Information support of innovation processes in education

В содержании сборника статья указана под названием: Компьютерные информационные технологии в образовательном процессе вуз

Generic heurorithm of innovation management from generating ideas to commercialization

The problem of providing an integrated scientific, methodological and information support of the innovation process, covering all its stages including the creative phase, at which novelties are created (solving the problem of conceptual design), is considered. The generic heurorithm (heuristic algorithm) of the innovation management serves as the methodological basis for the implementation of the information support and management innovation system. It is a standard program tool for corporative innovation infrastructure for use in universities, and is intended for describing, accounting and management of ideas at different stages of the innovation cycle. Heurorithm has a modular structure and is represented by a graphical notation systems working schemes. Its schemes reflect a variety of means to support innovation: scientific and methodological support, methods, instructional materials, information resources and a program toolkit (including components of information support and innovation management system). These means correspond to the heuristic components of activities and heuristic information facilities: weakly formalized creative processes and experience gained during their realization. Availability and detailing of heuristics generated and used at different stages of the innovation process for its intensification, is one of the main differences between the developed heurorithm and known organizational charts of innovative activity. On the basis of the generic heurorithm in the system of information support and innovation management an interactive navigator on the stages of the innovation process and means of its support is developed. The research was conducted at the financial support of the state e represented by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation (the unique identifier of the research work RFMEFI57314X0007).peer-reviewe

IT Enablers for Task Organization and Innovation Support to drive Team Performance

Teams drive organizational innovation by applying knowledge to solve complex problems. However, many teams underperform and organizations do not sufficiently harvest the benefits they could gain from effective IT support for team processes consisting of creative (exploration) and structurally controlled (exploitation) processes. This paper investigates the impact of knowledge application on support for innovation, task organization, and team performance in a mixed method case study in two medium-sized, knowledge-intensive, information technology-affine organizations. We surveyed 204 employees and found that knowledge application positively affects task organization. Knowledge application and task organization positively affect support for innovation. Both, task organization and support for innovation positively affect team performance. Subsequent focus group interviews with 16 employees provided us with an in-depth understanding of factors that support team performance. Qualitative content analysis resulted in nine IT enablers, which can be adapted by organizations to foster coordination while at the same time promote innovation

The role of government in agricultural innovation: Lessons from Bolivia

"Many governments in developing countries attempt to foster agricultural development and innovation by setting up funding facilities, extension programs, and research centers and by subsidizing private-sector and farm activities through fiscal measures. However, when trying to manage complex innovation processes involving many and different actors, governments sometimes find it difficult to design effective interventions and therefore end up supporting and managing only the public research and extension organizations that directly depend upon them. With the aid of various donors, Bolivia introduced a scheme in 2001—the Bolivian Agricultural Technology System (SIBTA)—by which government support to agricultural research and extension was partly delegated to regional semiautonomous foundations. This brief presents the results of a study on the role of the Bolivian government in guiding and managing SIBTA. The study found that despite a number of weaknesses related to the design of the system and the government's limited commitment, the regional foundations have been able to effectively identify the demands of small farmers, set priorities, and provide transparency and accountability with regard to funding and decisionmaking. It suggests that instead of micromanaging such foundations, the government should focus on the big picture and conduct policy analysis and strategic planning to identify opportunities for agricultural innovation and set up incentive mechanisms and information networks that support the many actors involved in innovation processes." from textAgricultural innovations, Private sector, Technological innovations, Agricultural research, Agricultural development, stakeholders, Farmers, Producer organizations, Extension,

Knowledge Based Approach to Support Innovation Processes in Small and Medium Sized Manufacturing Enterprises

Knowledge plays a key role in the management of innovation processes in the organisation. A large number of efforts have been made to support the innovation processes by academics and practitioners in the field of Innovation and Knowledge Management. As a result, there are several methods and approaches now available for companies to manage their innovation knowledge more effectively. However, the aspects of knowledge identification, storage and utilisation to support innovation processes has not been researched extensively. In addition, it is argued that the existing methods and approaches which were originally developed and implemented in large organisations do not meet the special requirements of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs). Therefore, there is a need for more research to investigate what information and knowledge sources are being used, how these sources are stored and when they are utilised in the innovation process in SMEs. This thesis inspects the above mentioned issues in greater depth by conducting a series of case studies of the innovation processes in SMEs. The research has been specifically focused on the needs of SMEs in the manufacturing sector and has studied product, process and service innovation. This research programme commenced with a thorough study of the current literature associated with Innovation, Innovation Models, Knowledge Management, Quality Circle Programme and Learning Organisation. The second stage of this research has utilised the findings from the literature review to develop a novel research framework to examine current innovation and knowledge management practices in use within manufacturing SMEs. The programme applied primary research methods to validate the knowledge gained from the secondary research. The UK based manufacturing SMEs were used as test beds to investigate and understand their innovation practices, tools and procedures applied in their innovation processes; and to gather responses to key research questions. In the third stage, the results from the previous stages were utilised to develop a novel knowledge-based innovation framework that implements a new methodology for the adoption of innovation processes in manufacturing SMEs. The construction of the novel innovation framework has been based on individual practices found in traditional problem-solving approaches such as the Quality Circle Programme, combined with a selected group of practices obtained from different management processes such as Knowledge Management and team learning and sharing practices such as Learning Organisation. The fourth stage implemented the proposed framework as a software tool that can be used to support innovation processes. In the final stage, the thesis was concluded with the validation of the proposed knowledge toolset, discussion on the validation results and the application of the toolset to support innovation processes in manufacturing SMEs

The CGIAR at a Crossroads: Assessing the role of international agricultural research in poverty alleviation from an innovation systems perspective

Globalization, technical change and migration are changing the dynamics of poverty and food production. These factors, combined with a better understanding of the nature of complex processes, are also changing the nature of scientific research, the roles researchers can play in poverty alleviation and the niches in which the CGIAR can operate. While keeping strong breeding and research programs, the CGIAR should devote increasing resources to better characterize the dynamics of poverty, redefine the networks it will use to promote the use of scientific information to foster innovation, link local innovators and researchers with international scientific networks, and help to build innovative capabilities in developing countries. These capabilities should refer not only to scientific research but also to new ways to support innovation and to design and implement poverty-alleviation programs. Finally, CGIAR researchers should adopt new research methods to better integrate into local and international innovation networks.CGIAR, Innovation, agricultural research, Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Security and Poverty, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

Does social software support service innovation?

Recent Internet technologies and web-based applications, such as social software, are being increasingly applied in firms. Social software can be employed for knowledge management and for external communication enabling access to internal and external knowledge. Knowledge in turn constitutes one of the main inputs to service innovation. Hence, social software has the potential to support service innovation. Using data from 505 German Information- and Communication Technology (ICT) and knowledge-intensive service firms, this is the first paper which empirically analyses the question whether the use of social software applications triggers innovation. Thereby, it refers to a knowledge production function in which social software use constitutes the knowledge sourcing activity. The results reveal that there is a positive relationship between social software and service innovation. Since this result is robust when controlling for former innovative activities and the previous propensity to adopt new technologies and to change processes, the analysis suggests that the causality runs from social software to innovation. --Social software,web 2.0,service innovation,knowledge management

Redesign and innovation in hospitals: foundations to making it happen

This paper describes key features of hospital redesign processes in Australia by analysing Victorian, NSW and other models. It discusses frameworks and drivers of large scale change in health systems including challenges and barriers to success.  The use of systems thinking and institutional entrepreneurship to support achieving change is described.   Insights are provided to enable policy development that can support innovation and system redesign. What is the problem? Australia\u27s demand for healthcare services is escalating, driven by an ageing population with complex health care needs, rising rates of chronic illness, increasing health care costs and rapid information technology innovation. These pressures may not be adequately met within the health system\u27s current and future economic capacity. Therefore, healthcare services and systems must achieve wide-ranging reform and redesign if they are to meet these challenges. The key questions for those working as health services leaders are: how can we support the innovation and change required to address this reality? and what should national policy makers do to support this work? What does the evidence say? Considerable evidence describes overlapping aspects of successful redesign in hospitals. These include: leadership to achieve change; the use of data to monitor and evaluate change; coherent alignment to organisational strategic plans; the development of organisational culture that is ready for change; and ensuring integration of change into routine practice. Systems thinking and institutional entrepreneurship offer approaches to change and redesign that take into consideration networks and relationships of individuals, teams and clinical disciplines working within it, resources and current processes and the cultural context of the organisation. What does this mean for health service leaders? In order to fully meet the requirements for redesign and innovation, health service leaders will need to address a number of key areas. First and foremost, leaders need to develop their organisational strategic vision around the concept of redesign and innovation and build staff understanding of the importance of these concepts. Staff must be given the capacity and confidence to pursue meaningful change in their everyday operations. Leaders must recognise the benefits of data and analytics and support the development of systems to utilise these tools. Innovative practices from outside of the health sector should be studied and adapted, and partnerships with industry and academia must be pursued. What does this mean for policy makers? Policy makers need to commit to investment in the concept of redesign and innovation. They should consider funding models that reward health services for innovation. Policy makers must support health services to pursue and sustain meaningful change while recognising that transformation requires time, perseverance and willingness to learn from success and failure

Competition and innovation-driven inclusive growth

The paper investigates the strength of innovation-driven employment growth, the role of competition in stimulating and facilitating it, and whether it is inclusive. In a sample of more than 26,000 manufacturing establishments across 71 countries (both OECD and developing), the authors find that firms that innovate in products or processes, or that have attained higher total factor productivity, exhibit higher employment growth than non-innovative firms. The strength of firms'innovation-driven employment growth is significantly positively associated with the share of the firms'workforce that is unskilled, debunking the conventional wisdom that innovation-driven growth is not inclusive in that it is focused on jobs characterized by higher levels of qualification. They also find that young firms have higher propensities for product or process innovation in countries with better Doing Business ranks (both overall and ranks for constituent components focused on credit availability and property registration). Firms generally innovate more and show greater employment growth if they are exposed to more information (through internet use and membership in business organizations) and are exporters. The empirical results support the policy propositions that innovation is a powerful driver of employment growth, that innovation-driven growth is inclusive in its creation of unskilled jobs, and that the underlying innovations are fostered by a pro-competitive business environment providing ready access to information, financing, export opportunities, and other essential business services that facilitate the entry and expansion of young firms.Environmental Economics&Policies,Labor Policies,Labor Markets,E-Business,Microfinance

Do Cultural and Creative Industries (CCI) matter for innovation and value creation in knowledge-based business? Aims, forms and practice of collaboration in Italy

Purpose: This paper provides the first results of a scoping study exploring in detail how Cultural and Creative Industries(CCI) can represent a source and resource of critical and creative thinking as well as a set of processes to be deployed in order to foster and support innovation. Scope: Focusing on a sample of Italian companies, the aims, the forms and the specific practices of collaborations between CCI and knowledge-based and traditional businesses are identified and discussed. Method: In order to derive and test theories, trace causal pathways, explore hypotheses, researchers have designed and implemented qualitative research methods and conducted investigation mainly based on web-available data, archives and interview-based information. Results: The case examples of relevant Italian companies effectively provide evidences of the impact and modalities of adopting initiatives to develop innovation capacity. Recommendations and conclusions: The investigation of a sample of Italian companies suggests that most of the attention is focused on collaborations aimed to reinforce company image and reputation, to develop corporate social responsibility and to improve brand recognition