L'émergence des collectifs de conception inter-industries : le cas de la Lunar Society dans l'Angleterre du XVIIIème

Il nous semble que nous pencher sur une forme historique de collectif de conception inter-industrie dans des contextes de forts changements sociétaux et technologiques peut nous aider à mieux comprendre la nature et les processus d'émergence des collectifs contemporains. Nous proposons alors d'examiner l'émergence d'un collectif de conception inter-industries, la Lunar Society de Birmingham au XVIIIème siècle, dont la performance est aujourd'hui indéniable tant l'héritage du travail collaboratif de ses membres a profondément modifié l'Angleterre de l'époque. Nous nous référons aux travaux des deux grands historiens de la Lunar Society, Richard Schofield (Schofield, 1957; 1963) et Jenny Uglow (Uglow, 2002). Les sources permettant d'étayer l'histoire de la Lunar Society sont en fait peu nombreuses : même si la vie de certains membres (notamment James Watt et Josiah Wedgwood) fut l'objet les historiens des sciences et des techniques se sont en fait peu penchés sur l'histoire de cette société savante anglaise, comme le soulignait par exemple un article de Science et Vie consacrée à la Lunar Society en novembre 2002. Ce manque d'études historiques peut s'expliquer par le peu d'archives sur les activités de la Lunar Society. Ainsi, les travaux de Schofield et de Uglow s'appuient sur la correspondance que s'échangèrent les membres de la Lunar Society, et ne peuvent donc rendre compte avec exhaustivité de l'ensemble des mécanismes de coopération, les rencontres physiques entre les divers protagonistes n'étant que peu relatées. Néanmoins, les perspectives historiques que nous apportent ces ouvrages nous permettent de saisir, de manière assez complète, l'essence de ce collectif

A new methodology for advanced engineering design: Lessons from experimenting C-K Theory driven tools

International audienceThis research shows that C-K Design Theory provides fruitful connections between New Product Development and Knowledge Management issues. Our purpose is to go a step further on the benefits of C-K Theory-based design tools for managing the upstream phases of innovative design processes. Based on 14 industrial case studies conducted between 2009 and 2011, we find that C-K Theory-based design tools enable practitioners to generate and explore various design paths while converging on the most competitive one

Rethinking the role of intermediaries as an architect of collective exploration and creation of knowledge in open innovation

This paper questions the applicability of traditional notions of intermediary activities, which are usually categorized as either brokering or networking, in cases of high uncertainty regarding technologies, markets or which actors to involve. In the case of collaborative open innovation, especially in circumstances when no single organization is able to take on the challenge alone, the activities traditionally associated with intermediation do not suffice to describe what an intermediary can do to support innovation. This paper presents two cases of intermediaries working with the early phases of traffic safety innovations, and how they have managed to develop their activities beyond solely brokering and networking, but also to take an active role in the process of joint exploration and creation of knowledge. We use a qualitative approach to analyze the two cases in order to provide examples of how rethinking intermediation activities can support open innovation in a collaborative setting. The findings suggest that intermediaries taking on a more active role, which could be described as an architect which designs prerequisites and offers leadership in the process of joint exploration and creation of knowledge

Melitea salexigens gen. nov., sp. nov., a gammaproteobacterium from the Mediterranean Sea

International audienceA novel aerobic, Gram-negative bacterial strain, designated 5IX/A01/131 T , was isolated from waters in the coastal north-western Mediterranean Sea. The cells were motile, straight rods, 1.6 mm long and 0.5 mm wide, and formed cream colonies on marine 2216 agar. The G+C content of the genomic DNA was 57 mol %. Phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequence placed the strain in the class Gammaproteobacteria. On the basis of the 16S rRNA gene sequence comparisons and physiological and biochemical characteristics, strain 5IX/A01/ 131 T represents a novel genus and species, for which the name Melitea salexigens gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of Melitea salexigens is 5IX/A01/131 T (=DSM 19753 T = CIP 109757 T = MOLA 225 T)

Resisting classical solutions: The creative mind of industrial designers and engineers.

International audienceIndustrial designers and engineers are 2 types of individuals who are typically contrasted with regard to their creative capabilities. Regarding idea-generation processes, studies have shown that individuals use existing elements to generate new ideas, which constrains their creative thinking and leads them to only focus on a narrow scope of solutions. This article explores how industrial designers and engineers behave when generating creative ideas and resisting fixation (i.e., their propensity to focus on a limited set of ideas). We used a creative task in which participants were asked to design a solution that would prevent a hen’s egg from breaking after being dropped from a height of 10 m. Our results show that engineers and industrial designers differ in their creative behaviors when they are asked to generate ideas in a creative task without any constraints. Industrial designers provide more answers and are less fixated than engineers. However, for both engineers and industrial designers, the introduction of an uncreative example reinforced the fixation effect and constrained participants’ fluency. Specifically, industrial designers who were exposed to an uncreative example behaved similarly to engineers who were not exposed to this type of example

Experimenting with innovation processes: the case of reinventing a museum through collaboration

This paper explores how experimenting with collaborative processes contributes to reinventing the purpose and practices of an organisation. Based on a case study of the Insectarium of Montréal, we focus on the 2-year collaborative process orchestrated by the director, involving employees, experts and visitors. Our findings show several organisational implications of engaging in this type of experimentation: specifically, beyond enabling the collective generation of new ideas, experimenting through collaboration is an excellent opportunity to renew the organisation’s practices and support the development of a reflexive leadership. This suggests that despite the inherent challenges associated with organisational experiments, there are clear benefits of engaging in such experiments to stimulate innovation

Structures of benthic prokaryotic communities and their hydrolytic enzyme activities resuspended from samples of intertidal mudflats: An experimental approach

International audienceResuspended sediment can increase plankton biomass and the growth of bacteria, thus influencing the coastal planktonic microbial food web. But little is known about resuspension itself: is it a single massive change or a whole series of events and how does it affect the quantity and quality of resuspended prokaryotic cells? We simulated the sequential erosion of mud cores to better understand the fate and role of benthic prokaryotes resus-pended in the water column. We analyzed the total, attached and free-living prokaryotic cells resuspended, their structure and the activities of their hydrolytic enzymes in terms of the biotic and abiotic factors that affect the composition of microphytobenthic biofilm. Free living prokaryotes were resuspended during the fluff layer erosion phase (for shear velocities below 5 cm · s −1) regardless of the bed sediment composition. At the higher shear velocities, resuspended prokaryotes were attached to particulate matter. Free and attached cells are thus unevenly distributed, scattered throughout the organic matter (OM) in the uppermost mm of the sediment. Only 10–27% of the total cells initially resuspended were living and most of the Bacteria were Cyanobacteria and Gamma-proteobacteria; their numbers increased to over 30% in parallel with the hydrolytic enzyme activity at highest shear velocity. These conditions released prokaryotic cells having different functions that lie deep in the sediment; the most important of them are Archaea. Finally, composition of resuspended bacterial populations varied with resuspension intensity, and intense resus-pension events boosted the microbial dynamics and enzyme activities in the bottom layers of sea water

La méta-analyse, espace transitionnel de trans-formation en formation de formateurs

En référence à la psychosociologie clinique, cet article concerne les professionnels des « métiers de la relation ». Il vise à identifier les processus de remaniements identitaires des formateurs, concernés dans leurs missions par les impacts contemporains des mutations de société. Une vignette clinique d’une séance d’analyse réflexive des pratiques permet d’étudier comment le temps de la « méta-analyse », contenant un « espace transitionnel », facilite la compréhension des processus psychiques liés aux prises de conscience et aux nécessaires déplacements des représentations. Les modalités de travail décrites et analysées selon un principe d’association, dans une logique de contamination visant la transmission du geste partagé, ouvrent l’accès à une pensée suspendue et engagée. Une analyse critique s’appuie sur les témoignages de participants. Elle permet d’identifier les ressources créatives de cet espace transitionnel qui renouvelle le pouvoir de comprendre et d’agir et qui permet au sujet démocratique d’advenir dans un espace collectif du « penser ensemble ».This article, set within the framework of clinical psychosociology, addresses experts concerned with « human relationship professions ». It aims at defining identity restructuring processes in trainers whose missions have been altered by contemporary society’s mutations. The clinical study of a session devoted to a reflexive analysis of practices will enable us to focus on how the moment of « meta-analysis » containing “transitional space”, working towards the understanding of psychic processes related to new insights and necessary representational shifts. The type of work described and analysed below rests on a principle of thought association and a logic of contamination. Its aim is the transmission of a shared gesture that will open the way of thinking both suspended and committed. A critical analysis of collected testimonies will allow us to pin down the creative ressources of this transitional space which renews the power to understand and act, and prompts the emergence of a democratic subject within the space delineated by this “thinking together.

Multiple forms of applications and impacts of a design theory -ten years of industrial applications of C-K theory

International audienceC-K theory has been developed by Armand Hatchuel and Benoit Weil and then by other researchers since 1990s. In this paper we show that its very abstract nature and its high degree of universality actually supported a large variety of industrial applications. We distinguish three types of applications: 1) C-K theory provides a new language, that supports new analysis and descriptive capacity and new teachable individual models of thoughts; 2) C-K theory provides a very general framework to better characterize the validity domain and the performance conditions of existing methods, leading to potential improvement of these methods ; 3) C-K theory is the conceptual model at the root of new design methods that are today largely used in the industry

A contingency approach of open innovation intermediaries - the management principles of the "intermediary of the unknown"

International audienceResearch has improved our understanding of the managerial challenges inherent in exploratory intermediation. For instance knowledge brokers help to solve well-defined problems based on existing competences. But what if the relevant actor networks are not known, if there is no clear common interest, or if there are only ill-defined, wicked problems and no legitimate common place where they can be discussed? The aim of this paper is to explore these management principles for intermediation of the unknown. Can intermediaries be active when the degree of unknown is high? And if so, what can they do and how can they manage and drive collective innovation? We first build on a review of the literature to highlight common core functions of the different types of intermediaries. Then, we introduce the "degree of unknown" as a new dimension for analyzing the role of intermediaries, and we discuss whether the core functions of the intermediary could be fulfilled when the degree of unknown is very high. Our analysis is based on four different empirical case studies in Sweden, France, and Germany where these functions have been tackled in particular because of the low level of pre-existing knowledge. We describe the managerial challenges these intermediaries face in the unknown and we demonstrate examples of how they have been handled. We conclude by discussing the theoretical and empirical perspectives raised by this work. The paper contributes to the theory of innovation intermediaries by exploring the properties of a form of intermediary for which the degree of unknown is a key contingency variable, and describes management principles for such intermediaries. In this way we characterize a new role -the "intermediary of the unknown" - that may be well spread in practice but scarcely analysed in the literature