The Power of Design: Product Innovation in Sustainable Energy Technologies

G.6 Discussion

In participatory design, some methods have proved to be essential for Western designers and enterprises in unfamiliar contexts. The sequence of steps – observation, focus group selection and day mapping during the analysis phase, co-design with potential end users and salespeople during the concept development phase, small-scale field tests with prototypes, improvements, extended field tests with the zero series (N = 20), and final adaptation for the first series (N = 2000) – is quite common in product and service development all over the world. But the steps have to be carefully elaborated because of the unfamiliarity of the designer or developers with the specific sociocultural context. Involving and educating local people, like Kamworks is doing, are important requirements for establishing this context research.

The strength of Kamworks lies in the offering of sustainable high-quality solutions fitted to local needs. It is not just a product but also the services like the rental scheme, education, communication about PV technology, financing, and after sales of the lighting solutions. These services make them competitive with the low-priced imported products offered in local shops. The services make it possible to build up a long-lasting relationship with their customers.

For rural Cambodians with low household electricity needs, (clean) PV solar energy is the most economic solution. However, local expertise and spare parts are needed to provide after-sales service, ...