Co-creation of innovation: Investment with and in social capital:Studies on collaboration between education - industry - government

This study unravels the concept of 'CO-CREATION‘ in two large scale inter-organisational innovation programmes. Co-creation becomes internationally recognized as a leading innovative approach for regional collaboration between education, industry and government. 'SOCIAL CAPITAL’ is found to be the engine of co-creation of innovation: trustful relations, collective expertise, and courageous actions rather than purely structure, prove to be successful mechanisms. Based on the first studies the ‘CO-CREATION-WHEEL’ is designed and validated as a key practical instrument. It presents 12 factors for successful innovation through co-creation. This instrument provides a stimulating guideline and evaluation tool for innovators and offers practical lessons for HRD professionals and managers

Cocreatie van onderwijs: investeer met én in sociaal kapitaal

Onderwijsinnovatie verloopt zelden probleemloos. Vaak roept het vragen op over doelstellingen, bereikte resultaten en gebruikte innovatiemethoden. Veel veranderingstrajecten leiden tot demotivatie en frustratie bij betrokkenen. Weten we welke factoren debet zijn aan die frustratie? Kunnen we dit veranderen? Inmiddels is voldoende bekend dat top-down geplande innovatietrajecten vaak mislukken. Slechts een kwart is succesvol. Er is echter nog weinig bekend over factoren die een positieve werking hebben bij grootschalige innovatietrajecten. Recente praktijkervaring en onderzoeksliteratuur wijzen in de richting van het sociaal kapitaal als cruciaal element voor het slagen van deze innovaties. Een indicatie die de moeite van verdere verkenning waard is

Unravelling the Social dynamics of an industry-school partnership: social capital as perspective for co-creation

Increasingly, innovative collaboration between industry and schools is being exploited as a way of improving the quality and relevance of education. Even though these innovations appear to have substantial benefits, often the impact proves to fade away after their implementation. A better understanding of how to sustain complex innovations seems important. Unfortunately, only a limited amount of research investigates the ‘inside’ of complex innovations. This article reports on a three-year, large-scale industry–school programme in the Dutch Leisure sector. The research, from start to finish, adopted a qualitative case study methodology with a mixed-methods approach, drawing upon social capital theory as lens to understand the dynamics of processes and effect on outcomes. Findings indicate that the social capital theory helps to unravel crucial factors of processes and outcomes. The researched innovation process depended not so much on formal project plans and objectives but largely built on the quality of social relationships at all levels. Sustaining this social capital proved crucial, while managing according to a planned change strategy appeared to be counterproductive. The outcomes show to be twofold, in terms of new knowledge and products for the organisations and of sustainable benefits for the professionals, in terms of new abilities

Knowledge productivity for sustainable innovation: social capital as HRD target

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to test the feasibility of a conceptual model on relations between organisational innovation, knowledge productivity and social capital. It explores processes of knowledge productivity for sustainable innovation and associated HRD implications in knowledge intensive organisations, taking the perspective that social capital is a key influencing condition. Design/methodology/approach– This qualitative case-study concerned a large-scale innovation project between knowledge-intensive organisations. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 participants from six innovation groups as well as with the project management. Findings– Findings showed that four dimensions of social capital influence knowledge productivity, each requiring a minimum quality to create a rich innovation environment for sustainable results. The relational and cognitive dimensions seem most important, while the action dimension makes them productive. Knowledge productivity appears twofold, i.e. organisational innovation, and professional ability for future innovation. Found are 18 new indicators. Research limitations/implications– Only one large-scale inter-organisational case was conducted. Practical implications– It is suggested that project management, group leaders and HRD officers target social capital as condition for knowledge productivity that should be stimulated, not just by planned interventions, but by “being” there as supporter, coach and mediator. Originality/value– The article contributes to our knowledge about innovations in knowledge-rich organisations, broadens the concept of knowledge productivity, and provides a new framework of social capital as intervention model for HRD. In addition, not often dealt with in literature, the dynamic of innovation is shown

The Co-Creation-Wheel: A four-dimensional model of collaborative, interorganisational innovation

This paper designs and validates a conceptual and practical model of co-creation wheel showing that the validation of practical model, scientifically and as a practical instrument, supported the importance of the components of the model and suggests slight improvements

Knowledge productivity for sustainable innovation: social capital as HRD target

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to test the feasibility of a conceptual model on relations between organisational innovation, knowledge productivity and social capital. It explores processes of knowledge productivity for sustainable innovation and associated HRD implications in knowledge intensive organisations, taking the perspective that social capital is a key influencing condition. Design/methodology/approach– This qualitative case-study concerned a large-scale innovation project between knowledge-intensive organisations. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 participants from six innovation groups as well as with the project management. Findings– Findings showed that four dimensions of social capital influence knowledge productivity, each requiring a minimum quality to create a rich innovation environment for sustainable results. The relational and cognitive dimensions seem most important, while the action dimension makes them productive. Knowledge productivity appears twofold, i.e. organisational innovation, and professional ability for future innovation. Found are 18 new indicators. Research limitations/implications– Only one large-scale inter-organisational case was conducted. Practical implications– It is suggested that project management, group leaders and HRD officers target social capital as condition for knowledge productivity that should be stimulated, not just by planned interventions, but by “being” there as supporter, coach and mediator. Originality/value– The article contributes to our knowledge about innovations in knowledge-rich organisations, broadens the concept of knowledge productivity, and provides a new framework of social capital as intervention model for HRD. In addition, not often dealt with in literature, the dynamic of innovation is shown