Value for Money Model for Industrial Investment in University Research

University-industry collaboration is an important enabler of open innovation, however, there is a lack of understanding of how to measure the overall benefits of collaborative research projects in terms of value for money. Therefore, following a literature review, a conceptual model has been developed that provides a management framework for deriving the additional (leveraged) benefits of research undertaken at universities. The model itself is focused on the provision of value drivers (either knowledge or financial), which detail specific quantitative and qualitative metrics to enable the value for money case. The model has been initially investigated through a case study involving application to a university-industry strategic alliance over a two-year period. Preliminary findings indicate that the data and information supplied by the model helped the company to continue justifying its investment in research at the university and this has significantly strengthened the strategic alliance

Knowledge management in new product development (NPD)

This thesis analyses features that, in New Product Development process (NPD), foster knowledge, and their contribution to the creation and application of knowledge with the aim of increasing both global performance and organizational effectiveness. Since knowledge is becoming more important to achieve competitive advantage, companies have already started to focus on their ability to generate new competencies and create new opportunities for producing new knowledge. One of the issues compelling knowledge management understands what aspects of the organization\u27s work system and organizational design affect its ability to acquire, create and apply knowledge. In fact, the way that workers are organized and managed determine the success of NPD organizations. In this work, topics such as Knowledge Management and New Product Development are addressed. Furthermore, the study focuses on several models and frameworks of knowledge management, extracted from the existing literature, provides analyses of such models, and, based on them, proposes an additional framework

An integrated model of innovation drivers for smaller software firms

High-technology innovation is essential for economic development in industrialized societies. However, innovation practice in smaller software companies has received little attention. We derive software innovation drivers and outputs from a fragmented literature and analyze their empirical relevance using qualitative data from 25 in-depth interviews with software executives in the Silicon Fen. Repeating patterns in the data set revealed through content analysis show that the most important innovation drivers for smaller software firms are external knowledge, leadership and team processes. Specialized innovation tools and techniques are hardly used. We develop a model of software innovation drivers, together with explorative theoretical propositions.This research work is supported by the Danish Research Council: grant no. 12-133180. Many thanks to the interviewees and the participating companies

Knowledge capture and retrieval in construction projects

The value of project knowledge to the management of a current project is considered crucial to successful project delivery. However, knowledge capture and retrieval suffers from a number of deficiencies, which may result in the loss of huge amount of knowledge and difficulties in retrieving captured knowledge. This study aims to develop a reliable framework for the capture and retrieval of organisational knowledge for use in construction projects. Adopting an empiricist methodology, it includes a survey conducted to investigate the current practice, and semi-structured interviews to explore best practice. The results obtained are used as a foundation for a framework that can assist construction companies to avoid the loss of project knowledge and increase performance and innovation in projects. The findings indicate that project review (PR) is the most appropriate method for achieving knowledge capture; in addition, this should be conducted in a systematic and precise way and results should be presented in the form of instructions or in a checklist format, forming short and precise insights. For quick and efficient retrieval knowledge must be categorised based on project management processes and activities, using an IT system with components designed to manage knowledge and locate experts. Nevertheless; the framework developed suggested that regardless of the effectiveness of the approach to knowledge capture and retrieval, without a knowledge-sharing environment the application will not benefit from these methods. Open culture and resources are critical for providing a knowledge-sharing environment and that leadership has to sustain project knowledge capture and retrieval, providing full support for its application. The framework has been evaluated by academics and practitioners who are experts in their field. The results have indicated that the framework and its components are both applicable and effective