Early Phase Of Innovation Research Articles

Active management of the early innovation phases in steel application research for the construction sector

AbstractThis article reports on how the steel industry in Germany can systematically improve the early phases of its cooperative pre‐competitive application research in the construction sector. The aim of this work is to increase innovation success through a targeted lead‐in to the innovation processes. It makes use of various models from industrial innovation management, experience in research management for a current project on the sustainability of steel in the construction sector and the results from a survey of the research institutes participating in the project. As a result, a model for the systematic management of the early innovation phases in steel application research for the construction industry is presented. The model supports the participants from industry and the academic sector in finding, formulating and implementing new innovation ideas.

The crowdsourcing process: an intermediary mediated idea generation approach in the early phase of innovation

Intermediary mediated crowdsourcing (CS) has become a widely adopted open innovation approach for idea generation in various companies of different industries. Despite many success stories and a large body of literature in the fields of idea generation, online competition and open innovation, little is known about the intermediary mediated CS process in the early stage of the innovation process. An explorative, qualitative and quantitative multi-case study research design was applied to extract the longitudinal data that were analysed in this research. Based on 12 CS projects executed by nine Swiss companies from four industries on the Swiss intermediary CS platform atizo.com, five important phases of the intermediary mediated CS process were identified and described. Additionally, important tasks within each phase which ought to be considered by companies when engaging in an intermediary mediated CS project for idea generation were elaborated.

Innovation in Manufacturing: What Next?

Effective innovation is the key challenge for European manufacturing enterprises in the global market. New approaches such as Open Innovation combined with the Extended Product paradigm are currently heavily under discussion among practitioners as well as scientists. This paper shows what are the processes and challenges in the early phase of innovation, i.e. the idea seeding, ideation and evaluation phases which take place before structured processes like stage-gate approaches are applied. Special attention is paid to learning and knowledge creation aspects. Additionally, aspects concerning further research directions are discussed.

Negative side effects of customer integration

Customer integration has many recognised advantages, but also entails negative side effects that may impair the success of innovative activities. These negative side effects have not yet been sufficiently investigated. Whereas some may occur within the entire early innovation phase, others are likely to affect only few sub-phases. Each sub-phase, defined in a slightly new way as compared with existing models to meet the investigation subject, has different activities and aims, and therefore requires special integration methods and customer types. On the basis of extensive research and empirical studies, the paper illustrates different integration methods, negative effects of customer integration, and measures to avoid them.

Innovative coopetition: the strength of strong ties

The article builds on an explorative case study of coopetition in the Danish financial sector to develop a framework for cooperation in the early phases of innovation. Despite the rapid growth of the theory on innovation and knowledge creation and the theory on alliance and network cooperation, the analysis of cooperation in the early phases of innovation (idea generation, problem-solving or knowledge creation) is still in its infancy. Most theoretical and empirical contributions see weak network ties as a source of new information that may trigger organisational knowledge development. The article argues that cooperation between competitors may be an advantage in this early phase of idea generation because network embeddedness may provide trust, a common understanding of basic conditions and a broader common knowledge base, while the differences in specific capabilities and business models may still ensure some diversity.

The Practice Doctorate: Perspectives of Early Adopters

The emergence of the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree is being described as a disruptive innovation that is altering the landscape of nursing and health care and creating a great deal of controversy within and beyond the profession of nursing. This article proposes that the DNP is actually the natural evolution of a larger disruptive innovation begun in the late 1960s with the advent of nurse practitioner programs. As expected with disruptive innovations, many challenges face those who are early adopters and who forge ahead during the early phase of innovation and later during the upmarketing phase. As faculty and administrators of one of the early, second-generation DNP programs, the authors are fully aware of ongoing discussion and issues related to the practice doctorate. This article shares the experiences of this group of early adopters and their insights into controversies surrounding the DNP movement.

HOW TO USE ANALOGIES FOR BREAKTHROUGH INNOVATIONS

Analogies can trigger breakthrough ideas in new product development. Numerous examples demonstrate that substantial innovations often result from transferring problem solutions from one industry or domain to another. For instance, the designers of the new running show generation of Nike, "Nike SHOX", use the same suspension concept like the technologies applied for formula 1 racing cars, or the biological Lotus-effect leading to the evelopment of various self-cleaning surfaces. Academic research on analogical thinking has been so far heavily influenced by general theoretical work from cognitive psychology or systematic inventing. Only a small number of studies have investigated the application of analogies in the specific context of breakthrough innovation projects. This paper focuses on the question on how analogies can be systematically used in the early innovation phases of new product development and which factors influence the successful use of analogical thinking in innovating companies. Special attention is paid to organizational facilitators and the requests on people involved in this process.

RFID and the Innovation Cycle

In this paper, several “disruptive” technologies are considered and the paths they have taken from the early innovation phase to full implementation are traced. The technologies include: refrigeration; the automobile and highway system; incandescent lighting; the television; and, the personal computer. Each technology is traced through several steps leading from the early innovation to wide adoption. Then the same steps are applied to RFID, placing it in this historical context and speculating on the possible future adoption and impact of this technology.