Skilled Toy Train Discussions about Business Innovation

In this paper we show how industrialists in an innovation workshop employ tangible material – a toy train set – to innovate their business model. In multidisciplinary teams the process of co-creating new understandings is crucial for work to progress. Based on video data form this participatory innovation session, we investigate how participants get to new concepts through analysing their skilled behaviours, movements, actions and negotiations. We observe that the final result of the workshop is indeed innovative and is co-constructed by all group members. We show why the toy train works: While encouraging group discussion of the ‘customer journey’, it keeps both hands and mind busy, it allows silent participation, and it expands the vocabulary of the discussion.