trends (Peclers) and a irm de eloping sustainable (BeCitizen). Six months later, the teams presented their analyses, recommendations and prototype in a "trade show" on the ESSEC business school, then the ECP campus.

The "trade show" at the ESSEC business school was marked by the isit o members o the jury, composed o representati es o the aculty o the PCE, the ESSEC business school and business partners (Capgemini Consulting, aurecia, Peclers, BeCitizen). The jury has chosen to reward our inno ati e projects presented 11 on the basis o the ollowing criteria: inno ati e character o the product rom the point o iew marketing; technical per ormance o the product; degree o completion; quality o the di erent presentations (written report, oral presentation, stand); rele ance o the project in terms o sustainable de elopment; methodology implementation. team cohesion; business relationship and guardian.

This experience allowed students to li e concretely and o ercome the di iculties o work between "marketers" and "engineers" on the design o an inno ati e product.

Student engineers o ten ha e better achie e that ideas that seemed the most inno ati e rom a technological point o iew were not the most popular potential consumers, better understand the di iculty to communicate the added alue o inno ation. "Marketers" apprentices were o ten better understand what types o in ormation marketing were necessary to alidate the technical options o the new product de elopment, and measured e ort to add a eature that seemed them sel -e ident.

or participating companies, ICC has ostered the emergence o new issues and allowed them to ace the challenge o the initial assumptions o the project by students rom a di erent uni erse, another generation and seeing "the world" sometimes ully o set.

Designed to oster inno ation (creation o new o ers, products, ser ices, technologies), this program has helped students learn to work together and to capitalize on the complementarity o their know-how to the bene it o the partner companies. Beyond these educational goals, this course also showed the interest o businesses or a better dialogue between the unctions, and the "power" o a good inter ace between R & D and marketing. ICC experience highlights the need to create an en ironment conduci e to the emergence o this inter ace by multiplying the opportunities o working engineers and business people, and as soon as possible in their studies and their pro essional learning