Products are defined by diverse characteristics that must cater to customer needs for successful marketability and a potential innovation. Foresight methods are used for products with a long-term horizon to anticipate future requirements and product characteristics at the onset of the engineering process. However, the expected future situation and needs can differ from the initial expected environment, necessitating the adaptation of product characteristics to meet the changes. Continuous validation of requirements and product characteristics is imperative, with changes considered accordingly.

This paper aims to identify fields of action for engineering methods and design processes in identifying and validating future-oriented customer-relevant product characteristics in the product engineering process (PEP), and to derive actionable insights and needs for action from this. A systematic literature review was conducted to identify and collate factors influencing the area of investigation consisting of three fundamental domains: product development, customer involvement and foresight. The interrelationships and coherences were evaluated, and the factors synthesized into an Initial Reference Model (IRM). The resultant model revealed five fields of action. Existing potentials and actionable steps were identified and described, especially monitoring and change detection of future development and addressing and validating of customer needs by integrating customers into the PEP.