Does the Patent Classification Help Creativity in Generating New Product Applications? Some Preliminary Answers

The systematic use of stimuli by designers in the early stages of product development represents a methodology extensively explored in scientific literature, acknowledged for its advantages in terms of broader exploration of solutions and reduction in development time and costs. In an era where the importance of environmental aspects, such as the reduction of resource consumption, is also growing in the industry, it becomes crucial to assess the potential benefits of such tools in achieving these specific goals, an area so far scarcely explored in research. This study is positioned within this context, with the intent of preliminarily investigating the presence and nature of benefits deriving from the use of textual stimuli drawn from cooperative patent classifications (CPCs) to generate ideas on possible alternative applications for end-of-life products. To this end, an experiment was conducted with volunteers, divided into groups, and submitted to two different case studies. Only some of the participants were given additional textual material to assess the differences in results between those who received the stimuli and those who did not. The indicative results do not show consistency across the two products analyzed, with variability in terms of originality, volume of ideas produced, application sectors, and related functionalities. Statistical analyses, however, more clearly highlight the absence of significant beneficial effects in generating new application areas and in terms of the originality of the ideas. As for the generation of new functions, the study does not provide definitive conclusions, necessitating further research. Therefore, the findings of this investigation could influence the use of Computer-Aided design tools in the early stages of new product development.