New Research Methodologies in Innovation: A Shift Toward Experimentation

As familiar with our informed readership, CIJ supports unconventional, early-stage, thought-provoking experimental research. We aim to foster innovation methodologies, tools, educational approaches, and experiments to push the boundaries of creativity to drive societal innovation. This is the first statement of our novel Manifesto, which embodies a spirit of open, multidisciplinary exploration, embracing unconventional ideas and research that challenges norms to drive innovation and societal progress. With this issue, we are inaugurating a special section dedicated to methodological papers aimed at inspiring innovation researchers to explore and embrace diverse applied methodologies in their research. Every issue will have a short note from a relevant expert in the field; this will be on Design Science

Prototypes as identity markers: The double-edged role of prototypes in multidisciplinary innovation teams

Prototypes play a powerful role in facilitating the work of multidisciplinary innovation teams, but if not properly managed, they may inhibit innovation processes. This paper inquires into the tensions that exist around the use of prototypes in multidisciplinary teams. We studied the relationship between work identities (related to teams and subgroups within teams) and prototypes with a field study of a multidisciplinary team in an emergency department, in charge of redesigning the layout of the unit. Results show that different values of subgroup identities are reflected in the solutions devised by the team. These values become salient through the prototype; that is, the prototype is an identity marker, especially when it is characterized by higher tangibility, fidelity and validity. When the prototype is an identity marker, it sparks conflict within the team. We also find that a superordinate team identity can help in solving conflictual interactions. Our analysis contributes to revealing how prototypes as identity markers can both inhibit and facilitate the innovation process of multidisciplinary teams. We offer theoretical and practical implications for managers, team members and designers working in multidisciplinary teams

“OPER.TEN” Transform Emergency Now! - facing Covid-19 with Open Innovation and Human Centered Design

The paper presents “OPER.TEN”, a 10 days program that hybridized Human Centered Design (HCD) with Open innovation (OI), developed in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The program adapted a HCD methodology so that the design teams could face the challenges of designing during a pandemic, such as relying on remote interactions only.  Methodological challenges are presented as well as tools and methods developed to overcome those challenges. To ensure fast implementation of the results, the HCD methodology was hybridized with pillars of OI by involving stakeholders of the territory that could participate with implementation capacity. The final network involved Universities, Companies, Municipality, and Government. After the design phase, 3 of 4 solutions were successfully implemented in 40 days. Results report how to hybridize a HCD with OI to push rapid implementations

Successful implementation of discrete event simulation: the case of an Italian emergency department

This paper focuses on the study of a practical management problem faced by a healthcare {\it emergency department} (ED) located in the north of Italy. The objective of our study was to propose organisational changes in the selected ED, which admits approximately 7000 patients per month, aiming at improving key performance indicators related to patient satisfaction, such as the waiting time. Our study is based on a design thinking process that adopts a {\it discrete event simulation} (DES) model as the main tool for proposing changes. We used the DES model to propose and evaluate the impact of different improving scenarios. The model is based on historical data, on the observation of the current ED situation, and information obtained from the ED staff. The results obtained by the DES model have been compared with those related to the existing ED setting, and then validated by the ED managers. Based on the results we obtained, one of the tested scenarios was selected by the ED for implementation.Comment: 24 pages, 8 figures and 4 table

Exploring the relationship between multiple team membership and team performance: the role of social networks and collaborative technology

Firms devoted to research and development and innovative activities intensively use teams to carry out knowledge intensive work and increasingly ask their employees to be engaged in multiple teams (e.g. R&D project teams) simultaneously. The literature has extensively investigated the antecedents of single teams performance, but has largely overlooked the effects of multiple team membership (MTM), i.e., the participation of a focal team\u2019s members in multiple teams simultaneously, on the focal team outcomes. In this paper we examine the relationships between team performance, MTM, the use of collaborative technologies (instant messaging), and work-place social networks (external advice receiving). The data collected in the R&D unit of an Italian company support the existence of an inverted U-shaped relationship between MTM and team performance such that teams whose members are engaged simultaneously in few or many teams experience lower performance. We found that receiving advice from external sources moderated this relationship. When MTM is low or high, external advice receiving has a positive effect, while at intermediate levels of MTM it has a negative effect. Finally, the average use of instant messaging in the team also moderated the relationship such that at low levels of MTM, R&D teams whose members use instant messaging intensively attain higher performance while at high levels of MTM an intense use of instant messaging is associated with lower team performance. We conclude with a discussion of theoretical and practical implications for innovative firms engaged in multitasking work scenarios

Characterizing Alpine peatlands from drones: a case study

Alpine peatlands occur in alpine, sub-alpine and mountain regions of the world and can be frequently found on the Alps as well as on the Andes, on the Tibetan Plateau, on the Australian Alps and in other regions of the world. Italian Alps host a large number of relatively small bogs and fens that can be found on gently sloping surfaces or in small valleys created by past glaciers. The high precipitation-low temperature climatic regime ensures large water availability to these ecosystems. The uniqueness and importance of peatlands in the Alpine territory is strongly linked to the countless ecosystem services that they provide, including their ability of sequestering and stocking carbon, providing habitat for flora and fauna including endangered species, supporting important biological diversity, being reservoir of high-quality freshwater during warm and dry seasons, and having the role of paleo-climate archives. Despite their importance, the peatlands of the Alps are still poorly studied and incompletely mapped, probably because they are relatively small and difficult to access. The use of remote sensing techniques provides a possible solution, allowing extending local measurements to wider areas in a fast and cost-effective way. Our hypothesis is that the spatial distribution of different plant associations as well as the spatial variability of vegetation biomass may provide important information for mapping the spatial distribution of peat properties, thus making remote sensing an effective method for peatland studies. In this work, we present the results obtained by using data collected by Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) on the Val di Ciampo alpine peatland (Province of Belluno, northeast Italy) in July 2021. LiDAR data, hyperspectral data and aerial digital photos were simultaneously collected on an area of 88.000 m2. Field observations and measurements were performed in the same period, providing georeferenced ground information on vegetation and peat characteristics. Peat and vegetation samples were collected and analyzed in the lab. For each vegetation association we measured the height of plants and determined their above- and below-ground biomass based on 20 above-ground and 15 below-ground samples. As for the peat, we measured the peat thickness and determined the bulk density and the organic carbon content of 46 samples. Our results show that some of the correlations found between the parameters that characterize different vegetation associations can be used to calibrate the data collected by UAVs and extend the results from point locations to the entire peatland. For example, we found that the aboveground biomass is significantly correlated (r = 0.81, p < 0.001) to the local average vegetation height, therefore both LiDAR data and the Digital Surface Model (DSM) extracted from the photos can be used to estimate and map the vegetation aboveground biomass. The correlation between the surface microtopography and the aboveground biomass will also be presented, as well as other correlations between vegetation patterns and peat depth and properties. The significance of combining UAVs multi-sensor data with field observations for the characterization of Alpine peatlands will be discussed

Tech to Organization. Assessing and designing technology adoption with design thinking

This article explores how design thinking can be tailored to address projects that focus on assessing the value of technology adoption within an organization and designing an appropriate application. We studied seven innovation projects conducted within a European Design Factory. We identified common patterns that define an adapted design thinking process called "Tech to Organization" to address such technology-driven project effectively. Results show how classic design thinking tools are adapted in such a process (e.g., technology abilities, technology problem-framing, technolgoy proof of value) and how the phases and milestones of the process chang

Il back-reshoring manifatturiero nei processi di internazionalizzazione: inquadramento teorico ed evidenze empiriche

Obiettivo del paper. Il paper si prefigge di inquadrare il fenomeno del back-reshoring manifatturiero - ovvero la rilocalizzazione nel paese di origine delle attivit\ue0 produttive precedentemente delocalizzate all\u2019estero -nell\u2019ambito dei processi di internazionalizzazione dell\u2019impresa. Metodologia. L\u2019approccio metodologico utilizzato \ue8 di tipo esplorativo, data la mancanza di una letteratura consolidata specifica. In particolare si \ue8 fatto ricorso a dati secondari raccolti in maniera originale attraverso una pluralit\ue0 di fonti. Risultati. \uc8 stata identificata una definizione operativa di back-reshoring inserendo tale fenomeno in un framework teorico rappresentativo del processo evolutivo di internazionalizzazione dell\u2019impresa. Sulla base delle evidenze empiriche, sono state proposte delle direttrici di sviluppo per future attivit\ue0 di ricerca. Implicazioni manageriali. Sono state evidenziate le conseguenze che il fenomeno pu\uf2 avere sulla competitivit\ue0 e le performance economica delle imprese che adottano strategie di reshoring. Originalit\ue0 e limiti della ricerca. Il principale elemento di originalit\ue0 del lavoro \ue8 rappresentato dall\u2019utilizzo di una metodologia di ricerca esplorativa che ha coniugato l\u2019analisi della letteratura di International business e quella di Supply chain management con l\u2019analisi di evidenze empiriche raccolte in maniera originaria. Le scelte metodologiche effettuate rappresentano anche il principale limite del contributo, le cui conclusioni non sono generalizzabili ma costituiscono la base per ulteriori approfondimenti del dibattito scientifico, per i quali si sono identificate delle specifiche direttrici

Polarized Expression of p75NTR Specifies Axons during Development and Adult Neurogenesis

VIDEO ABSTRACT: Newly generated neurons initiate polarizing signals that specify a single axon and multiple dendrites, a process critical for patterning neuronal circuits in vivo. Here, we report that the pan-neurotrophin receptor p75(NTR) is a polarity regulator that localizes asymmetrically in differentiating neurons in response to neurotrophins and is required for specification of the future axon. In cultured hippocampal neurons, local exposure to neurotrophins causes early accumulation of p75(NTR) into one undifferentiated neurite to specify axon fate. Moreover, knockout or knockdown of p75(NTR) results in failure to initiate an axon in newborn neurons upon cell-cycle exit in vitro and in the developing cortex, as well as during adult hippocampal neurogenesis in vivo. Hence, p75(NTR) governs neuronal polarity, determining pattern and assembly of neuronal circuits in adult hippocampus and cortical development