Understanding consumer needs and preferences in new product development: the case of functional food innovations

As the majority of new products fail it is important to focus on the needs and preferences of the consumers in new product development. Consumers are increasingly recognised as important co-developers of innovations, often developing new functions for technologies, solving unforeseen problems and demanding innovative solutions. The central research question of the paper is: How to understand consumer needs and preferences in the context of new product development in order to improve the success of emerging innovations, such as functional foods. Important variables appear to be domestication, trust and distance, intermediate agents, user representations and the consumer- and product specific characteristics. Using survey and focus group data, we find that consumers need and prefer easy-to-use new products, transparent and accessible information supply by the producer, independent control of efficacy and safety, and introduction of a quality symbol for functional foods. Intermediate agents are not important in information diffusion. Producers should concentrate on consumers with specific needs, like athletes, women, obese persons, and stressed people. This will support developing products in line with the needs and mode of living of the users.consumer needs, preferences, new product development, functional foods

A framework for interactive learning in emerging technologies

Innovation is an interactive learning process which is of special interest for emerging technologies in which complex complementary knowledge from heterogeneous stakeholders is combined. In the emerging phase of technology development a lot of knowledge is tacit and can only be transferred face-to-face. At the same time a shared vision between stakeholders is being formed that acts as a driver for innovation. Although the importance of interactive learning is widely acknowledged, an adequate framework for studying interactive learning processes in emerging technologies is still missing. Therefore we formulated the leading research question: How to understand and conceptualize interactive learning in the context of emerging technologies? We did not only take the outcome of interactive learning into account, but also focused on opening the black box of the interactive learning process. We developed a framework based on characteristic elements of the interactive learning process in emerging technologies (i.e. prime mover, intermediaries, network formation and knowledge flows), influencing conditions (geographical, cognitive, regulatory, cultural and organisational proximity), and the outcome of the interactive learning process (single-loop and double-loop, tacit and codified knowledge). Clarifying examples are taken from the empirical field of the development of novel food products (functional foods).

Традиційні звичаї як система спадкоємної культурної трансмісії (засади та досвід вивчення)

У статті на основі текстів наративів, записаних 2009 року на Сході України, досліджуються вияви процесу спадкоємності традицій – міжпоколінної передачі інформації у сфері звичаїв, обрядів та пов’язаних з ними міфологічних вірувань.В статье на основе текстов нарративов, записанных в 2009 году на Востоке Украины, исследуются проявления процесса преемственности традиций – межпоколенной передачи информации в сфере обычаев, обрядов и связанных с ними мифологических верований.The features of the traditional heredity processes are explored on the basis of the narrative texts written in Eastern Ukraine in 2009. These are “inter-generation” informational transfer in the customary, ritual and mythological spheres

The impact of anti-malarial markets on artemisinin resistance: perspectives from Burkina Faso

Background: Widespread artemisinin resistance in Africa could be catastrophic when drawing parallels with the failure of chloroquine in the 1970s and 1980s. This article explores the role of anti-malarial market characteristics in the emergence and spread of arteminisin resistance in African countries, drawing on perspectives from Burkina Faso. Methods: Data were collected through in-depth interviews and focus group discussions. A representative sample of national policy makers, regulators, public and private sector wholesalers, retailers, clinicians, nurses, and community members were purposively sampled. Additional information was also sought via review of policy publications and grey literature on anti-malarial policies and deployment practices in Burkina Faso. Results: Thirty seven in-depth interviews and 6 focus group discussions were conducted. The study reveals that the current operational mode of anti-malarial drug markets in Burkina Faso promotes arteminisin resistance emergence and spread. The factors are mainly related to the artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) supply chain, to ACT quality, ACT prescription monitoring and to ACT access and misuse by patients. Conclusion: Study findings highlight the urgent requirement to reform current characteristics of the anti-malarial drug market in order to delay the emergence and spread of artemisinin resistance in Burkina Faso. Four recommendations for public policy emerged during data analysis: (1) Address the suboptimal prescription of anti-malarial drugs, (2) Apply laws that prohibit the sale of anti-malarials without prescription, (3) Restrict the availability of street drugs, (4) Sensitize the population on the value of compliance regarding correct acquisition and intake of anti-malarials. Funding systems for anti-malarial drugs in terms of availability and accessibility must also be stabilized

Valuing health technology – habilitating and prosthetic strategies in personal health systems

This paper explores the tensions in ICT-driven personal health systems innovation and the impact of these tensions on valuing health innovation for older people. We regard personal health systems (PHS) as configurational technologies and information infrastructures that need to strike a balance between offering standardized health and care packages on the one hand, and providing options for localization and personalization on the other. We use insights from Science and Technology Studies (STS) to conceptualize the configurational dynamics of PHS innovation and emphasize ‘generification work’ as an important arena for the development, assessment and adoption of personal health innovations. We explore two research and development projects of PHS service-robot platforms and build on Callon's concepts of ‘prosthesis’ and ‘habilitation’ to identify two ideal-typical generification strategies in the projects. A prosthetic generification strategy positions the robot as part of a socio-technical agencement that configures older persons into disciplined agency, while a habilitating strategy speaks to them as active actors in the innovation process. We demonstrate how the designers in both projects were often unconsciously led into a prosthetic strategy despite initial intentions to the contrary. We explain this by mechanisms of personalization, needs capturing and othering. However, elements of habilitating strategies were also present, although in a less articulated form. We identify these elements and argue that in aging societies, health innovations need to pursue prosthesis and habilitation simultaneously. We conclude our paper with implications for innovation policy and health technology assessment

Reducing post-harvest food losses through innovative collaboration: Insights from the Colombian and Mexican avocado supply chains

Postharvest losses along food supply chains have far reaching consequences for the environment and affect the social and economic conditions of food supply chain participants, especially of those in developing countries. This paper explores the structural inefficiencies that lead to postharvest losses and analyses how innovative collaboration could lead to more sustainable food supply chains (FSCs) by reducing those inefficiencies. Innovative collaboration is defined as the improvement or creation of inter-organizational relationships through which FSC participants can exchange information, align incentives, engage in effective partnerships and improve their use of technology. This research distinguishes two research questions: First, how do FSC participants interact and which structural inefficiencies leading to postharvest losses can be identified in global food supply chains? And second, what are the main drivers and barriers of FSC participants to engage in innovative collaboration to reduce postharvest losses within global food supply chains? Two case studies explore the supply chain of avocados, especially due to their high susceptibility to postharvest losses, and focus on avocados from Mexico and Colombia imported into the Netherlands. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews with avocado importers, producers/exporters, packers and growers' associations, governmental organizations, and knowledge institutions. Informal interviews were held with producers and suppliers of other agricultural products traded globally. Using the software NVIVO, the collected data from interviews, documents and literature was structured allowing patterns and categories in the data to be discerned. The contribution of this paper is a typology of structural inefficiencies in global food supply chains, which provides insight into the social drivers of postharvest losses. Three categories of structural inefficiencies leading (directly or indirectly) to postharvest losses were identified: (1) corporate inefficiencies, (2) cognitive and affective inefficiencies, and (3) tangible inefficiencies. Effective partnerships were found to be the backbone of innovative collaboration, and the largest contributor to the reduction of postharvest losses, functioning as catalysts of trust, communication, cooperation and innovation, in addition to contributing to reduce structural inefficiencies along food supply chains

Reducing post-harvest food losses through innovative collaboration : Insights from the Colombian and Mexican avocado supply chains

Postharvest losses along food supply chains have far reaching consequences for the environment and affect the social and economic conditions of food supply chain participants, especially of those in developing countries. This paper explores the structural inefficiencies that lead to postharvest losses and analyses how innovative collaboration could lead to more sustainable food supply chains (FSCs) by reducing those inefficiencies. Innovative collaboration is defined as the improvement or creation of inter-organizational relationships through which FSC participants can exchange information, align incentives, engage in effective partnerships and improve their use of technology. This research distinguishes two research questions: First, how do FSC participants interact and which structural inefficiencies leading to postharvest losses can be identified in global food supply chains? And second, what are the main drivers and barriers of FSC participants to engage in innovative collaboration to reduce postharvest losses within global food supply chains? Two case studies explore the supply chain of avocados, especially due to their high susceptibility to postharvest losses, and focus on avocados from Mexico and Colombia imported into the Netherlands. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews with avocado importers, producers/exporters, packers and growers' associations, governmental organizations, and knowledge institutions. Informal interviews were held with producers and suppliers of other agricultural products traded globally. Using the software NVIVO, the collected data from interviews, documents and literature was structured allowing patterns and categories in the data to be discerned. The contribution of this paper is a typology of structural inefficiencies in global food supply chains, which provides insight into the social drivers of postharvest losses. Three categories of structural inefficiencies leading (directly or indirectly) to postharvest losses were identified: (1) corporate inefficiencies, (2) cognitive and affective inefficiencies, and (3) tangible inefficiencies. Effective partnerships were found to be the backbone of innovative collaboration, and the largest contributor to the reduction of postharvest losses, functioning as catalysts of trust, communication, cooperation and innovation, in addition to contributing to reduce structural inefficiencies along food supply chains

From mattering to mattering more:‘goods’ and ‘bads’ in ageing and innovation policy discourses

This paper provides an empirical ethics analysis of the goods and bads enacted in EU ageing and innovation policy discourses. It revolves around a case study of the persona Maria, developed as part of the EU’s Active and Healthy Ageing Policies. Drawing on Pols’ empirical ethics as a theoretical and methodological approach, we describe the variety of goods (practices/situations to be strived for) and bads (practices/situations to be avoided) that are articulated in Maria’s persona. We analyse how certain ideas about good and bad ageing—those associated with the use of sophisticated technologies—come to matter more in the solutions proposed for Maria and the framing of her unmet needs, while others which were initially seen as relevant and that describe her dreams, fears and interactions, are marginalised. The paper adds to existing studies of ageing and technology by analysing specific practices that render visible how the idea of technology and data sharing as evidently the right path towards futures of (good) ageing, comes to prevail

Institutional power play in innovation systems: The case of Herceptin®

Abstract New technologies must be accompanied by institutional change. Innovative actors therefore need to do institutional work or take a role as an institutional entrepreneur in order to shape the institutions in the best interests of their technology. However, the literature on system building and on institutional entrepreneurship have little overlap. The goal of this paper is to bridge these two bodies of literature to gain additional insights into how institutional change evolves in a technological innovation system. We show how the pharmaceutical firm Roche acted as a powerful institutional entrepreneur by influencing the health-care system in England to create a market for the personalized cancer drug Herceptin®. We demonstrate that institutional change can be preceded by a range of innovation system-building activities that are not directly intended to bring about institutional change but are required in order for institutional change to take place. Through this case study, we show how the system-building and institutional change literature can complement each other