Complex Innovation Processes Research Articles

Studying Surveillance AI-cologies in Public Safety: How AI Is in the World and the World in AI

Technological surveillance for the sake of safeguarding public safety (e.g., cameras, sensors, mobile phones, OSINT) pervades the lives of individuals on many levels. In this article, we advance the idea that the addition of AI changes the way surveillance ecologies function and thus deserves to spawn its own concept: the surveillance AI-cology. Surveillance AI-cologies are made up of interconnected collections of disparate actors (technological, human, more-than-human, organisational, etc.), all implicated in AI-aided surveillance tasks. They contain not only the usual complexities of any technological ecosystem but also the added complexity of AI, with emergent characteristics, both technically and socially. We argue for the utility of multi-faceted perspectives in doing work within AI-cologies, and we describe (anthropologically inspired) methodology for understanding and unpacking AI surveillance ecosystems. The development of democratically controlled AI surveillance requires the systematic consideration of ethical, legal, and social aspects (ELSA) within the quintuple helix (public, private, civil society, academia, nature). We stress the relevance of clearly defining which perspectives of the quintuple helix are considered in AI surveillance, and which not, to achieve a transparent set of (ELSA) values that guide AI surveillance development and implementation. We provide an example of the way we have developed and applied (some of) these methodologies in the context of a test-site for the development and application of smart city technology, a so-called “Living Lab.” Here we take the stance of active involvement of academics as “critical friends” into complex innovation and assessment processes. Together with our conversation partners in the field, we tease out and reflect upon the (public safety) values embedded in the setup of the Living Lab we explore. We end with a call to understand surveillance AI-cologies not as a problem to be solved, but as a continuing process to be discussed among highly diverse stakeholders.

The emergence of the synergistically complex power in digital era: challenges to human capital

The article examines the dynamics of power in the context of the specifics of digital discourse from the industrial modernity up to the modern times. This is determined by the transition from one episteme of knowledge and thinking to another, the emergence of a network society, as well as digitalization processes. The author substantiates the claim that under the influence of these factors, the nature of power is permanently becoming more complex, acquiring an increasingly hybrid character amd also pays special attention to the analysis of the ambivalent consequences of the nonlinear transformations of power for the formation of human capital: on the one hand, newly created power resources are used for the benefit of people, however, like all complex innovation processes, the development of power is accompanied by unintentional “collateral damage” (Z. Bauman), which takes the form of challenges to irrational rationality, dehumanization, on which both those in power and the governed are forced to reflect, displaying their social responsibility. The factors contributing to the formation of a synergistically complex power are specifically revealed, including: speed, network realities, symbolic codes, “digital revolution” and “digital metamorphosis” (U. Beck). In conclusion, the author suggests some possible government responses to the challenges that have arisen: strengthening the social responsibility component of the human capital; taking into account the specifics of national realities, historical memory, and the established value realities in the life-worlds of Russians; the formation of “bridges” connecting peoples in line with the emergence of a multipolar world, with the aim to codevelop global and national-local human capital, sustainable development of the country and the world.

Finding Creativity in Predictability: Seizing Kairos in Chronos Through Temporal Work in Complex Innovation Processes

Managing temporal complexity is a fundamental challenge in complex innovation processes, yet the temporal work whereby actors seize opportune moments (kairos) in an environment dominated by clock-time structures (chronos) remains elusive. Temporal tensions can partly be resolved through entrainment, that is, by aligning activities with dominant temporal structures. However, although entrainment ensures the exploitation of a predefined path, it is unable to harness unexpected developments as opportunities for exploration. Thus, navigating the competing temporal demands of chronos and kairos requires not just ambidextrous but also ambitemporal organizing. Collecting and analyzing in-depth interview and observational data from pharmaceutical drug discovery and development, we find that actors sometimes resolve temporal tensions through entrainment to ensure coordination and predictability. In other instances, however, actors abductively transform temporal tensions into novel interpretations and new courses of action. As such, temporal tensions become more than a bothersome deviation from the planned schedule, but an opportunity for creative agency. This understanding of kairos—as a process unfolding through temporal work—relies not only on detraining from chronos (i.e., momentarily detaching from the dominant temporal structure to question underlying assumptions), but also on its reframing and reconfiguration. We contribute to the literature on complex innovation and temporality by theorizing a transformative perspective on ambitemporal organizing, which relies less on paradoxical notions and instead emphasizes how kairos is enacted and seized within and from chronos. Funding: This work was supported by German Research Foundation (DFG) funding for the Research Unit “Organized Creativity” [Grant FOR 2161] as well as by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) [10.55776/I4884].

Developing Capabilities for Sustainable Business Models –Exploring Project Maturity for Innovation Processes

Companies must cultivate new dynamic capabilities to meet the demands for sustainable solutions in an uncertain and dynamic world. This longitudinal case study explores the significance of project maturity as a critical capability within complex innovation processes for developing sustainable business models. The purpose of the study is to gain a better understanding of the central factors companies encounter when making efforts to build sustainable business models through innovation projects. Tracking a market-leading company's journey from ideation to implementation over an extended period, this study focuses on creating a sustainable business emphasising waste reduction, heightened customer satisfaction, and profitability. Key insights emerge through qualitative methods, including interviews, observations, and document analysis. 
 The findings highlight the pivotal role of project maturity in innovation projects centred around sustainable value propositions. Project maturity is salient in creating an autonomous unit, fostering agility, and promoting open collaboration. It encompasses organisational ambidexterity and collaborative engagement with vital stakeholders. Furthermore, proficient project managers well-versed in agile project management and innovation processes and contextual resolution emerge as crucial drivers in innovation projects aimed at developing capabilities for sustainable business models. By tailoring project maturity to the specific needs of each project and integrating agile methodologies, organisations can forge the necessary capabilities for crafting sustainable business models. Additionally, dynamic capabilities can be cultivated by aligning projects with the overall business strategy and implementing practices that facilitate continuous learning and improvement. 
 This study underscores the importance of project maturity within innovation processes and its role in creating profitable and sustainable business models by developing new dynamic capabilities. The research findings offer valuable insights for businesses seeking to design effective innovation processes supporting sustainable business model realization.

Tolerating and inducing temporal asynchronicity in complex innovation journeys.

While research has often alluded to the temporal complexity of innovation processes, we still understand little about the temporal work practices through which actors address the tension between predictability and creativity, which are both inherent in most complex, resource-intensive innovation contexts. Based on a multi-temporal qualitative research approach of studying pharmaceutical drug development, we focus on the role of entrainment in relation to this tension. We find that entrainment does not just imply the reactive synchronization of work processes with dominant temporal structures, but can also be achieved by actively influencing these Zeitgeber. Moreover, while the chief concern of entrainment research to date has been the synchronization with dominant Zeitgeber, we find that temporal work also involves practices of detrainment, defined as either inducing a deliberate temporal uncoupling of practices from procedures and pacers, or the temporary toleration of moments of asynchrony. Adding to the conception of a ‘dance of entrainment’ and the literature on temporal work more broadly, we develop the notion of Zeitgebung as a reflexive process to mediate the tension between creativity and predictability, both common to complex innovation processes. We also contribute to further connecting creativity and innovation research from a process perspective by highlighting the temporal work needed to keep an idea going and prevent its premature closure in the context of highly standardized innovation processes.

Validating an individual innovation competence assessment tool for university–industry collaboration

University–industry collaboration produces networks that may be capable of innovations, such as novel products and services. The collaboration projects also need to benefit student learning, yet teachers have little clarity with regard to innovation competence development. Individual innovation competence is a set of personal characteristics, knowledge, skills and attitudes that are connected to create concretised and implemented novelties via collaboration in complex innovation processes. The paper reports on the findings from the development and validation of an individual innovation competence assessment tool. The aim is to determine which individual innovation competences are significant in university–industry collaboration and which of these competences are sensitive to educational interventions. The study used a three-phase method involving development of the questionnaire items, validation in teacher and student panels, and a pilot pre- and post-survey study. All seven domains of individual innovation competences were significant and sensitive to educational intervention (a multidisciplinary innovation project conducted with industry). The most responsive competence domains regarding change were concretisation and implementation planning skills, and project management skills. The paper concludes with application opportunities for the tool and recommendations for further research.

The role of KIBS and consultancy in the emergence of Circular Oriented Innovation

This paper analyses the role of consultancy services in the transition towards a Circular Economy (CE). To this aim, the paper brings together two different strands, the emergence of a new Circular Economy paradigm as a complex innovation process which faces many barriers and the innovative role of Knowledge Intensive Business Services (KIBS). Among KIBS, consultancy services are widely recognized in the field of innovation systems as a necessary agent for the adoption and diffusion of innovation by other agents. Circular-Oriented Innovation (COI) involves major changes, sometimes including new technologies and in most cases requiring the reorganization of value chains and the collaboration of different actors. This paper conducts a qualitative research focused on CE-related consultancy services provided by four pioneering companies in Spain. The paper sheds light on the functions developed by consultancy firms and discusses the main drivers and barriers towards COI. The findings suggest that KIBS may play an important role in the dissemination of the CE paradigm. Firstly, providing and managing knowledge to promote COI in their client’s companies; secondly, through the strategic formation of networks and alliances with other key stakeholders, which are key for the practical implementation of CE; and finally, by disseminating the ideas and principles of the CE in the system and across the society. By means of their functions, we conclude that consultancy services may help to lower some of the barriers that are usually addressed by companies, and that revolve around the lack of knowledge and the associated uncertainty.

ECONOMIC PROCESSES OF INNOVATION DEVELOPMENT BASED ON THE NATIONAL TECHNOLOGICAL INITIATIVE

In the article the author views economic and managerial issues of development of innovative activities of industrial enterprises based on the implementation of economic processes of the National technological initiative; presents the parameters of NTI implementation; shows that the effectiveness of innovative development of industry determines the creation of future markets, allowing enterprises to shape the image of the future of industry, to carry out a continuous and complex innovation process, the production of innovations, their commercialization and market demand. The author substantiates the relevance of implementing the processes of innovative development of the industrial complex of the region on the basis of NTI, which consists in the fact that the creation of innovations and their commercialization allowed enterprises to have a leading position among similar manufacturers, creating products with a high level of knowledge intensity, thereby forming new technological markets. NTI stimulates the development of new markets, determining the forecast of economic development. Innovative development of the region's industrial complex on the basis of NTI involves the creation of an integration grouping of the industrial sector on the basis of the innovation ecosystem. The most significant result of the research is the development of a model and an algorithm for evaluating the innovative ecosystem of the industrial complex of the region based on NTI. The model reflects that the development of STI projects is carried out through the innovation support infrastructure. In order to implement innovative STI projects, a regional ecosystem of innovation support is being created on the basis of industrial clusters. The main importance in the ecosystem is the network connections of participants in innovative processes and their technological capabilities (points of technological growth). In the article it is shown that the strategy for implementing STI to create new markets and technologies is based on the innovative activity of industrial complexes. In the model of the proposed ecosystem of innovative support for the industrial complex of the region based on NTI, an algorithm for evaluating the effectiveness of its functioning has been developed.

Virtual Agglomeration of Producer Services and the Changing Geography of Innovation Systems: Implications for Developing Countries

The rapid development of new generation of information and communication technology (ICT) has changed the traditional mode of service spatial configuration. A virtual agglomeration mode of producer service via internet platform is forming and reshaping the spatial organization structure of service industry. Producer services usually show the characteristics of high added value, high knowledge talents and high technology content, which can meet the diversified needs of complex innovation process in the manufacturing industries. Therefore, this paper explores the impact of virtual agglomeration of producer services on the manufacturing enterprises’ innovation performance and the changing geography of innovation systems. Compared with the traditional entity agglomeration model, the virtual agglomeration of producer services breaks through the time and space limitations of traditional service provision. It can realize the scale economy effect and knowledge spillover effect in a larger scope, reduce the service input cost, improve the quality of service allocation, and reshape the regional innovation ecosystem. Furthermore, this article conducts a data statistics and a case analysis, and finally puts forward implications for the integration of virtual agglomeration of producer services and manufacturing innovation process especially for enterprises in the developing countries.

Studying Design Thinking as a Forthcoming Source to Innovation Speed

AbstractWith complex technology-intense industries follows an ever-increasing need for rapid innovation processes. Yet, innovation speed and the time from idea to product realization can vary and be unpredictable.Design Thinking (DT) is suggested as a key driver to impact the speed of product innovation within product development projects. To understand and aid the road from early ideas and concepts to value- added products, this paper will provide a literature study on how Design Thinking can facilitate improved product innovation performance through innovation speed.The paper seeks to develop an overview of new insight on DT applicability for improved product innovation capability. This is done by identifying components that comprise DT´s innovative ability and appropriateness to product development contexts beyond the early creative phases of product development.As DT emphasize on visualization and re-framing problems, it contributes to enhanced clarity, meaning and confidence in ideas and decisions. DT in this way may impact strategy formulation and speed up complex innovation processes by pre-experiencing future situations.

University Integration Management Algorithm in the National Innovation System

The current trends of development, ensuring the welfare of the state, are in continuous communication with innovation activity. Under the influence of complex and sustainable innovation processes, the concept of the national innovation system is embodied at the macroeconomic level in its totality. Numerous elements are seen in the conjugation of the national innovation system scale, among which higher education institutions, and their scientific and innovative potential take their place. However, the reverse side is inequality in the levels of university integration, which introduces a discrepancy between the degree of their effectiveness as the elements of the national innovation system. So it becomes urgent to have a specific set of steps to improve the level of university integration. The process of integration level increase must be governed necessarily by the principles of suitable integration condition management, where it is possible to justify waiting by creation of a management algorithm for university integration in the national innovation system. The result of such an algorithm application is the obtaining of a visual set of steps by a user to ensure the process of managerial decision making and implementation to improve the level of university integration in the national innovation system. The increase of university integration will directly enhance its interaction with other elements of NIS, and therefore will increase its contribution to the national economy development, and other priority areas of the state.

Manage risk of sustainable product–service systems: a case-based operations research approach

Sustainable product–service systems (SusPSSs) offer an innovation-driven approach to production based on providing results or functions with minimal material use and emissions. Networks of SusPSSs partners are central to the decision-making of sustainability policies. Evaluations and assessments of network-oriented risks sources are therefore crucial to informing an industrial firm’s reorientation towards SusPSS. Traditionally, these risks beleaguer production and continue to grow in significance with complex production and innovation processes. This article presents a novel operations research application for evaluating network-oriented risks of industrial firms in pursuing SusPSSs. The model conceptualises a framework for network risk metrics and applies a fuzzy-based multi-criteria decision-making technique to evaluate levels of risk associated with reorientations to SusPSS approaches. It takes explicit account of multiple risk sources in aiding decision-making and assists in indicating strategies for improving business sustainability. In addition, it compares and ranks alternative SusPSSs as a system and on an indicator basis, which is a practical and effective decision support tool. A case study of an industrial firm is conducted to verify the effectiveness and applicability of the proposed approach in supporting firms’ decision on SusPSSs.

Embracing Bewilderment: Responding to Technological Disruption in Heterogeneous Market Environments

ABSTRACTIn an age of rapid advances in technology, understanding how firms can respond to emergence of disruptive technologies is paramount for survival. While prior research on incumbents’ responses to disruptive technologies assumes demand homogeneity, many firms, including multinational enterprises (MNEs), need to respond to technological disruption in heterogeneous markets. To address this lacuna in our understanding, we study how Ericsson tried to respond to the emergence of Cloud computing, a digital platform technology, across its operations in more than 170 countries. We reveal how incumbents need to match diverging customer demands with a complex innovation process, involving different approaches to experiments and trials, deployment strategy, and ecosystem development. We also find that the success of incumbents’ responses depends on their capability for misalignment, which allows them to manage the inconsistencies in strategic direction, structure, and resource configuration associated with a complex innovation process.

The dynamics of regional learning paradigms and trajectories

While the literature is rich with studies on the identification of alternative types of learning processes that might exist in the real world, the identification of the determinants of the structural changes in regional learning processes is still an underexplored research field in regional innovation theories. This paper proposes the concept of regional learning paradigms and trajectories to study how alternative and more advanced learning processes arise in a region, and highlights the evolutionary path-creation strategies enabling a paradigmatic jump. By taking into consideration also learning modes typical of peripheral or declining industrial areas, generally left aside in previous theories, this new conceptual approach allows us to understand how more complex learning and innovation processes can emerge in all types of regions. From these reflections, spontaneous processes or policy recommendations to catch-up in the innovation ladder are highlighted for each type of region.

Simulation of Weak Signals of Nanotechnology Innovation in Complex System

It is especially indispensable for new businesses or industries to predict the innovation of new technologies. This requires an understanding of how the complex process of innovation, which is accomplished through more efficient products, processes, services, technologies, or ideas, is adopted and diffused in the market, government, and society. Furthermore, detecting “weak signals” (signs) of change in science and technology (S&T) is also important to foretell events associated with innovations in technology. Thus, we explore the dynamic behavior of weak signals of a specific technological innovation using the agent-based simulating tool NetLogo. This study provides a deeper understanding of the early stages of complex technology innovation, and the models are capable of analyzing initial complex interaction structures between components of technologies and between agents engaged in collective invention.

Rethinking cultural hybridity and technology transfer: SEM microstructural analysis of lead glazed ceramics from early colonial Peru

Through Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) microstructural analysis, we examine the firing technology of Early Green Glazed (EGG) Ware – a variety of “hybrid” lead-glazed ceramics produced in Peru's north coast region during the 16th century CE. Previous scholars have interpreted EGG Ware as the product of indigenous potters who fired ceramics in kilns and learned how to make glazed vessels through direct instruction from Iberian ceramicists. We argue that the production of EGG Ware entailed a more complex process of technological incorporation and innovation. SEM microstructural analysis of 44 archaeological samples suggests that these ceramics were originally fired under highly variable conditions. Parallel analysis of five samples of lead-glazed ceramics produced in open firings by Peruvian artisans in the 1980's reveals consistent firing beyond their clays' maturation temperatures. Based on these results and analysis of whole EGG Ware vessels from museum collections, we suggest that at least some of our EGG Ware samples were produced in open firings. In turn, we argue that EGG Ware reflects the creativity of native potters who adapted indigenous firing technologies and experimented with different parameters in the process of forging a new decorative tradition.

Overcoming the problem of embedding change in educational organizations

In this article, I begin by outlining some of the barriers which constrain sustainable organizational change in schools and universities. I then go on to introduce a theory which has already started to help explain complex change and innovation processes in health and care contexts, Normalization Process Theory. Finally, I consider what this theory might offer in practical terms to aid organizations and leaders in bringing about more sustainable and positive change in educational contexts.

A transition to green buildings in Norway

Energy use in buildings is a significant contributor to climate change. The purpose of this paper is to explore industrial changes towards sustainability in the Norwegian construction industry, adding to debates about transitions to sustainability and transition pathways in a traditional, low-tech sector. Empirically the paper reports a case of cumulative changes in the Norwegian construction industry over from 1998 to 2013. The case explores a complex innovation and diffusion process where technologies, visions, actors and policy co-evolve over time to transform an existing socio-technical regime. Findings indicate that the transition moved forward through interplay between innovations in niches, a growing constituency around green building and a string of regulative and market changes.

The impact of opportunity connectedness on innovation in SMEs’ foreign-market relationships

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) use of business networks has grown significantly during the last decades, partly due to increasingly complex innovation processes. This article investigates how different kinds of networks, depending on location, contextualize innovation in specific foreign market business relationships. Building on internationalization, network, and innovation research we develop a model that views opportunity connectedness in specific host-markets, home-markets, and other international markets as prerequisites to innovative collaboration and innovation outcomes in foreign business relationships. The results of our linear structural relations (LISREL) analysis of Swedish SMEs provide empirical evidence that the effect of opportunity connectedness on innovation outcomes in foreign business relationships is mediated by the level of innovative collaboration. These results indicate that SMEs need a relatively higher level of innovative collaboration in their partnerships with foreign market customers to convert opportunities conceived in home- and international- market networks into innovative outcomes in comparison to opportunities conceived in host-market networks. This finding implies that as opportunities become increasingly contextually remote, the importance of collaborative business relationships increases. By showing these results, the study contributes to research in the international small-business domain that seeks to identify important prerequisites of SME innovation.

Abductive Reasoning: How Innovators Navigate in the Labyrinth of Complex Product Innovation

Complex innovation processes such as drug discovery present challenges to innovators because they must proceed with limited feedback but face a system that involves enormous amounts of information and unknown interdependencies. Organizational scholars suggest that abductive reasoning fits complex situations and may address many of the challenges of complexity. Abductive reasoning is a form of reasoning that generates and evaluates hypotheses in order to make sense of puzzling facts. Existing research on abductive reasoning makes a number of important contributions, but does not explain how innovators can use abductive reasoning to formulate hypotheses for possible new products and then use these hypotheses to navigate in the labyrinth of complex product innovation. We interviewed 85 scientists and managers working in the biopharmaceutical industry and use grounded theory building to develop a new framework. Our framework identifies three social mechanisms that explain how innovators use abductive reasoning to detect useful information despite the noise, avoid competency traps and local optima, and accumulate insights in a holistic way. We contribute to existing research by explaining the systematic process that enables innovators to overcome the challenges of complex innovation and navigate effectively in the labyrinth.