Key Differentiators of Open Innovation Platforms – A Market-oriented Perspective

Within the open innovation debate, significant attention has beenpaid to the fact that customers can be a useful source for bringingnew ideas and concepts into a company. In this context, onlineplatforms have become a widely used instrument to facilitateinteraction between companies and customers. While priorliterature discusses various aspects of open innovation platforms,a market-oriented analysis covering all types of platforms for ideacreation and concept development seems to be still missing. Byevaluating a total of 44 different innovation platforms, we identifythe degree of interrelation between five major platform attributesand develop two key differentiating dimensions: The platformoperator (company vs. third party) and the platform purpose (findsolutions vs. understand customers). The resulting classificationmatrix highlights a newly emerging category of online openinnovation platforms, opening the field for deeper investigation infuture research

TO:DO : collaborative experience innovation : white paper of Philips Design

This research report describes the TO:DO (Technical Objectives: Design Objectives) process; a design research programme initiated in Philips in 2004, pioneering a creative process to drive innovation by integrating envisioned user experiences with enabling technologies. The report shows that by incorporating end-user insights from the start, the design process leads to solutions that make sense to people’s lives whilst leveraging technological assets. The project uses the creation of a tangible ‘slice of life’ demonstrator (Connected Home II) to focus the research partners Andrews and Geurts, co-ordinated by Kyffin, encouraging the sharing of objectives and the creation of a common language. The research thinking builds on; Past Tense: Future Sense, Chapter 2.15: Design research 268-271pp., ISBN: 90-6369-116-5, Marzano, S., (editor) (2005), which describes the creation and context of some of the most iconic Philips products. Kyffin worked on the chapter entitled ‘Design Research’ from his role as Global Director of Design Research within Philips; building knowledge, new solutions and emerging design. This research report illustrates how interdisciplinary open innovation is used as a design research tool to develop concepts and solutions in response to the changing world. How it has determined future strategies for Philips business development through new materials, technologies, changing markets, peoples, cultures and society. The report and the book chapter are rare publications by because they discuss research policy and activities within a commercial company for public dissemination. They introduce the notion of Design as a means to contribute and drive social and political innovation. Recent speaking engagements which expand on the thinking include: (2006) ‘Objects of Service: from subjects to objects and back again’, keynote in; International Service Design Northumbria. Kyffin was also interviewed by the organisers of the Design & Emotion conference on the topic: ‘Getting Emotional with Steven Kyffin’: www.designemotion.com/2006/01/17/getting -emotional-with-steven-kyffin/

Digital transformation at turismo de Portugal

This direct research project aims to provide Turismo de Portugal (TdP) with a digital transformation framework and an industry based overview of Tourism and Digital Transformation trends, through an action pack of initiatives to be developed. A benchmark of digital transformation best practices in the Tourism industry was collected and a digital maturity framework applied in TdP to position their status through a short survey. Collaboration, poor systems integration, tool complexity and duplication, and process-based organization, were found to be major issues. Given the current reality, change management practices, associated with a technological and strategical alignment, were considered to attain a successful digitalization pilot

Online counselling services for Youth@risk

Youth today suffer from many socio-economic problems and struggle to operate in the current economic environment. Wellbeing service provision to youth@risk is inadequate to deal with the complexities of societal challenges which are amplified by the fast technology advances in a continuously changing environment. This paper aims to consider the provision of online counselling to enhance current face-to-face services from the provider’s perspective. The case of a volunteer-based online counselling service that has been in operation since 2010 is considered to establish the aspects that influence this type pf service. Related literature was reviewed to determine the issues reported from current studies and a taxonomy of digital services was used to analyse the service objectives of the service provider. Data collected from sessions with the facilitators and observations of a chat session was analysed to establish their experience of online counselling. The findings were interpreted to answer the research question. The contribution of this paper is in response to the many appeals for more empirical research on real cases. It can be concluded that an online counselling service is a viable extension of face-to-face counselling but more research is needed to understand its benefit to the clients and the ability to ensure a sustained service, especially in developing contexts

Innovation intermediaries in university-industry collaboration: analysis of online platforms

This paper was presented at The XXVII ISPIM Innovation Conference – Blending Tomorrow’s Innovation Vintage, Porto, Portugal on 19-22 June 2016. The full conference proceedings are available to ISPIM members at www.ispim.org.The importance of intermediation in university-industry collaboration (UIC) has been widely acknowledged, however, the phenomenon of UIC online tools is not yet studied in detail. In this paper, we examine fifteen UIC online platforms, identify their functions and role that they play in UIC. By combining secondary data with interviews with platform developers and users, we identify five main archetypes of collaborative online platforms: education-focused, knowledge transfer platforms, crowdsourcing platforms, networking tools and platforms for innovation marketing. We also present a number of the benefits the platforms bring. These tools reduce the time and resources spent establishing and managing collaborations; they help to make networking more targeted; they help to reveal the value that university research has for business and increase the adoption of university education. Our findings suggest that whilst facing some challenges, the platforms analysed represent a scalable, rapidly growing and more importantly demand-led business opportunity

Inbound Marketing

This study looks into inbound marketing practice through the process of secondary research. This insight on best practices and market examples have been employed in order to identify the benefits of Inbound Marketing for the School of Professional Studies at Clark University. Through the research, this team has consolidated a number of recommendations for the SPS marketing strategies moving forward. A focus has been placed on identifying solutions, which were effective and financially feasible. The primary solutions are internally sourced; with a future long term recommendation of seeking advice from a third party firm to automate the process

Triple helix knowledge interactions: A study of institutional, virtual and on-line intermediaries

Moving from a triple helix perspective, through quadruple and quintuple toward N-Tuple helices, the emphasis placed on the utility of knowledge and the effectiveness of knowledge transfer by the world’s leading economies only increases. Similarly, at an organisational level the shift toward knowledge sharing and open innovation reflects this also. Therefore, the importance of understanding the interactions between the respective stakeholders and the specific mechanism and structures being developed to facilitate and manage this activity, is imperative too. This will better enable us to maximise the potential offered to companies, universities and societies from knowledge sharing and exchange and this study focuses on one particular type of organisation operating within this intersection – intermediaries who facilitate knowledge or technology transfer. Firstly we identify a range of structural models that stakeholders from around the world have adopted to build their knowledge and technology transfer offerings. These range across institutional: through faculty-based; arms-length; peripheral; regional-virtual and virtual-online. The article discusses the relative merits of each structure before focussing in on one new and emergent mode – the virtual online platform. We then explore different on-line platforms before deriving a simple typology that begins to characterise their respective service offerings and major differentiating characteristics. Finally, the article showcases five specific offering, representing the respective typologies, before discussing their relative strengths and weaknesses and their fit with the wider structural offerings, presented in the earlier sections of the paper. The article makes a number of contributions. By identifying the respective structural configurations of intermediaries, researchers may compare and contrast each format and University senior managers can likewise consider the respective options before they select and launch their own knowledge or technology transfer office. Also by exploring and comparing the virtual online platforms, actors in the triple helix can understand how this new type of intermediation fits within the existing typologies