Designing an Innovation Engine Model and a Software Tool to Meet Large Organizations Challenges with SMEs Capabilities, a Pilot Study

Innovation models and innovation software tools are mechanisms designed to support innovation and collaboration activities. However, innovation models tend to be limited to close innovation or their implementation is not cost-effective for SMEs, while innovation software tools lack features for the collaboration of multiple organizations. Improved models and appropriate, well designed, software tools could address large organizations' challenges with SMEs capabilities, better foster innovation activities and encourage economic growth and jobs creation. This study piloted two 1.5-hour-workshops with 12 Enterprise Systems MSc students to design an innovation model and a software tool with PICTIVE participatory design technique. In the first workshop participants received a talk about innovation and were separated into three groups of four people. Each group was provided with one of three scenarios: the design of a robot exploring Mars, the design of an adrenaline auto-injector for severe allergies or the design of a new ambulance. Groups brainstormed ideas and created a diagram of the components that an innovation model should include to provide an effective collaboration between organizations. In the second workshop, groups implemented their model in an innovation software tool using participatory design. Two researchers observed the workshops and took notes of the group presentations. Three main components comprised their innovation models: Large organizations, SMEs and other institutions, and components for the management of the collaboration. Groups suggested to implement their model in a web site portal with features that support the definition of the challenge, the involvement of different stakeholders, sections to capture large organizations' needs and SMEs' capabilities, features to support the identification of the best partners, the best collaboration agreement and the management of intellectual property. Results were very insightf

Innovation in Scotland : analysis of the community innovation survey 2009

Strengthening levels of innovation is one of the cornerstones of the Scottish Government‟s Economic Strategy. Innovation is a key catalyst for productivity growth as new ideas drive enterprise, create new products and markets and improve efficiency, delivering benefits to firms, customers and society. It is a crucial factor in determining competitiveness and national progress. Until recently, the most common and well known measure of innovation has been the ratio of national expenditure on R&D to GDP. Data shows that there has been a significant gap in business research and development (R&D) expenditure between Scotland and the UK, EU and OECD averages in recent years. Scottish Business Enterprise R&D (BERD) expenditure was 0.56% of Scottish GDP in 2009, lower than the rate for the UK as a whole (1.11%) and the EU (1.17%). Compared to other UK Government regions, Scotland ranked in 10th place out of the 12 regions. However, while R&D is useful for measuring technology-based activities, it is increasingly recognised that this is only one element of the broader concept of innovation and is frequently more relevant for manufacturing than for services. Evidence shows that firms introduce new products and services onto the market without necessarily performing R&D. A lot of innovation activity is based on (or embodied in) advanced machinery and computer systems purchased to implement new or improved processes and deliver new products and services. Innovation can also be purchased through rights to use patents, licences, trademarks and software. Innovation can also encompass training and new design and marketing processes. Evidence also shows that many firms adopt multiple, complementary innovation strategies, with the most innovative firms introducing both product and process innovations as well as marketing or organisational innovations. Therefore, productivity growth can be achieved through advances in technology combined with new approaches to creating and delivering of goods and services. There is now a solid body of evidence describing the relationship between research, innovation and economic development. The evidence suggests that investment in „intangible assets‟ that give rise to innovation (R&D, software, human capital and new organisational structures) now accounts for up to 12% of GDP in some countries and contributes as much to labour productivity growth as investment in tangible assets such as machinery and equipment. According to OECD estimates, investment in intangible assets accounted for around a quarter of labour productivity growth in the UK and other countries between 1995 and 2006. The Community Innovation Survey (CIS) allows an assessment of business innovation performance, wider than just R&D expenditure, across European Union countries. CIS collects a range of information from businesses on the types of innovation they are involved in, motivation for innovation, spending on a range of innovation activities beyond R&D, collaboration and linkages between businesses or with public research organisations, as well as data on sales from product innovations. In light of the growing recognition that innovation encompasses a wider range of activities, and that broader metrics are required to reflect this, the Innovation Survey provides a key data set to measure innovation within businesses

Exploring the Sources of Enterprise Agility in Software Organizations

Organizations involved in the design, development and sustainment of software systems have to manage the tension between creating new products and services, while at the same time maintaining their existing portfolio. This paper explores the sources of enterprise agility in software firms, wherein agility is defined as the ability of the organization to sense changes in its environment (both internal and external), and effectively respond to these changes. Using engaged scholarship as the overarching paradigm, we report on the findings of a process study that uses semi-structured interviews, observation, and archival firm & project information for data gathering, and grounded theory methods and comparative case analysis for data analysis and theory generation. The analysis highlights the importance of the four organizational enablers of: stakeholder alignment, employee empowerment, group & organizational learning, and governance mechanisms, as necessary but not sufficient precursors to obtaining enterprise agility. Furthermore, we provide illustrative case examples of the three mechanisms: Continuous Improvement, Creating Systems of Innovation, and Leveraging Globally available Capabilities, that software organizations use to gain enterprise agility

ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURE DESIGN BLUEPRINT FOR SMART VILLAGE IMPLEMENTATION IN SUMUR BANDUNG SUB DISTRICT (CASE STUDY : SMART LIVING DIMENSION)

Sumur Bandung District is one of Bandung City's sub-districts that provides public services and empowerment to its residents.  The sub district faces a number of issues in carrying out its duties and providing services. One of the issues confronting Sumur Bandung Sub District is the lack of Final Waste Processing Sites (TPPAS). With the current waste management model, there will be more garbage piles in TPPAS, causing environmental problems for its resident. As a result, The implementation of one of the dimensions in the smart village, namely smart living, is required. by improving current waste management model and supported by technological innovation. However, technological innovation itself will cause new problems if management is seen only as an activity provision of software/hardware for automation needs. Based on these issues, it is necessary to create a Enterprise architecture design of waste management that aims to align technology strategy with business strategy, TOGAF ADM was chosen as the framework because it provides a method for developing, managing, and implementing enterprise architecture maintenance. The results of the design are in the form of a blueprint that can be used as a reference for Sumur Bandung Sub District to overcome issues

Enterprise Software Implementation as Context for Digital Innovation

Many of the IT systems used in organizations are based on comprehensive generic enterprise software (ES) solutions. Accordingly, the process of implementing ES solutions, where generic features are configured and extended according to specific user needs represents a relevant context for digital design and innovation. Yet, besides a few exceptions, it remains little explored by IS research, and the dominant perspective on how generic solutions are implemented portrays a process with little flexibility to design and innovate digital solutions based on emerging user needs. In this paper, we address this gap by studying how innovation takes place during ES implementation. Our empirical analysis is based on data from the first phase of an ongoing case study, where we investigate the practices of five consultancy firms specialized in ES implementation. This paper contributes to the body of knowledge on ES implementation by proposing a conceptualization of how digital innovation takes place in the intersection between ES as a \u27design infrastructure\u27 and the needs of individual customer organizations

A strategic framework using open innovation and platforms to embrace disruptive "Software as a Service" technology

Thesis (S.M. in System Design and Management)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, System Design and Management Program, 2010.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 114-116).Over the past several decades, technology has become fundamental to the facilitation of communication, collaboration and productivity inside and between enterprises. Enterprises use numerous tools to reach their customers, manage increasingly decentralized and mobile workforces and to create digital assets critical to their daily operations. In the last several years, changes in the availability of internet access and the compatibility of internet browsers has resulted in massively scalable services available on the internet - delivered by models termed "Software as a Service" and "Cloud Computing". This delivery mechanism is vastly different from traditional models of enterprise software delivery where enterprise purchase, install and manage their own enterprise software packages. This thesis will evaluate a strategy for one of the market leaders in messaging, IBM Lotus, in the face of the disruptive forces of new internet enabled delivery mechanisms like Software as a Service and Cloud Computing. In doing so, it will integrate the topics of several researchers in the field of strategy and innovation. After a treatment of background topics and themes, it will present an evaluation of the enterprise software market in the face of the disruptive forces created by the internet. A framework for evaluating market strategies for established players will be developed using concepts of software platforms and open innovation. Finally, a case study of the established player will be viewed through the lens of this framework.by Matthew Flaherty.S.M.in System Design and Managemen

Innovation, skills and performance in the downturn: an analysis of the UK innovation survey 2011

The link between firms’ innovation performance and economic cycles, especially major downturns such as that of 2008-10, is a matter of great policy significance, but is relatively under-researched at least at the level of micro data on business behaviour. It is, for example, often argued that economies need to ‘innovate out of recessions’ since innovation is positively associated with improvements in productivity that then lead to growth and better employment (Nesta, 2009). The issues of how individual firms respond to downturns through their investment in innovation, and how this impacts on innovation outputs and ultimately business performance and growth during and after downturns, has been less studied because relevant data has not been readily available. The UK Innovation Survey (UKIS) 2011 now makes this possible. The UKIS 2011 with reference period 2008 to 2010 covers the downturn in economic activity generated by the global financial crash. The build-up of panels over the life of the UKIS also supports analysis of the longer-term interactions between innovation and the business cycle. This report analyses the last four waves of the surveys. Further, the latest survey includes questions on whether firms employ a specific set of skills, which adds materially to the ability to research the role of skills and human capital in innovation at the micro level

ISO 11354-2 FOR THE EVALUATION OF EHEALTH PLATFORMS

Open software platforms are a recent innovation in the healthcare sector to foster integrated care scenarios. An important quality feature to facilitate innovation and to create an active platform ecosystem is openness. The openness is strongly influenced by the interoperability potential of the platforms. Hence, the assessment of the interoperability potential is a crucial task for evaluating the quality of platforms. However, there is a need for methodological support fostering the evaluation of eHealth platforms. Based on a design science research approach, the article shows, how the Maturity Model for Enterprise Interoperability (ISO 11353-2) can be instantiated in the healthcare domain. We describe a quantitative evaluation model which operationalizes the evaluation process of eHealth platforms. The contribution purposes to improve the transparency and reliability of the evaluation process. Furthermore, the introduced approach reduces the dependence on an evaluation team and facilitates the implementation of assessments

SMEs: ERP or virtual collaboration teams

Small firms are indeed the engines of global economic growth. Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) play an important role to promote economic development. SMEs in the beginning of implementing new technologies always face capital shortage and need technological assistance. Available ERP systems do not fulfil the specific requirements of Small firms. SMEs has scarce resources and manpower therefore many SMEs don?t have the possessions to buy and operate an ERP System. On the other hand competition and competitiveness of SMEs have to be strengthened. This paper briefly reviews the existing perspectives on virtual teams and their effect on SMEs management. It also discusses the main characteristics of virtual teams and clarifies the differences aspects of virtual team application in SMEs. After outlining some of the main advantages and pitfall of such teams, it concentrates on comparing of ERP and virtual collaborative teams in SMEs. Finally, it provides evidence for the need of ?Software as a Service (SaaS)? where an application is hosted as a service provided to customers across the web for SMEs as an alternative of ERP. It has been widely argued that ERP disadvantage in SMEs such as administrative expenditure and cost, isolated structure, severe lack of software flexibility, insufficient support of SMEs business and high operating cost, lead SMEs to use virtual collaborative team which is net work base solution

Integrating information and knowledge for enterprise innovation

It has widely been accepted that enterprise integration, can be a source of socio-technical and cultural problems within organisations wishing to provide a focussed end-to-end business service. This can cause possible “straitjacketing” of business process architectures, thus suppressing responsive business re-engineering and competitive advantage for some companies. Accordingly, the current typology and emergent forms of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) technologies are set in the context of understanding information and knowledge integration philosophies. As such, key influences and trends in emerging IS integration choices, for end-to-end, cost-effective and flexible knowledge integration, are examined. As touch points across and outside organisations proliferate, via work-flow and relationship management-driven value innovation, aspects of knowledge refinement and knowledge integration pose challenges to maximising the potential of innovation and sustainable success, within enterprises. This is in terms of the increasing propensity for data fragmentation and the lack of effective information management, in the light of information overload. Furthermore, the nature of IS mediation which is inherent within decision making and workflow-based business processes, provides the basis for evaluation of the effects of information and knowledge integration. Hence, the authors propose a conceptual, holistic evaluation framework which encompasses these ideas. It is thus argued that such trends, and their implications regarding enterprise IS integration to engender sustainable competitive advantage, require fundamental re-thinking