The Innovators’s Social Network

The concept of innovation has evolved significantly over the last decade. It now appears that inherent successful innovation can be explained by the influence of the social networks and social capital. Originally based on tangible forms of capital and the necessity of technology pull and push, innovation management is now integrated in a larger system. The innovator’s social network contains knowledge and information obtained from multiple connections in the social capital embedded in organisational and Inter-organisational network. This study shows the impact of inter-organisational, personal and business network in different sectors. The impact of the different networks on start-ups and mature companies, and how this is related to different performance levels in mature companies, is also outlined.The concept of innovation has evolved significantly over the last decade. It now appears that inherent successful innovation can be explained by the influence of the social networks and social capital. Originally based on tangible forms of capital and the necessity of technology pull and push, innovation management is now integrated in a larger system. The innovator’s social network contains knowledge and information obtained from multiple connections in the social capital embedded in organisational and Inter-organisational network. This study shows the impact of inter-organisational, personal and business network in different sectors. The impact of the different networks on start-ups and mature companies, and how this is related to different performance levels in mature companies, is also outlined.The concept of innovation has evolved significantly over the last decade. It now appears that inherent successful innovation can be explained by the influence of the social networks and social capital. Originally based on tangible forms of capital and the necessity of technology pull and push, innovation management is now integrated in a larger system. The innovator’s social network contains knowledge and information obtained from multiple connections in the social capital embedded in organisational and Inter-organisational network. This study shows the impact of inter-organisational, personal and business network in different sectors. The impact of the different networks on start-ups and mature companies, and how this is related to different performance levels in mature companies, is also outlined

Predictive crowding as a concept to support the assessment of disruptive Ideas: a conceptual framework

Purpose - The purpose of this paper, is to develop a conceptual framework for a holistic view on how to use crowd intelligence to identify the logic of sequences to fully address the potential of crowds, and contest the common assumption that one crowd fits all challenges. Design/methodology/approach - This conceptual development is based on both deductive and inductive reasoning and is the result of interdisciplinary collaboration of partner universities and research institutions. Findings - A number of research postulations are presented, opening a future research stream to provide a new perspective on application possibilities of crowdsourcing in SMEs, and encourage further discussion on crowd definition and crowd selection for varying applications. Research limitations/implications - Subsequent empirical work is called for to test various research postulations. Practical Implications - The conceptual framework demonstrates the applicability of crowd intelligence for predictive assessment of disruptive ideas, and adds to the literature on how SMEs could use Predictive Crowding (Expert Crowds) to assess disruptive idea

Predictive crowding as a concept to support the assessment of disruptive Ideas: a conceptual framework

Purpose - The purpose of this paper, is to develop a conceptual framework for a holistic view on how to use crowd intelligence to identify the logic of sequences to fully address the potential of crowds, and contest the common assumption that one crowd fits all challenges. Design/methodology/approach - This conceptual development is based on both deductive and inductive reasoning and is the result of interdisciplinary collaboration of partner universities and research institutions. Findings - A number of research postulations are presented, opening a future research stream to provide a new perspective on application possibilities of crowdsourcing in SMEs, and encourage further discussion on crowd definition and crowd selection for varying applications. Research limitations/implications - Subsequent empirical work is called for to test various research postulations. Practical Implications - The conceptual framework demonstrates the applicability of crowd intelligence for predictive assessment of disruptive ideas, and adds to the literature on how SMEs could use Predictive Crowding (Expert Crowds) to assess disruptive idea

Genetic and metabolic links between the murine microbiome and memory.

BackgroundRecent evidence has linked the gut microbiome to host behavior via the gut-brain axis [1-3]; however, the underlying mechanisms remain unexplored. Here, we determined the links between host genetics, the gut microbiome and memory using the genetically defined Collaborative Cross (CC) mouse cohort, complemented with microbiome and metabolomic analyses in conventional and germ-free (GF) mice.ResultsA genome-wide association analysis (GWAS) identified 715 of 76,080 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that were significantly associated with short-term memory using the passive avoidance model. The identified SNPs were enriched in genes known to be involved in learning and memory functions. By 16S rRNA gene sequencing of the gut microbial community in the same CC cohort, we identified specific microorganisms that were significantly correlated with longer latencies in our retention test, including a positive correlation with Lactobacillus. Inoculation of GF mice with individual species of Lactobacillus (L. reuteri F275, L. plantarum BDGP2 or L. brevis BDGP6) resulted in significantly improved memory compared to uninoculated or E. coli DH10B inoculated controls. Untargeted metabolomics analysis revealed significantly higher levels of several metabolites, including lactate, in the stools of Lactobacillus-colonized mice, when compared to GF control mice. Moreover, we demonstrate that dietary lactate treatment alone boosted memory in conventional mice. Mechanistically, we show that both inoculation with Lactobacillus or lactate treatment significantly increased the levels of the neurotransmitter, gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), in the hippocampus of the mice.ConclusionTogether, this study provides new evidence for a link between Lactobacillus and memory and our results open possible new avenues for treating memory impairment disorders using specific gut microbial inoculants and/or metabolites. Video Abstract

Emerging IT risks: insights from German banking

How do German banks manage the emerging risks stemming from IT innovations such as cyber risk? With a focus on process, roles and responsibilities, field data from ten banks participating in the 2014 ECB stress test were collected by interviewing IT managers, risk managers and external experts. Current procedures for handling emerging risks in German banks were identified from the interviews and analysed, guided by the extant literature. A clear gap was found between enterprise risk management (ERM) as a general approach to risks threatening firms’ objectives and ERM’s neglect of emerging risks, such as those associated with IT innovations. The findings suggest that ERM should be extended towards the collection and sharing of knowledge to allow for an initial understanding and description of emerging risks, as opposed to the traditional ERM approach involving estimates of impact and probability. For example, as cyber risks emerge from an IT innovation, the focus may need to switch towards reducing uncertainty through knowledge acquisition. Since individual managers seldom possess all relevant knowledge of an IT innovation, various stakeholders may need to be involved to exploit their expertise

Exploring stakeholder perspectives: Enhancing robot acceptance for sustainable healthcare solutions

The pandemic has highlighted the fact that healthcare systems around the world are under pressure. Demographic change is leading to an increasing shortage of care workers in most countries, and the demographic challenge is only just beginning in most societies. While robots are widely used in industry, robotic support in healthcare is still limited to very specialized robots in the operating theatre. The question of what type of deployment is likely to be successful in a healthcare scenario is not only a technological or economical question but also one of technology acceptance. The answer to this question supports entrepreneurial opportunities to develop sustainable healthcare solutions.In this paper, we analyze the acceptance of robots in elderly care from the perspective of patients, patient families, and geriatric care professionals. To understand the various positions and to identify the suitability of existing acceptance models, we applied stakeholder mapping to conduct qualitative interviews with 14 people with different knowledge backgrounds and levels of involvement in care situations, based on 9 videos showing different robots and application scenarios.The results confirmed that existing technology acceptance models need to be extended by factors such as robot appearance. We found that the background knowledge of the respondents influences the results of the questions about e.g. safety concerns. In addition, we found that the contribution to patients' self-determination and independence is an important factor that is not included in existing technology acceptance models. Finally, the discovery of a significant discrepancy between the self-perception and the external perception of the different stakeholders regarding the acceptance of a service robot can be explained by the stakeholder positions involved in caring for the benefit of a specific patient.These findings encourage further research, especially with the underlying assumption that technology acceptance in healthcare is not just a patient issue, but a stakeholder issue. Stakeholder mapping is a valid tool to analyze the interdependencies for the acceptance of robots. Therefore, we suggest using a tool such as stakeholder mapping to further analyze these issues

The Innovators's Social Network

The concept of innovation has evolved significantly over the last decade. It now appears that inherent successful innovation can be explained by the influence of the social networks and social capital. Originally based on tangible forms of capital and the necessity of technology pull and push, innovation management is now integrated in a larger system. The innovator¿s social network contains knowledge and information obtained from multiple connections in the social capital embedded in organisational and Inter-organisational network. This study shows the impact of inter-organisational, personal and business network in different sectors. The impact of the different networks on start-ups and mature companies, and how this is related to different performance levels in mature companies, is also outlined