Innovation jams as vehicles for innovation

This thesis investigates the emerging phenomenon of the innovation jam, and its use by large firms. Innovation jams allow firms to engage with new actors (e.g. employees, customers, lead users) across company and geographical boundaries, and to direct innovative activity in novel ways. Despite the increasing use and popularity of innovation jams by firms, they have received relatively little scholarly attention compared to other, similar collective practices to promote innovation. Moreover, the previous literature focuses primarily on innovation jams as a vehicle for idea generation and knowledge creation while in order to realize an innovation, the firm needs to integrate the knowledge which calls for an extended perspective on this topic. While innovation jams offer many opportunities to firms, their use also challenges the firm’s established development practices. Previous studies rarely link them to firms’ established development practices and other business activities. There is a need to understand an innovation jam as a situated practice, in order to better understand how it interacts with the surrounding organization. The aim of this thesis is to explore the innovation jam as a potential vehicle for innovation in large, established firms. To do so, the thesis draws on data from four exploratory case studies: three in-depth, single case studies, and one multiple case study. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and observations over the period 2011 to 2016. This thesis proposes to view an innovation jam as a dual search process: on the one hand, a series of knowledge search and knowledge creation activities, and on the other hand, a series of activities to achieve commitment from the firm's employees and managers. The thesis points also to a feedback loop which emerges between innovation jams which shapes further search for knowledge, and how problems for local search are formulated and defined. As a result of this feedback loop, innovation jam problems will tend to converge towards well-known problem definitions. In order for an innovation jam to become a vehicle for innovation, firms could benefit from considering how well the knowledge attributes required to solve a problem corresponds with the firms’ existing knowledge base, on the one hand, and with the firms’ established coordination mechanisms, on the other hand. This thesis points also to that firms implementing and using an innovation jam, can benefit from reframing problems to ‘fit’ with the firm’s established language, the development of new evaluation criteria, and adjustments to a firm’s strategy

Critical factors for implementing and diffusing sustainable Product-Service Systems: Insights from innovation studies and companies' experiences

This is the post-print version of the final paper published in Journal for Cleaner Production. The published article is available from the link below. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. Copyright @ 2012 Elsevier B.V.Eco-efficient Product-Service System (PSS) innovations represent a promising approach to sustainability. However the adoption of such business strategies is still very limited because it often involves significant corporate, cultural and regulatory barriers. An important challenge is not only to conceive eco-efficient PSS concepts, but also to understand the contextual conditions that facilitate their societal embedding, and which strategies and development pathways are the most appropriate. The combination of theoretical insights from innovation studies (in particular Strategic Niche Management and Transition Management) and a case studies research (exploring the innovation journeys made by six companies in introducing their eco-efficient PSS innovations in the market) is used to investigate the factors that influence the implementation and diffusion of this kind of innovations. The article provides a structured overview of these factors, grouping them in four clusters: implementation of socio-technical experiments; establishment of a broad network of actors; building up of a shared project vision; creation of room for broad and reflexive learning processes. Based on these results it is argued that a broader and more strategic system approach should be adopted by companies. Companies should focus not only on the PSS solution and its value chain, but also on the contextual conditions that may favour or hinder the societal embedding of the PSS itself. The article concludes by outlining a key area for future research

A contemporary and systematic literature review of user centric innovation: A consumer perspective

Managing Innovation is a three-part series covering contemporary technology and innovation management research areas. Each volume comprises key articles from both the International Journal of Innovation Management and the International Journal of Innovation and Technology Management and provides an international, disciplinary approach across its broad coverage of topics. Relevant for both academics and practitioners, this volume focuses on key aspects of crowd innovation including motivations, challenges and benefits of this approach

Balanced Innovation Management

The Department of Defense has demonstrated success in managing innovation. The military’s approach to innovation management extends beyond traditional distinctions between internal and external innovation modes. Summarizing specific innovation strategies available to managers develops recognition of this growing reality. The article concludes with resulting lessons that can be more widely adopted by managers

Opening up healthcare innovation: Innovation solutions for a 21st century healthcare system

Report published by Advanced Institute of Management ResearchHealthcare systems in the early 21st century face a crisis. Rising demand and expectations are increasingly out of step with the funding models available.Without radical innovation it seems unlikely that we can sustain the kind of healthcare which we associate with highly developed societies. The healthcare sector has always been characterised by innovation – in treatments and drugs, in hospital and care systems, in primary and acute care pathways and in chronic disease management. But arguably the system suffers from the problem facing all kinds of organisations – a recognition that, despite huge commitment and investment in generating innovation, ‘not all the smart guys work for us’. The ideas behind ‘open collective innovation’ essentially involve finding ways to spread the knowledge net much more widely, bringing into the innovation process a wider range of players and mobilising their experience and creativity in the search for novel and sustainable solutions. One key direction in which healthcare innovation can open up lies in harnessing the innovation potential of patients and their carers.We already know of many examples where patients have been a key source of innovation; in today’s environment the challenge is to find ways of scaling this to help deal with the innovation crisis. One powerful route is opened up via interactive web-based platforms which build and mobilise communities with common interests. This report discusses the potential of Web 2.0 interactive platforms and provides examples of several which appear to offer considerable additional traction in developing innovative solutions to the healthcare issues faced by such patients.Economic and Social Research Counci

A Framework for Adoption of Challenges and Prizes in US Federal Agencies: A Study of Early Adopters

In recent years we have witnessed a shift in the innovation landscape of organizations from closed to more open models embracing solutions from the outside. Widespread use of the internet and web 2.0 technologies have made it easier for organizations to connect with their clients, service providers, and the public at large for more collaborative problem solving and innovation. Introduction of the Open Government initiative accompanied by the America Competes Reauthorization Act signaled an unprecedented commitment by the US Federal Government to stimulating more innovation and creativity in problem solving. The policy and legislation empowered agencies to open up their problem solving space beyond their regular pool of contractors in finding solutions to the nation\u27s most complex problems. This is an exploratory study of the adoption of challenges as an organizational innovation in public sector organizations. The main objective is to understand and explain how, and under what conditions challenges are being used by federal agencies and departments as a tool to promote innovation. The organizational innovation literature provides the main theoretical foundation for this study, but does not directly address contextual aspects regarding the type of innovation and the type of organization. The guiding framework uses concepts drawn from three literature streams: organizational innovation, open innovation, and public sector innovation. Research was conducted using a qualitative case study of challenge.gov. Data was collected from multiple adopting agencies using two primary sources: interviews with challenge managers and administrators and, archival data from the challenge.gov web platform. Related documentation was used to supplement and corroborate the main data. Analysis of the platform archival data revealed four types of challenges falling along a continuum of increasing innovation. The sequence of events, activities and conditions leading to adoption and implementation were represented as a challenge adoption model. Variations among components of the model resulted in three distinct agency groupings represented as a typology of enactments characterized as inertia, application, and change. Thus challenge adoption among agencies with varying missions, operations and conditions leads to varying enactment types and different levels of change

Encouraging Collaborative Idea-Building in Enterprise-Wide Innovation Challenges

Innovation challenges are increasingly adopted for idea generation in inter- and intra-firm innovation to elicit novel solutions from employees to strategic and business-related problems of the firm. However, the current idea-oriented approach is limited in leveraging the full capacity of open innovation, as it focuses more on identifying the best ideas through competition rather than generating new idea through participants’ recombination and integration of their expertise. We argue that the capabilities of innovation challenges can be fully leveraged when participants engage in collaborative interactions during innovation challenges. We propose the notion of “collaborative challenge,” denoting innovation challenges in which individual participants behave in ways that foster knowledge integration across diverse ideas

The implementation of the open innovation model in Facsa

Treball Final de Grau en Administració d'Empreses. Codi: AE1049. Curs 2017-201

Creative Economy-Feasible Option for România

The paper’s objective is the scientific foundation of the necessity to implement the topic of creative economy in Romania. The term of creative economy is widely used in the context of the knowledge-based society. Its importance to sustainable development, wealth and prosperity is commonly recognised mostly due to the amplified crisis effects. The creative communities and industries have moved from the fringes to the mainstream. The special needs of creative industries are reflected more in policy development at national, regional and microeconomic levels. The paper presents part of the results obtained within the research project “IDEI 1224”: “The creative economy and knowledge-based society. Challenges and opportunities for Romania” The general perspective of this paper is aimed at presenting our vision regarding the most important challenges and opportunities for Romania on its road towards a knowledge-based society and creative economy. Creative economy is crucial for Romania while it is facing the global crisis. In order to manage the current crisis (its complex nature derives from the fact that it is much more than just an economic crisis) in a competent way we have to seriously take into account the opportunities creative economy can provide. According to the authors’ vision, creative economy is a feasible option for Romania. The creative economy has to foster a holistic vision of development including socio-cultural, economic and environmental dimensions, offering new opportunities for Romania on its road towards a knowledge-based society.creative economy, creative class, creative communities, creative cities