{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,12]],"date-time":"2025-10-12T03:00:26Z","timestamp":1760238026178,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":35,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,7,21]],"date-time":"2022-07-21T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1658361600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Designs"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Concept design is an early and crucial phase in product development where the general concept of a product is created. In this stage, various aspects of the product are considered, such as usability and technical performance, among others. Product design and development are currently a well-established area of knowledge, and academia is increasingly including its fundamentals in regular curricula, especially in the areas of engineering, design, and marketing. At the same time, industrial players recognize the potential of the method for i. responding successfully to market uncertainty and speed; ii. improving the knowledge available and the systematization of creative processes; and iii. ensuring that the decision process is explicit and well documented. Nevertheless, only a few studies demonstrating the concept design procedure in detail are available in the literature. In this paper, we thus present a detailed case study concerning the design of portable thermal slippers, so as to demonstrate the application of structured procedures and systematic approaches to concept design, and providing a pedagogical review of methods and tools to support the analysis and decisions along the several steps of the concept design procedure. The particular case study here addressed resulted from the collaboration between an academic institution and a company operating in the home footwear industry, with the design team including elements from both sides.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/designs6040065","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,7,21]],"date-time":"2022-07-21T10:36:56Z","timestamp":1658399816000},"page":"65","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Concept Development\u2014From Academia to Industry: A Journey Motivated by the Design of Portable Thermal Slippers"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"6","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2550-4320","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Belmiro P. M.","family":"Duarte","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Coimbra Engineering Academia, Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra, Rua Pedro Nunes, Quinta da Nora, 3030-199 Coimbra, Portugal"},{"name":"Centro de Investiga\u00e7\u00e3o em Engenharia dos Processos Qu\u00edmicos e dos Produtos da Floresta, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Coimbra, Rua S\u00edlvio Lima, P\u00f3lo II, 3030-790 Coimbra, Portugal"}]},{"given":"Ana M. F.","family":"Carvalho","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Coimbra Engineering Academia, Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra, Rua Pedro Nunes, Quinta da Nora, 3030-199 Coimbra, Portugal"}]},{"given":"Daniela S. B.","family":"Lima","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Coimbra Engineering Academia, Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra, Rua Pedro Nunes, Quinta da Nora, 3030-199 Coimbra, Portugal"}]},{"given":"Diana I. S.","family":"Costa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Coimbra Engineering Academia, Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra, Rua Pedro Nunes, Quinta da Nora, 3030-199 Coimbra, Portugal"}]},{"given":"In\u00eas R.","family":"Nunes","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Coimbra Engineering Academia, Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra, Rua Pedro Nunes, Quinta da Nora, 3030-199 Coimbra, Portugal"}]},{"given":"Jo\u00e3o P. S. C.","family":"Batista","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Coimbra Engineering Academia, Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra, Rua Pedro Nunes, Quinta da Nora, 3030-199 Coimbra, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9988-654X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Paulo J. S.","family":"Gomes","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Coimbra Engineering Academia, Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra, Rua Pedro Nunes, Quinta da Nora, 3030-199 Coimbra, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7339-0706","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Fernando P.","family":"Bernardo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centro de Investiga\u00e7\u00e3o em Engenharia dos Processos Qu\u00edmicos e dos Produtos da Floresta, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Coimbra, Rua S\u00edlvio Lima, P\u00f3lo II, 3030-790 Coimbra, Portugal"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,7,21]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"Ulrich, K.T., and Eppinger, S.D. (2016). Product Design and Development, McGraw-Hill. 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