Context matters: reasserting industrial relevance in design research – why design research cannot be self – contained

Engineering design research has long been distinguished by its close integration with practice, context, and decision making under real constraints. Yet, an increasing body of research adopts self contained, context free formulations that appear methodologically rigorous but lack practical relevance. This perspective argues that explicit industry relevance and concrete engineering contexts are vital for conducting meaningful and rigorously sound design research. Without such grounding, methodological sophistication risks becoming illusory. It calls for renewed collective commitment to industrial grounding as a foundation for rigorous, relevant, and impactful design research.