The process is the threat in the work of the Designers4Billions. This treat provides a guideline in their work; the Delft Innovation Model was used as a theoretical raster to define a product development process in Design4Billions.

This picture shows the Delft Innovation Model (DIM) in Design4Billions.

• There are five phases in the product innovation process: strategy formulation, design requirements, product development, market introduction and product in use.
• The product development process has a clear starting point: Design4Billions is often ’design from scratch’.
• The company is positioned in the centre of the set of concentric ring, the environment is the competitive outside world and placed outside the set of concentric rings. The relation between the company and the outside world will be used to develop mock-ups, prototypes and finally products.
• Prototyping is an important aspect in the product development process of Designers4Billions.
• The designer is an important 'gear' in the machine to approach emerging markets. However, it is necessary to find other 'gears' and synchronize, in order to work like an oiled machine.
• The model contains a concentric set of rings: the market-aspects (the outside ring, M), the technology-aspects (the inner ring, T) and prototyping and product-aspects (the middle ring, P) result in a market-introduction in phase four.
• The circular process emphasizes that a sustainable process is desirable; high turnovers result in high consequences when triple P (people, planet and profit) is unbalanced.

Two phases are difficult to perform

Two phases of the Delft Innovation Model in Design4Billions require special attention since they are difficult to perform.

Phase 2 : Design requirements

This is often a confusing phase in the product development process. The consumer is a not an easy sparring partner and therefore it is difficult to understand their design requirements. Do not focus just on the design requirements of the consumers, think about the design requirements of (possible) stakeholders as well. They can help with the product implementation or provide subsizided marketing. In practice, this means that the social sector organizations have to be convinced about the success of the project in an early stage of the product development process, based on expectations of technology. This is a complex task and should be done well-considered.

• The wishes of all the possible stakeholders should be considered to formulate the design requirements.

On the other hand the local BoP-conditions should be taken into account. There are some conditions, which are similar for nearly all BoP-locations:

• Rigid and robust products are necessary in the dusty and climatic circumstances.
• It had to be simple working; no moving parts, no spare parts.
• Adjust the product to a more primitive transport- and logistics infrastructure.
• Repairability is often one of the requirements of the BoP-consumers.
• Status is one of the basic needs in emerging markets.

Phase 5 : Product in use

This is a phase, which is often not (yet) reached in the product development process. The Designers4Billions do worry about the sustainable impact of their innovations. The professional Designers4Billions have a demand for methods that make it possible to estimate (future scenarios of) the environmental consequences of their products. This is a largely unexplored field.