New framework helps researchers solve impossible problems with blockchain and design
Researchers have created ORCA, a four-principle framework that guides teams through the messy process of tackling complex societal challenges where problems and solutions evolve together. The approach, tested on a blockchain water-exchange project, offers business and government leaders a practical roadmap for innovation in uncertain, high-stakes environments.
Originaltitel: ORCA: Guiding principles for navigating uncertainty in design research
<p>Complex societal challenges, such as the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), often manifest as “wicked problems” marked by complexity, ambiguity, and resistance to linear solutions. Addressing such problems demands methodologies that embrace uncertainty and foster and stimulate exploration, reflection, and creativity. Design research (DR) has emerged as a promising approach that bridges theory and practice to facilitate the development of solutions to real-world problems. This paper introduces ORCA, a set of guiding principles to support DR in high-uncertainty contexts, where problems and solutions coevolve. ORCA comprises four interrelated principles: Openness to alternative perspectives, Reflection and reflexivity, a Common communication framework, and Affordance-based design. Drawing on an in-depth analysis of an Action Design Research (ADR) project that led to an operational blockchain-based water exchange aligned with SDG 6 (clean water and sanitation), this paper demonstrates how ORCA enables researchers to navigate and explore uncertainty in design projects tackling wicked, societal challenges and coevolving problem and solution spaces. By integrating effectuation and affordance theory, ORCA provides a structured yet flexible set of guidelines for tackling wicked problems. In doing so, this study advances the evolution of DR methodologies for societal challenges, underscoring the central role of exploration, reflection, and creativity in addressing uncertainty in coevolving problem and solution spaces.</p>