Ecosystem-Driven State-of-the-Art Investigation for Social Workers’ Back Pain

The state-of-the-art investigation is important in new product development. It can avoid wasting time and effort on developing solutions that has already been patented or introduced in the market. However, there is lack of a systematic approach for the state-of-the-art investigation. This paper introduces an ecosystem-driven approach for the state-of-the-art investigation. With the example of social workers’ back pain, this paper demonstrates a three-step process of the state-of-the-art investigation (Step 1- ecosystem mapping, Step 2- patent and literature review, and Step 3- gap analysis). Each step includes several activities and produces outcomes for the next step. The contribution of this ecosystem-driven approach is a state-of-the-art investigation that helps innovators to identify gaps where state-of-the-art fails to meet unmet market needs.