Supporting the process of re-use in innovative design environments

At first sight, using part or all of a solution to a previous design problem in developing a solution to a current problem seems to be at odds with efforts to introduce innovative ideas into the design process. This dilemma is constantly faced by designers in industrial/commercial contexts: on the one hand they want to be innovative; on the other hand, the design process itself is constrained by requirements of cost and time, making design reuse an attractive proposition. Little is currently known about: (a) the efficacy of design reuse in highly innovative and creative design tasks; and (b) the ways in which design reuse can be supported by computer based approaches. We believe that, with the appropriate tools to support the process, reuse can actually facilitate innovative design: first, providing access to previous design solutions and options enables the maintenance of innovative ideas; and second, when designers know that ideas, if not implementable immediately, may be useful to future projects, they will often explore design problems more creatively