Sihem BenMahmoud-Jouini's research on Design as a driver of transformation and innovation awarded

Sihem BenMahmoud-Jouini, Associate Professor in Innovation at HEC Paris, has been awarded the 2026 SYNTEC Conseil–FNEGE Academic “Coup de Cœur” Prize, which recognizes the best research article in management.

The article, co-authored with Julie Sahakian and entitled “Building Design as a Dynamic Capability: A Model for Design Integration,” was published in 2023 in the prestigious Journal of Product Innovation Management.

Drawing on a five-year longitudinal study conducted within a company, the article demonstrates how organizations' capacities for innovation and transformation can be strengthened and renewed thanks to the internal development of design skills. These skills enable, through collective and multidisciplinary work, the framing of complex problems and their resolution through an iterative, human-centered process that values experimentation and learning.

These key competencies are essential across all sectors to understand, support, and increase the likelihood of success in technological, ecological, and social transformations.

Sihem BenMahmoud-Jouini already won this prize in 2019 for the article “Experimentations in Emerging Innovation Ecosystems: Specificities and Roles. The Case of the Hydrogen Energy Fuel Cell,” and was also nominated twice, in 2012 and 2022.