Rapid Prototyping Online Tools, Templates & Dashboard Software

Rapid Prototyping is a process for quickly creating mock-ups, models, or renderings of a product, service, process, or business model.

Rapid prototyping began in the automotive industry as a way for designers and engineers to test ideas and parts for form, fit and function in new cars. The process is used today in many product development situations, including automotive, aerospace, consumer products and the medical device industry.

Rapid Prototyping is used to quickly create a model of a new idea to determine its efficacy or viability before it is taken into large scale production. Computer Aided Design (CAD) and/or 3-Dimensional printing can be used to aid in the fast production of a prototype. Rapid Prototyping is often considered part of the Design Thinking process since it can involve gaining direct customer feedback on early stage ideas to help test assumptions and refine the concept. The benefits of rapid prototyping include reduced cost, faster speed to market and improved end-user experience, including increased product quality.

Tools that can assist with the process of Rapid Prototyping include Computer Aided Design (CAD), 3-D Printing and CNC Machining for physical products. Other tools for testing early stage ideas, services, or business models include concept templates, workflows, customer experience maps, the business model canvas, story-boarding, and other templates.

Unlike most traditional Rapid Prototyping templates in MS Word, Excel, or PowerPoint, upBOARD’s online tools allow any team or organization to instantly begin collaborating with our complete templates and input forms. Our digital platform goes far beyond other rapid prototyping innovation tools by including progress dashboards, data integration from existing documents or other software, elegant intuitive designs, and full access on any desktop or mobile device.

Learn more about upBOARD’s full portfolio of online digital best practice tools and templates for specific topics, including business strategy, marketing, human resources, operations, innovation, project management, change management, and software development.

Learn more about upBOARD’s library of other innovation management online best practice tools and templates, including:

70-20-10 Rule, Agile Innovation Process, Brainstorming, Business Case Development, Business Model Canvas, Concept Development, Concept Screening, Concept Testing, Context Canvas, Crossing the Chasm, Crowdsourcing, Customer Empathy Map, Customer Problem Statements, Design Thinking, Disruptive Innovation, Empathy Interviews, Ethnographic Research, Experiment Canvas, Innovation Funnel Management Process, Innovation Horizons Model, Innovation Matrix, Innovation Roadmap, Jobs to be Done, Lean Startup, Listening Hats, Minimum Viable Product, Open Innovation Process, Outcome Driven Innovation, Painstorming, Phases & Gates, Rapid Prototyping, Saturate and Group, SCAMPER, S-Curve Mapping, Stage Gate Process, Startup Innovation Management, Technology Life Cycle, Technology Scouting, Teece’s Win-Lose Innovation Model, Value Proposition Canvas and White Space Innovation.