Nokia Uses Multiple Learning Stages to Develop Concept

The NeCSI innovation model has 4 main stages. Within each main stage, multiple sub-stages take place.   Take the case of Nokia. The co-creation consultancy Face worked with Nokia in 2009-10 on "Project Relevance" to develop concepts for a new phone to be put into development for launching in North America in 2012.

The case study of the project shows that within the Concept stage (to develop a concept from insight), Nokia conducted 14 activities to generate knowledge assets. Face's Nokia project included a range of activists from lead users to social network experts, and it included a range of  "ba" processes from mobile diaries to creative workshops. Multiple sub-stage were required to create multiple alternative concepts, consolidate concepts, refine and define concepts, and transform the knowledge between explicit concepts and experiences.

The Needs stage (first stage) established, through shared experience with consumers, that high-end tech-savvy consumers did not feel "delight" or "relevance" with Nokia's offer. This Concept stage (second stage) was designed to provide concepts for the development pipeline in the Strategizing stage (third stage). At the end of the project, Face stated that it had created 2 "solid concepts" that  would be "relevant and appealing to the the target audience".

Does your own innovation process include multiple sub-stages to lead to solid concepts? Do the sub-stages include a range of activists and "ba" processes?